Sand Dollar Urchin

Do you guys have any experience with them? Are they good sand cleaners. My LFS has one for 24$ and they saying it is much hardier and effective then Send Sifting Starfish. Thanks.

 

Very hard to keep alive, stating that they're hardier than a sand sifter star fish is a big and I mean big stretch. They need a constant supply of fine particulate matter.

When you see them the wild they are all lined up at an angle to filter the water. It's not going to stir your sand.

It might live a couple months.

There are so much better choices with regard to sifting the sand.

I have kept them briefly when I lived at the beach and tried to maintain them at a small public aquarium.

It's just a novelty, exotic item, with a poor survival rate in captivity.

 

Wow. Its a bummer...

 

Yeah they're sooo cool.

They will cruse along the top of the sand bed and might bury themselves but they eventually starve.

If they did well in captivity you would see them for sale at divers den and other places.

Someone will always come along and say they have kept them for longer than a couple months but that is the exception to the rule.

Fascinating creatures though.

 

As you mentioned, what are the better choices for sifting the sand? Thanks.

 

I like the Tiger Tail Cucumber, I have never had an issue with one dying and nuking the tank and I did have one die. They need probably at least a 50 gallon sand bed. Work horses though.

Nassarius snails do a nice job.

Fighting Conch is another good one.

Hermits to a lesser degree.

 

Thank you.

 

I respect your opinion. I know you are very expierienced and I have one more question. Do you quarantine your inverts? I know they dont carry ich but still coming wet into display...

 

Thanks.

No for two reasons.

1. I for one have never really been into fish.
2. Back when I did keep expensive fish types and multiple fish types QT was not a common practice.

You're right anything that is moist has the potential to carry disease. While the risk is probably much lower with inverts you can do a couple things.


1. You can place the inverts in a simple QT tank for 6 weeks. Parasites like Marine Ich and Brooklynella need a host/fish to complete their life cycle. These parasites die off without a host. Flukes should not be much of a problem.
2. If possible buy from vendors that keep a separate system for their inverts.


The extent to which you concern yourself with the possibility of introducing disease has a lot to do with your tank. In a larger tank over 100 gallons or ones with a lot of rock it's difficult to catch fish for treatment if disease breaks out.
Financial investment for those fish collectors. Availability of a treatment tank.

Sorry that is little long winded. :

 

I just wanted to add, if you are into fish and want something to sand sifter, I really liked the diamond goby. I always liked watching them work. but they tend to be messy with their sifting dropping sand all over everything and you will have to make sure the top of your tank is locked up tight. I lost 3 of those suckers because of suicide jumps.