fire urchin help

[Teaggs]

Any idea where I can find one for sale? All the sites online I check are always out of stock. Ive been looking for months now. I have a FOWLR tank so i am not worried about him messing with any little reef creatures. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Calappidae]

Do you mean these ones?

I'd setup email alert and ask around lfs to see if they can order them in. I love these urchins but I heard they give a really nasty sting.

 

[Teaggs]

Yeah thats the one. I don't plan on touching him lol. I set up email alerts at every place on line that carries them and I have yet to get one email. Its been at least 2 months.

 

[Teaggs]

I signed up for email alerts at bluezoo and live aquaria. Anyone know of any others who might carry the fire urchin?

 

[Calappidae]

I'd try calling an lfs to order one in for you. Mine gets them in all the time in large quanities.

 

[Teaggs]

Ill give that a try. Do you ever see them on divers den at live aquaria?

 

[slapshot]

They are on Divers Den all the time. Might be a timing thing from where they get them

 

[Calappidae]

They are on Divers Den all the time. Might be a timing thing from where they get them

Maybe not all the time but yes they're not a rare sight on there. They also have a suggestion box you can fill in for diver's den to increase the priority of getting one in again.

 

[Calappidae]

You can also ask bluezoo, DFS, etc etc first hand in our sponser section of RC to see if they got any info on their stock hold or likelyhood of getting in another.

 

[MikeandNicole]

We have one.
We are in NJ, and we bought it from the ELOS aqua studio in short hills.
We have had ours since the summer.
I (Nicole) can attest to the sting, I got too close. It was like a bee sting, only it kept stinging for longer, and we ended up needing to call the medical professional in the family to dig the spine out of my finger.

 

[Teaggs]

Does yours look like the one above in the pic? I saw a flower urchin today at my LFS. They are very toxic but I don't like the look of them as much as the rainbow fire urchin.

 

[MikeandNicole]

Does yours look like the one above in the pic? I saw a flower urchin today at my LFS. They are very toxic but I don't like the look of them as much as the rainbow fire urchin.

Mine looks very similar to the one in the photo, only the red on mine is brighter, and the spines on mine are red with white bands and black tips on the top, ans red spines fading to black on the bottom. Check out our NJRC thread.

 

[Calappidae]

These urchins can come in tons of different appearences. Some are more "tuxedo urchinish" and host crabs, shrimp, etc, while the other variations can look like a standard long spine urchin. My lfs had about 5 in at a time.. no two were the same.. some duller than others.

 

[Teaggs]

I wish someone would find me one and ship it to me lol. I love them one that Nicole has. I like the real bright red.

 

[Calappidae]

WOW I just checked out the OP's urchin and I've never seen one like that! Amazing!

 

[MikeandNicole]

I love them one that Nicole has. I like the real bright red.

Thank you.
I questioned if it would retain its color, but so far so good.
It has also done a fantastic job of controlling algae growth in our tank.

 

[Calappidae]

Thank you.
I questioned if it would retain its color, but so far so good.
It has also done a fantastic job of controlling algae growth in our tank.

How big is he, I've consitured getting one myself for my 55g but I didn't want to over crowd anything or risk rocks getting pushed over.

 

[MikeandNicole]

How big is he, I've consitured getting one myself for my 55g but I didn't want to over crowd anything or risk rocks getting pushed over.

He is a over 5". I'd call him 3.5" of body, plus another 2" of spines at least.
He is in our 205g display.

 

[Teaggs]

I still haven't found one. Looking at all LFS in the area and online all over the place.....

 

[Calappidae]

Did you ask if the lfs can get them in for you?