Crab and urchin ID-hitchhikers

[DI68]

Hi can someone please ID these before I add them back to my tank? I also came across 3bristle stars, an acropora crab and some other starfish which are all meant to be reef safe. Thanks


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[Godfrey]

Second pic looks to be a pencil urchin.


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[DI68]

Thanks Godrey. I came across info last night and agree. Not reef safe.


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[POLARBEAR0871]

I disagree with it not being reed safe I have several corals and my pencil stays far away in a cave it found they're very cool too just don't try to move him or you'll break his spikes


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[DI68]

Thanks but too late unfortunately...they died overnight in the eski. All I could find was they are not reef friendly and I have seen documentaries where people scuba to kill the urchins which kill the reefs. Maybe if I find another I may reconsider.


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[paul87]

Originally Posted by DI68

Hi can someone please ID these before I add them back to my tank? Attachment 248479Attachment 248480I also came across 3bristle stars, an acropora crab and some other starfish which are all meant to be reef safe. Thanks


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First looks to be a sponge crab.

[Godfrey]

I agree with polarbear I have a pencil urchin in my reef. It's about 5" in dia and it's never harmed anything other than coralline algae. Knocked a couple corals over but shows no interest in harming anything.


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[POLARBEAR0871]

For once on this site someone has agreed with me but yeah I'd recommend either a pencil urchin if you want something active at night since they are nocturnal but I you want something that moves a lot and eats a lot I'd invest into a tuxedo urchin they're very cool urchins but watch they're spikes they have a ton


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[Sniperhank]

There are 'reef safe' urchins out there...they just come with other side effects most reef owners don't want. Urchins are like tanks and a new teenage driver behind the wheel. This always gets our brand new frags knocked over into the sandbed...usually when you are at work and it is already too late for it by the time you get home.
The most popular reef safe urchins are the tuxedo urchins. The drawback to these guys is that they 'camouflage' themselves with whatever is in your tank...be it a rock, a snail, your prized bubblegum chalice frag....whatever.
So, even though urchins have the reef safe tag along with them, no urchin is worth the price of the corals we put in them IMO.

[paul87]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

There are 'reef safe' urchins out there...they just come with other side effects most reef owners don't want. Urchins are like tanks and a new teenage driver behind the wheel. This always gets our brand new frags knocked over into the sandbed...usually when you are at work and it is already too late for it by the time you get home.
The most popular reef safe urchins are the tuxedo urchins. The drawback to these guys is that they 'camouflage' themselves with whatever is in your tank...be it a rock, a snail, your prized bubblegum chalice frag....whatever.
So, even though urchins have the reef safe tag along with them, no urchin is worth the price of the corals we put in them IMO.

+1 This is why I have never considered getting an urchin. I've seen them at the LFS covered in zoanthids that where once drags to be sold.

[AbsoluteFaye]

Did the crab die too? Looks exactly like my decorator crab.


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[POLARBEAR0871]

If that looks like your decorator than you have a deformed decorator are you sure it's a decorator


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[DI68]

Thanks everyone. I put the crab in the sump but left the urchins out.


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[DI68]

Woke up this morning to see my brittle star torn into pieces. Any idea what hitchhiker would do this?


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[POLARBEAR0871]

What kind of fish do you have


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[DI68]

None yet...I just started cycling


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[Sniperhank]

Any effective clean up crew will do that when one of the stars die. You are cycling, this was most likely the cause of death, ammonia poisoning.

[mr_X]

That urchin is reef safe, as far as I have seen. I have had a few of them in different reefs for years, and none of them did anything but graze the rock.

[DI68]

Shame....I have been refreshing my knowledge/understanding of cycling as it's been a while- both methods with and without fish and thought about how the starfish cope with the unstable levels but that was before I got out of bed and saw that they don't cope : (. That hitchhiker wished he jumped rocks.


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[POLARBEAR0871]

I've had a pistol shrimp since I started cycling some hitchhikers do well when cycling but others don't but bristle stars are also a very vulnerable starfish if you had a a hardier star such as for example a chocolate chip star it would probably still alive I had my chocolate chip about a month or two after I started cycling I cycled for about 8 months before I even added a single clown I cycled with fish also try using a couple damsels


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