questions if I have "reef-safe" animals

[shavo]

hi all, I need some advice.... I have a 125 with alot of rock in it and I am just starting the corals now and I wanted to double check something before i begin. if I am going to take this thing apart it is going to be before i put corals in it. I was wondering if a few of my animals are reef safe. I was going to start out with green star polyps ans some xenia to try out although i bought some gorgonia about 2 months ago and that is doing fine so far.
1. long spine black urchin, not sure if this is safe? seems harmless
2 pencil urchin, i think this one should go but not sure
3 sally light foot, very aggressive one
4. emerald crab
5. 1 really big camel shrimp
and finally the one that i will never get out of this tank 1 purple reef lobster

please help me out with some suggestions even if you only know about one of these animals. i am meeting somebody tomorrow and need to make it safe for the corals. thank you for any help and info that you can provide.

 

[Meloco14]

Urchins are fairly reef safe. They may knock over rocks or corals though. And they eat algae, both filamentous and coralline, so you will lose some of the pretty colors on the rocks. Sally Lightfoots I have heard can be aggressive and kill small fish, other inverts, and may eat some corals. Emerald crabs are safer, but I have heard of a few bad instances with them. All of the ones I have had were safe, but they did not eat as much algae as I would have likes. Some people hate camel shrimp and swear they will eat corals, other shrimp and small fish. Some people have had peaceful camel shrimp. IMO it's much safer to go with a peppermint instead. I don't know anything about reef lobsters. HTH

 

[shavo]

the sally light foot is going to be really hard to get out of the tank and if i am going to get him out i might as well do it all in one shot. i feel the long spiny urchin is safe i don't see him bothering too much now and isn't attached to the roch as much as the pencil urchin. the reef lobster i never ever see except of rare occasions, but he is my favorite and I would like to not have to get rid of him, but if he isn't safe i have to get him out.
anybody have any defenites on these animals?

 

[Anonymous]

I would ditch the camel shrimp.

The long spine urchin is fine, he might knock over some frags and will eat corraline, but I don't think that is a bad thing. I think a little corraline grazing seems to help it grow. The pencil urchin I am fairly certain is no good. I have never kept one but I just did a google search and what I found indicates they are carnivorous scavengers and can eat corals.

The emerald crab is usually fine. I had no trouble with a sally lightfoot during the time I had him, but he disappeared for some reason. I have seen folks complain about them.

Reef lobster, I dunno what that is or anyone who has kept one.

It's really really hard to say for sure if individual animals will be reef safe. You have a lot of creatures in there that fall into the "maybe" category. You will probably be able to find someone somewhere who has kept each of these critters successfully in a reef, but many have not. It depends on how much risk you are willing to live with.

 

[Anonymous]

i'm a bit dubious about that long spined urchin. is 125 liters or gallons?

 

[Anonymous]

I have both the long spined and pencil urchins in my tank, both came in as hitchhikers, both have reproduced (I think) one smaller version, and both are growing outta control. They dont seem to have hurt any of my corals but they do move around a lot! I am considering removing the larger versions of both although they are attractive. I geuss its luck of the draw.

 

[shavo]

hey thaks for all the info , the tank is 125 gallons, and i have gotten some info about pencil urchins, and the camel back that aren't good. so they are the ones to go so far, but nothing on the reef lobster. for the most part he is never to be found i gues the freaks come out at night, because i never see him leave the rock work.

 

[Anonymous]

the thing is, i know that long spined urchins do get big. i have seen them about 15 to 18 inches, including the spines, so they might be a bit of a prblem if you tank is well stocked