Black sea urchin friendly or not?????????

hi i have a black sea urchin in my tank and im sure the other morning when i got up i saw him eating the last bit of a shrimp that was in the tank and i havent seen the shrimp since, and now i just seen him cornering a watchman goby, so i moved him a long a bit and it looks like he is making a bee line for a star fish that is lying on the sand bed, is this typical urchin behaviour, will it eat anything that lies low and still long enough for it to suck it up?????????????

 

Urchins are generally specialized algae eaters. I've never heard of one hunting. Many prey on coraline. The only problem people potentially can have with urchins is some can sometimes eat coral.

 

While it won't "hunt" anything, it is an opportunistic feeder. Here's an article that may help you out with your Black Longspine

http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts...in-diadema-setosum-iotm-april-09-a-62564.html

 

i agree it doesnt hunt, a shrimp or crab even a starfish could outrun a urchin. people may say urchins are reef safe with luck, but i have never had a problem with tuxedos or pincusion or even read about problems with them besides maybe a sponge or turnicate.

a black longspine could be annoy that it knock stuff over

 

Didn't even think about the other guys. You're right about the Longspine knocking over stuff. They're pretty strong.

 

cheers