Keeping a Sea Urchin?

[Jordon]

I've been in this hobby for over 2 years and i'm starting a new tank with the following:

5 Green Chromis

Pixy Hawkfish

Serpent Starfish

Electric Blue Hermit

Zebra Hermit

 

 

i like urchins but dont know to much aboutthem. What do you think?

[ilektrik22]

I don't know much, about the urchins you can purchase,

 

but I have a rock burrowing urchin( hitchhiker on my rock), he's name is fluffy, he's pretty cute, really LOVES the Corolline algea, I don't think I'm ever going to have to worry about it growing on my glass. He doesn't bother anyone, moves around a fair bit, hasn't knocked anything over yet, although I'm not sure how large he is going to grow.

 

personally really like him, he's one of our tanks favourites. just have to be careful when you put your hands into the tank.

[Jordon]

I don't know much, about the urchins you can purchase,

 

but I have a rock burrowing urchin( hitchhiker on my rock), he's name is fluffy, he's pretty cute, really LOVES the Corolline algea, I don't think I'm ever going to have to worry about it growing on my glass. He doesn't bother anyone, moves around a fair bit, hasn't knocked anything over yet, although I'm not sure how large he is going to grow.

 

personally really like him, he's one of our tanks favourites. just have to be careful when you put your hands into the tank.

Post a picture please. Let me know when you do.

[matty0206]

I just traded in my green urchin to my lfs, he was a pain in the arse! They move around and everything sticks to them you constantly have to move them and remove zoas and in my case my whole feather duster off of them! They are also a mess when they get tangled up in your xenia! Just my .02

[Jordon]

But i wouldnt have any anemones or corals of any type in the tank.

[yardboy]

I've had long-spined black urchins (Diadema) and they are really cool looking. Only complaints I've had is that they can knock over frags and they eat corraline (things you don't sound like you'll have a problem with) They grow surprisingly fast too. I got the smallest one I could find, the diameter of a nickel (his shell) and he'd gotten quite large by the end of six months, too large for my 70 gallon tank.

[bradarmi]

I have a tuxedo urchin in my 10 gallon and have no problems with it. It did one tip over a frag but nothing too major. It is a bulldozer when it comes to hair and (macro)algae.

I would look into one of those.

[Dan McDonald]

I have a blue Tuxedo Urchin in my tank and he is just like a lint brush! Picks up everything he passes over. He constantly has small snails, substrate, and other random bits stuck to him. But man he loves the hair algae. Cleaned up my 46G fast. I haven't had problems with him picking up my Zoos but he did have 3 attached to him when I bought him..

 

As for the Spiny type, they can be very hard on your rockwork. If it's not secure it can be knocked over. Which could cause cracking glass!

 

I'm happy with what I have but I want a Black spiny too..

[Six]

your trigger would eat it if thats the tank youre putting it in.

[kinetic]

don't they make scratches on acrylic when they try to eat the corraline?

[Jordon]

your trigger would eat it if thats the tank youre putting it in.

no its going in a different tank.

[Jordon]

*bump*

[Jordon]

*BUMP*

[fishwife]

I have a pincushion urchin (lytechinus vaniegatus) like the ones they sell at liveaquaria. I think it's a bit risky to have urchins in small tanks because of the risk that they'll die and pollute the tank.

 

Having said that, mine is a fantastic algae eater. He's cool to watch, too.

 

Just be sure your rockwork is secure, because they do knock things over.

 

Wetwebmedia has a lot of info on urchins: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/urchins.htm