I would love to keep an urchin in my tank but I keep reading conflicting info about them. Some say that certain species are "reef safe" and others say that I should avoid all of them like the plague. What do you guys think? I love my LFS but they dont seem to confident in their knowledge of the subject.
Urchins
- Thread starter edwarder
- Start date
I have a blue tuxedo urchin in my 180. He's relatively reef-safe--he hasn't caused any trouble, anyway. He does like coralline but doesn't strip it all the way down to bare rock. I like him--he's always picking up something and carrying it around. You never know what his "outfit" is going to be from day to day. Just my $0.02.
Same here! I to have a tuxedo and it has never harmed a thing. I think the tuxedo is about the best urchin to keep in a reef do to their disposition. Mine eats some corraline but absolutely loves hair algae! Just like jdeets said they pick up anything to try a camoflage themselves! Mine had a Scarlet hermit stuck on top of him one day! The urchin had him upside down so the little guy could not get off! It was hilarious! All the time the urchin is thinking that no one can see him and there's this bright red crab trying to get away on top of him!
L.
L.
I love my tuxedo urchin! I haven’t noticed him eating any coralline, but he definitely eats other algea. He’s cool looking and funny to watch, as those above have stated.
I recently used some toothpicks in my tank to hold down caulerpa... the next day my urchin was going around with a toothpick on his back, as if no one could see him behind his clever disguise!
I say go for it!
I recently used some toothpicks in my tank to hold down caulerpa... the next day my urchin was going around with a toothpick on his back, as if no one could see him behind his clever disguise!
I say go for it!
I have both Long Spine and Tuxedo urchins, I find them to be harmless in my reef tank. The only problem I have had as mentioned above, is when I had the Tuxedo in my refugium and he kept sticking caulerpa to his back and it had a tendency to rot and decay.
Steve
Steve
Add one more reefer happy with a Blue Tux Urchin. They are cool little guys. Yes they will eat some coralline. However, it seems to me the way in which they do consume coralline could actually stimulate its growth (eating small patches and moving on).
- Location
- Virginia
IMO, all urchins are like vultures. They are primarily scavengers, but will take an easy meal if they find it. That means that juicy little polyps that are easy prey will soon disappear into their mouths. I have had pencil urchins eat starfish, long spine eat xenia, yellow polyps, colonial polyps, and even chew on my clams, and pin cushion urchins that eat the same things, and then, pick up coral frags and dump them where the sun don't shine. Also, all urchins, when they get larger (and they will) will start rearranging your tank via rock slides. I have one shingle urchin in my tank that I have never seen eat anything. He comes out at night, cruises around, and in the daytime, wedges himself behind my overflow box, or into a small dark nook. It is still very small, and it looks cool, but I have no doubt that one day, I will have to banish him with the rest of the urchins to the basement pond to be trigger food (if they ever figure out that they are supposed to eat urchins). If you're interested, I'll trade you an urchin for something else so you can experience the urchin problems I have had.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by davelin315:
<STRONG>IMO, all urchins are like vultures. They are primarily scavengers, but will take an easy meal if they find it. That means that juicy little polyps that are easy prey will soon disappear into their mouths. I have had pencil urchins eat starfish, long spine eat xenia, yellow polyps, colonial polyps, and even chew on my clams, </STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Pencil urchins are carnivores that will eat corals or whatever it wants to, but many other urchins are strictly herbivores and will eat noting but algae. The tuxedo urchin is a good choice for a reef tank.
<STRONG>IMO, all urchins are like vultures. They are primarily scavengers, but will take an easy meal if they find it. That means that juicy little polyps that are easy prey will soon disappear into their mouths. I have had pencil urchins eat starfish, long spine eat xenia, yellow polyps, colonial polyps, and even chew on my clams, </STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Pencil urchins are carnivores that will eat corals or whatever it wants to, but many other urchins are strictly herbivores and will eat noting but algae. The tuxedo urchin is a good choice for a reef tank.
Dave, like Rod has said most of the Urchins we keep in our reef tanks are herbivores. Many urchin questions have been asked on Dr Rons forum on RC and he does concur with this. As far as knocking over rock work I will agree this is possible, some get quite large and could by accident knock over a rock, however, the spines on the Long Spine urchins are very brittle, so I would not think they would knock over heavy rocks.
Steve
Steve
- Location
- Virginia
You may be right about some urchins being herbivores, but I have seen pin cushion urchins (the generic name for the family that the tuxedo belongs to) eating dead things in the tank, and in the process of eating algae, mowing down polyps in my tank. So, despite their best intentions, I still think it is a mistake to put one in your tank if you have any fleshy polyps (I've made the mistake myself, and still have a shingle urchin in my tank, so I'm being hippocritical, but hey, he hasn't done the damage yet, and until he does, he won't be banished - the others weren't banished until I caught them in the act).
After all, in this hobby, we learn the most by observing the behaviors exhibited in our tanks. As a lot of the marine biologists or scientists have stated, no matter how much you know of the natural reefs, the aquarium is a whole other ball game.
[ August 11, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]
After all, in this hobby, we learn the most by observing the behaviors exhibited in our tanks. As a lot of the marine biologists or scientists have stated, no matter how much you know of the natural reefs, the aquarium is a whole other ball game.
[ August 11, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]
Does everyone else's blue tux look like the one in the FFexpress link Roo posted? Mines got reddish/brown spines. And hes darker blue.
Here's info on urchins. Meant to include this with my original post, sorry.
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/june/wb/default.asp
Here's info on urchins. Meant to include this with my original post, sorry.
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/june/wb/default.asp
I have a Collector Urchin, Tripneustes gratilla, in my 120 gal tank. Has the short spines and has the same habits with adorning itself with bits'n pieces, anything from bits of shell to caulerpa. Last week it had a piece of leather coral on it's back...I'll probably find that growing somewhere else in the tank before long. All in all I think they are a great addition to the tank, eating algae off rocks and glass walls. This one doesn't bulldoze or cause rockslides. It will graze around living corals to get at the algae and do most of it'ws work at night. You will always see a fresh "snail trail" in the morning and know where its been overnight.
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