Do hermits eat urchins?

[mnewsome]

I have started to notice lately that something is breaking the spines off my black urchin. Could it be my red hermits? I was blaming my lawnmower blenny because I saw him pecking the urchin once, but now I am questioning the hermits. Something in the tank is killing stuff and I'm bound and determined to find out what.

 

[capncapo]

Spines coming off of urchins usually indicates poor health and that the end is near.

Spines breaking are normally not a problem.

I don't think that a hermit could even aspire to eat a healthy urchin.

 

[mnewsome]

Yeah, I think he's on his last leg. He isn't moving much. It's such a shame because he grew so fast and was always active for so long. I got him as a hitchhiker and became attached. Do urchins usually last long in captivity?

 

[capncapo]

They can last a fairly long time.

It may be that as yours got bigger it outgrew its food source. Many of them feed on algae and it could be that it just did its job too well.