Urchin Relocates Zoanthids

[OneFishTwoFish]

Our Tuxedo Urchin was a model citizen for his first two weeks. He would carry shell rubble, empty shells, and the occasional small hermit. Last night, after lights out, I saw him hanging around a corner of a rock that's covered in Zoanthids. I thought he was interested in what was on the sides of the rock. Turns out, he was much more interested in the polyps.

Note the part of the colony that he cleaned out:

He's covered himself so well, he really blends into the rockwork:

Upon closer examination, he's under there !

Although the urchin's Mobile Zoa Garden seems to be alive at this point, the polyps are not as bright as they were in their original location.

I'll be watching this guy. Anyone have similar experiences ?

---Frank

 

[sirrealism]

Cant say I have had the same problem but if they are not high dollar zoas then its very cool. Hope the zoas survive.

 

[Oxylebius]

Hahaha! That's great. Although I can understand if you aren't too pleased about it at the moment. It is very cool. Urchins carrying around fragments of things, including corals, live snails and hermits crabs is all very normal for them. In the wild they tend to go more for algaes, but with macro algaes not readily available in our tanks, they go for other items.

Here is a pic of my urchin carrying around an orange montipora coral frag. My urchin pulled it off the rock it was glued to and carried it around the tank for months. And that coral was still living - crazy!

 

[OneFishTwoFish]

Thanks Oxy ! It's cool - one of the reasons our hobby can be so entertaining. Our little guy is still proudly carrying his micro zoa garden around the tank.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kremlin]

My urchin has been carrying around zoas for 6 months and they are still doing good!

 

[Oxylebius]

Kremlin, we need pictures!