thinking of getting an urchin

Well

I just bought one the other day...he is opposite of what I have read. He comes out in the day, charging all over the tank but mostly sticks to the glass, then at night he sits up by the powerhead flow. I was afraid he was going to get stuck to the powerhead because he kept going over by it and sitting near it so I jimmy-rigged a fish net over it. So this little guy is pretty rad, he sure is a rascal though because he pulled off my thermometer and I always get scared the fish are going to run into him on accident, even though it only stings them for a couple days.

I don't think I have much algae either but he sure eats the purple coralline. I really want to get a little peacock zoa but think he may ruin it. I am setting up another tank, might move him to it...not sure.

Maybe I will get one of those in-tank refugiums and keep my corals in there! lol

Even though I love him I might have to take him back if he gets too big.

 

I also want an urchin, glad to see this post. The coral thing worries me though.
I have a few corals including a huge rock covered in xenia. I just recently started a frag tank though. So, shouldnt be too much of an issue.

 

I THINK the only thing to worry about with an urchin and corals is that they may run into them. I don't think they will eat them as they are not carnivores, they only eat algae. But every urchin is different. Mine just goes around and around the glass all day long, mostly at the top but sometimes comes down and eats some of my pretty purple coraline. ekk, but he is so cool. He only climbs on my rocks sometimes. I think he is still acquainting himself with the home.

 

Well.. went to the LFS to buy my new tank.. and he had the exact urchin I wanted.. and he threw him in.. so.. i took him home Sorry for the crappy pic. I put him in the tank. He moved a few inches, brought out his feelers looking for food and took off. A peppermint shrimp got a little adventurous and grabbed him. The shrimps leg got stuck, finally it pulled it off and then took off LOL

Meet tux:

 

I know you can spot feed urchins by putting raw meat on their spine... so I wouldn't say they're not carnivores... probably omnivores. Well, I say "I know", actually should be "I've read"


But you brought up a question in my mind... if you eat coral - does that make you an herbivore or a carnivore? Man, what a question... I think I might post that...

My biggest concern is "bulldozing". I'm not as worried about it poking holes in the coral... seems natural to me. The bulldozing scares me as I don't have everything epoxied in place. Same reason I don't have any turbos.

Nice freebie! And good luck.

Are you keeping him in a cycling tank (new tank made me think this)... I have no idea if they're hardy enough for that. I would guess they're not, but don't know. Or you have him in a different tank?


Anyway, thanks for sharing! Good info from everyone.

 

I think only the short-spined ones are bulldozers. Mine has the loooong spikes and he doesn't use them for anything but feelers. I try to drop little pellets of veggies on him, and he grabs onto them but eventually they slip through his spikes. I put some seaweed on a clip and he found in and ate all that. But bulldozing with a black-long-spine, NO WAY. Those spikes are SUPER delicate too, he wouldn't be able to carry anything with those.

I think it's the little guys you gotta worry about.

 

I put him in my 37 gallon thats been up and running.. my 75 i still need parts form.
He has his feelers out quite a bit.. grabbing stuff out of the water column.
When he was in the lfs he had like 5 pieces of shell and LR on his back as camoflauge.

 

That's interesting feedback.

I have a 55g long and my rock is of the wall variety. I have it running down the middle of my tank, not towards the back (I wanted to keep flow easy). So there's not much room (width wise) down the length of the tank. I'd say less than 6" of space, on average.

 

I also have a wall.. no too tall to keep the flow running as well. He moved around on the rock the first couple days. Has been on the back glass since.

 

It is very neat looking cdeboard. Do you have any clearer pics?