Decorator Urchin...

[djdubdub]

Ok... Here's the situation...

I just bought a Pincushion Urchin for my wife... She liked the way it looked and I figured it would be a good "addition" to my tank...

Anyway... I've had the urchin in my tank for a week... It is doing GREAT but... The urchin wants to "pick up" small pieces of my live rock and carry it all over the tank... It looks like a decorator crab but it's picking up finger-sized pieces with it's tentacles and "holding" on to them w/ it's spikes... It's even got a hold of a few hermit crabs... Weird...

Anyone every seen this before??? Is this normal??? Should I be concerned???

Thanks for your input... I'll see if I can get a pic and post it...

[Chuck]

I had two of those in my tank at one time. They are actually pretty cool and never hurt anything. They did a great job on the hair algae. I eventually lost them in a last ditch attempt to save some fish in my old tank. Lesson learned NEVER med your main. just improve the water quality and have a sick tank. They can knock over anything that is not tied down....

[djdubdub]

Did they pick up items in the tank and carry them around???

I woke up this morning and there are 2 red leg hermits, 1 snail shell and 3 pieces of live rock "attached" to his pins...

Cool...

[Reefdude]

I believe that an urchin picks up all this stuff to blend into it's enviroment and not stick out so much. Its a form of camoflauge. Mine had stuff all over it when i had one. Never heard anything.

[Jimnorris]

Yes I have two of these in my tank. Mine are call tuxcedo urchins. They carry all sorts of stuff around on them. I just posted a picture of my bright pink and orange one on my home page of my website if you are interested in looking. The other is a purple one.
Jim