Flashy Fins Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I picked up this spectacularly beautiful urchin today and have tentatively ID'ed it as Salmacis bicolor. Word on the street (and by street, I mean internet) is a little mixed on how reef safe they are or aren't. Seems they have a rep for chowing down on gorgonians and possibly muching other soft corals. I have a few zoas and mushrooms, but nothing major in that dept. However, I do have a sponge I really don't want eaten! Has anyone here kept this urchin in a reef? Right now, I have him in quarantine, but after Bob Moore and a couple of LFS shopping days, there's a lot to sample in the QT tank. I'd feel better hearing some success stories! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Son of a... whoah! yet I know nothing to help answer that question but congrats Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 Son of a... whoah! yet I know nothing to help answer that question but congrats Thanks! I was just complaining to Kim & Sirena this afternoon that my urchin isn't good looking enough for my tastes. Went to Pets On Broadway after that and found this stunner! My lucky day, assuming he doesn't turn out to be a reef-eating machine! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) That is one stunning urchin! Hopefully it doesn't develope any bad dietary habits in its new home. Edited March 6, 2017 by albertareef 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Whoa that's amazing. I have never seen one like that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 So far, he's just been hanging out in the chaeto. Can't tell if he's eating the chaeto itself, or critters in it, or other algae around it, but he hasn't gone around any corals yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 I didn't even know urchins came in that color. It looks more fake than real! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 8, 2017 Author Share Posted March 8, 2017 6 minutes ago, Higher Thinking said: I didn't even know urchins came in that color. It looks more fake than real! It's legit, I promise! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 He's finally discovered the zoa section of the QT. I'm allowing him to hang out there, because I want to see what he does. I'd rather lose a frag in QT than find out later he's a coral muncher. So far, just seems to be after algae/detritus on/around the corals. He's been sporting a cool hat ever since I dropped the cap from a top-off water jug in and forgot to fish it out. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 3 hours ago, Flashy Fins said: He's finally discovered the zoa section of the QT. I'm allowing him to hang out there, because I want to see what he does. I'd rather lose a frag in QT than find out later he's a coral muncher. So far, just seems to be after algae/detritus on/around the corals. He's been sporting a cool hat ever since I dropped the cap from a top-off water jug in and forgot to fish it out. Pretty awesome urchin. I have never seen such a cool urchin. Fingers crossed it's not a zoa eater! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 Just now, Emerald525 said: Pretty awesome urchin. I have never seen such a cool urchin. Fingers crossed it's not a zoa eater! He has since moved to another area of the tank, after crawling all over several zoa frags and not consuming any. I'm feeling pretty good about him now, but I think I'll nip a piece of my blue sponge from the display to test him with that, since I'd be upset to lose it. If he does eat it, I guess the sponge could go into my new pico. I really wouldn't want to get rid of either critter! Preferably, they both get to live in the main tank. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaylorW Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Aww! I've been considering another smaller urchin at some point, but most of the tank I'd put it in is pretty much all live rock and almost zero sandy space on the bottom so I'm not sure yet. I love the sweet hat lol, that urchin is absolutely gorgeous! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G360AZ using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Thats a true beauty! I had a similar one in my reef for a couple months...i believe it was classified as a fire urchin. Be super careful as those spines are supposed to be quite painful and poisonous. The only problem I had was that mine scratched the acrylic up pretty bad when he cleaned the front/sides. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Brightest urchin i have ever seen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 6 hours ago, Mandinga said: Thats a true beauty! I had a similar one in my reef for a couple months...i believe it was classified as a fire urchin. Be super careful as those spines are supposed to be quite painful and poisonous. The only problem I had was that mine scratched the acrylic up pretty bad when he cleaned the front/sides. I don't think mine is a fire urchin, although I've seen those online and know what you're talking about; I remembered those being called radiata urchins, so I first typed that into google when trying to narrow down ID on mine. Once I came across salmacis bicolor, I felt I had a good match. I've picked mine up several times and not had any issues, so hopefully nothing to worry about. It handles like a tuxedo or similar, as far as prickliness goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 8 hours ago, TaylorW said: Aww! I've been considering another smaller urchin at some point, but most of the tank I'd put it in is pretty much all live rock and almost zero sandy space on the bottom so I'm not sure yet. I love the sweet hat lol, that urchin is absolutely gorgeous! It shouldn't need any sandy areas; urchins are typically content sticking to hard surfaces like the tank itself and live rock. If you already have an urchin, then you'd just need to make sure there's enough food for both. Once this new beauty gets through QT, I'm giving my previous (boring, normal colored) urchin to a friend. Tank is only 20g; not enough food for 2 urchins. