Awesome urchin

[Europhyllia]

I've been wanting an urchin but was a little scared of the potential destructiveness.
After much reading I settled on the Tuxedo urchin and picked one up at a local fish store.
The urchin seemed a little suspect - quite large and no stripes. I should have known better but I had dealt with that shop before and they always seemed nice and knowledgable.
Turns out it was not a Tuxedo urchin (duh ... I know ;) ) so I was happy I was able to return it.
Then I went to AD and they actually have theirs separated into reef-safe and not reef-safe. In fact their Tuxedo urchins live in the coral tanks!

We got one of their (real) Tuxedo urchins and we love it!!!
It's only the size of a Walnut (apparently they don't get bigger than 2 inches in diameter) and it is so beautiful with it's blue suede stripes.
It came with a piece of macro algae and a small zoa frag stuck to it.

I sort of wish I had gotten two. One walnut size urchin in a 125 g is not much urchin.

This has got to be the most perfect urchin - so pretty, non-destructive and cleans the rock so nicely.

See our super cute urchin, Elvis, here:

[Roo&Lis]

Tuxedo's are really great urchins the can mow the heck out of some algae, but they do tend to mow more on coraline and quickly. When it comes to coral they are pretty gentle. I was watching mine the other day, it was sitting on a Ricordia. At first, I was a little worried that it developed a new taste for things, but I looked a little closer and it was munching just the very edge the coral on some rock.

[Europhyllia]

Yes I read that they'd eat coralline but I'm okay with it. It's so tiny and the coralline grows so quickly. I don't think I can get ahead of it.
I also read that pro-urchin people believe the rasping of the coralline actually helps in distributing the spores and encourages coralline growth in the tank. Interesting idea, isn't it?
As long as it's not hurting corals or clams I am cool with it.

[Bill S]

I'm keeping my 2 tuxedos when I downside. They are just so cool. It's fun to see how they are decorated every day.

[Mr Cob]

I miss my blue tuxedo...definitely on my list of "wants" for my current tank. I had mine in a holding tank while I was upgrading and of course I had lots of frags every where that he enjoyed rearranging for me so he had to go.

Now that everything is mounted in my tank I have no concerns and can't wait to get another.

The one that I had didn't eat a lot of coralline...just small amounts. I just got rid of, well put him in my sump...a black urchin from the coast and it tore up my coralline in massive amounts and ate some encrusting SPS. Tuxedos are the best in my opinion.

[mabel_photo6]

I live my tuxedo urchin!!! It is though eating up a lot of mu coraline algae but that's ok. I actually want another! They are so cool and super fun to watch.