Always know the exact whereabouts of the long spine urchin when digging around in a 20 gallon sump. Don't assume he's on the other side in the macro.
DANG! That hurt! I'm always bleeding in the tank but this was a real bee sting kind of OW. We are going to have to cut it open and remove the spine with tweezers.... he got me good.
Gottcha.... he's in the sump, no rocks, waiting for the new mantis tank to go up. I'm testing to see if he'll climb over one of the built in walls down there. There are two mantis' going in a single tank with a divider. The peacock will not touch him but the chiragra will kill him. Doesn't look like he will go over, don't even know if he can do it observing is pattern of locomotion.
There will be no buildup rockwork in the new tank either because you can't aquascape that way with mantis'.
He does a great job on the hair algae.... and the coralline.... and the first 10 layers of rock under that.
we had a pincushion urchin in with our G. chiragra, and it was in there quite awhile. then one day, i was passing the tank and saw an urchin skeleton that had the top bashed off it.
the Diadema urchins are a LOT less "bashable", altho the peacock DID give it a couple of "move yer a$$" pops when it settled over the main entrance to his lair.
That's me urchin (Said in his Mr. Crabs voice) He's a good mate 'cept when he decides to mow down my macro algae like pasta. HE LOVES eelgrass and Ulva that I collect on Cape Cod.
did he put the zoas up on there or did you do that?
Yer so frikin cute....
No.. I didn't do that. I don't touch anything in my tanks if I don't have to. The pincushion urchins have a tendency to decorate themselves. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that their cousins, the spiny dudes, have built in armor and they don't. Instead, they resort to the old "camouflage" techniques.
It is actually quite handy. I let him/her stack him/herself silly with the junk in the tank and when he/she gets to a higher point in the tank, I harvest all the junk off if its back J The only things I leave there are purdy zoanthids hats snail shells. I leave the shells because the hermit crabs utilize them.
No, my urchin tends to gravitate towards greenery... ie. the macro algaes that I want to keep and the seagrasses as well. Unfortuntately, it does not pay attention to the hair algae that I'm battling right now.
I don't have much in the way of coraline in my seahorse tank. Being free of any stony corals, I don't worry much about high levels of calcium. I do regular water changes (have to...ponies are pigs) and am sure that this process keeps the levels well within the needs for snail, fish and other critters needs. My shrimp molt often so I have to assume that calcium, ph, iodine etc. are all within range.. I will admit, I'm one of those "old salts" that rarely does water tests. Only when I see something that "just aint right"
My long spine eats the caorraline but it doesn't matter to me either because he's in the mantis tank. I don't like to keep the mantis tank super colorful because I don't really want to draw people's eyes to the aquascaping... a mantis' idea of decorating may not be eyecandy for some.... he's the center of attention. There is a couple of colts leathers in there that he keeps trying to stuff in his cave. He has left them alone lately. It's hard to find friend's for the mantis.
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