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaylorW Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 It shouldn't need any sandy areas; urchins are typically content sticking to hard surfaces like the tank itself and live rock. If you already have an urchin, then you'd just need to make sure there's enough food for both. Once this new beauty gets through QT, I'm giving my previous (boring, normal colored) urchin to a friend. Tank is only 20g; not enough food for 2 urchins. Oh well that's good to know, I had a long spiny urchin for about a year in my 55 gallon and it did great but I ended up giving him to someone on the forum. I've been thinking about a tuxedo urchin but I've never had one. Did you like yours? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G360AZ using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 3 hours ago, TaylorW said: Oh well that's good to know, I had a long spiny urchin for about a year in my 55 gallon and it did great but I ended up giving him to someone on the forum. I've been thinking about a tuxedo urchin but I've never had one. Did you like yours? Yes, a tuxedo is a good little work horse. They will aggravate you if you keep a lot of frags in your tank, though, because they pick up everything they can manage to and eventually drop stuff, often in a spot you can't reach or find. Glueing things down helps. The typical tuxedo is blue and brown, but there are some much nicer blue and red ones available on occasion, which I consider worth holding out for. Price difference is not much, if at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 Well, I caught him red-handed (red-mouthed?) today. There's a lot going on in this photo, so let me break it down: Water jug cap still his hat of choice, and now he's added to it a clove polyp frag. He's been carrying that around since yesterday, so I give him props for being able to hold onto something larger than him. Two goniopora frags used to be in this (very dirty QT) tank. You can see the purple is still there, and the skeleton on the right was a blue goni frag less than an hour ago. Now, the blue goni has been deteriorating pretty much since I got it, and each day I've removed the gooey dead tissue, hoping the remaining healthy tissue will bounce back. A lot of creatures will go after unhealthy corals, while leaving healthy ones alone, so I am going to give the urchin a pass this time. Definitely going to be watching him even more carefully now, though. Sometimes an animal gets a taste of something in its unhealthy form, then decides to sample similar healthy things. I'm not upset about losing a frag I was likely going to lose anyway, but I don't want him eating the healthy purple one or anything else. I've seen him crawling over enough frags without eating them to think he's mostly a good guy, but time will tell. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 And I just noticed those pests on that purple frag... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 17 minutes ago, Flashy Fins said: Well, I caught him red-handed (red-mouthed?) today. There's a lot going on in this photo, so let me break it down: Water jug cap still his hat of choice, and now he's added to it a clove polyp frag. He's been carrying that around since yesterday, so I give him props for being able to hold onto something larger than him. Two goniopora frags used to be in this (very dirty QT) tank. You can see the purple is still there, and the skeleton on the right was a blue goni frag less than an hour ago. Now, the blue goni has been deteriorating pretty much since I got it, and each day I've removed the gooey dead tissue, hoping the remaining healthy tissue will bounce back. A lot of creatures will go after unhealthy corals, while leaving healthy ones alone, so I am going to give the urchin a pass this time. Definitely going to be watching him even more carefully now, though. Sometimes an animal gets a taste of something in its unhealthy form, then decides to sample similar healthy things. I'm not upset about losing a frag I was likely going to lose anyway, but I don't want him eating the healthy purple one or anything else. I've seen him crawling over enough frags without eating them to think he's mostly a good guy, but time will tell. Yikes - that is a bit worrisome but, like you say, might just be helping you keep things neat and clean and going after dead tissue. As for his fashion sense though, not sure the cloves and the bottle cap really hang together as a "look". I would put the fashion police on notice. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Have you ever tried doing a lugols dip on the Goni? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 That's a pretty spiffy urchin too BTW! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 His hat of choice lol that's great!Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 54 minutes ago, chewie said: Have you ever tried doing a lugols dip on the Goni? I dipped it in Coral Rx when I got it and again a week later when I saw it was looking worse for the wear. Didn't seem to help. It was freshly fragged when I bought it, and the tissue was kind of sloughing off the edge from the start, like it was peeling away from the skeleton. I've never used Lugol's - would you say it's better? I know I tried a Seachem dip once (not on this coral, just in general a few years ago) and found it too disgusting to use, on account of it turning everything a rust color. I've stuck with Coral Rx since then, but mostly b/c I don't know much about various dips. I mostly keep LPS, so I haven't had to research that topic as much as an SPS keeper would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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