I have a reef tank. In it is a tuxedo urchin. Mine has these hats as well - it’s fairly common amongst us hobbyists, and yes it’s always funny.
Urchins are fantastic and voracious algae eaters. They like to shade themselves from the lights and camouflage themselves. They pick up EVERYTHING. If it’s not glued down, the urchin will be wearing it as a hat eventually. Even if it IS superglued down, there’s a good chance they’ll rip it up and wear it as a hat.
My urchin carried a hermit crab around for days. Poor crab was like “hey man put me down!” He didn’t - a few days later the hermit crab moved to a new shell.
My urchin is one of, if not my most favorite tank inhabitant.
Since there’s no community in lemmy, I have some questions. Do you have a freshwater or saltwater tank? Would you recommend it? How much maintenance or upkeep do you do?
Those my friend are some loaded questions! :)
But I’m happy to answer. In my opinion there are three types of tanks. Freshwater, saltwater with just fish (often called FOWLR - fish only with live rock), and a reef tank (has corals).
My tank is a reef tank. Freshwater and fish only saltwater tanks are cake. Mixing saltwater being the main difference. Corals add probably 2 or three orders of magnitude in challenge, knowledge, required maintenance, and money. Some corals are pretty forgiving and easy to keep, others are downright difficult.
My tank is a small one - 20G. Small tanks are less $, but in my opinion they are extremely hard. Everything about keeping corals is about stability - fish tolerate wide ranges of water parameters, but some corals die overnight if the temp rises a degree, or salinity moves just a bit, etc. Nanos are hard because of the small water volume, one drop of something in my tank moves the needle - one drop in a 200G tank is undetectable. On the plus side, I can “fix” a problem with a large water change (I can mix 20G of water, I can’t mix 400G).
I spend about one half hour per week doing water changes, scrubbing, and doing maintenance. I’ve gotten good at it, when I first started I probably spent 5ish hours a week. It’s worth noting I’ve spent considerable effort building mixing stations and creating a system to do maintenance quickly.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely-as long as you have a few things:
- You REALLY like saltwater fish and corals - like you don’t get bored of looking at the same fish for coral for 30 years (because that’s how long they live)
- You are willing to commit to learning a lot first. If you just do it without learning, you’ll fail. I recommend watching the BRS 52 weeks of reefing on YouTube.
- You have the time and desire to do the maintenance-bigger tanks take more time than mine.
I’ve always wanted a reef tank. I could watch it all day long everyday. Long ago, I realized the $ and commitment required, and backed off because I wasn’t ready. As I got older with more disposable cash, I took the plunge and I’m super happy I did. But it’s been the hardest hobby I’ve ever tried to be successful at and at times it’s been heartbreaking. But I think I’ve figured it all out at this point, and I’d encourage anyone who has the fascination for these animals to take the plunge-it’s worth it if you enjoy these creatures.
That’s absolutely hilarious, I never knew they were so relentless to cover themselves. Thanks for the great story!
As asked below - pictures of my urchin wearing his hats!
