Keeping urchins
- Thread starter e048
- Start date
DamonG
New member
You know dude(and I'm using that loosely because you could be a young lady), someone gave me the most accurate advice about urchins before I purchased my first, and Lord knows it's the truth: "the best ones are the ones that can do the most damage".. By far, the most effective and active(i mean like I can't believe sometimes how fast that goofy thing moves and has grown) has been my long spine. I swear, that crazy beast, it seems can clean a rock of anything in 5 minutes.. It's an unbelievable cleaner.. But.. I honestly, it off everything in my tank, fear it the most. My tank is 90% sps(i have well over 60 species in my system), and I have watched it eat a piece of digi that broke off and was laying in the sand. It only took a couple of minutes at that..
But.. I watch it(as it's a pretty active little guy compared to all the others I've had), and it's good about moving around even the smallest frags. The digi incident was right after I purchased him a year ago and in the 50 gallon. He hasn't eaten anything else in that time. I just personally fear those spines when working in the tank. And I only have the one longspine in the 180..
Besides that, he's been an amazing little pet and cleaning tool..
But.. I watch it(as it's a pretty active little guy compared to all the others I've had), and it's good about moving around even the smallest frags. The digi incident was right after I purchased him a year ago and in the 50 gallon. He hasn't eaten anything else in that time. I just personally fear those spines when working in the tank. And I only have the one longspine in the 180..
Besides that, he's been an amazing little pet and cleaning tool..
DamonG
New member
Yeah, the corraline isn't easy. But if anything will touch it(like which mine doesn't a ton anymore on the rocks), it will be an urchin. And neither of mine get on the back glass that often.
Mine does more if the tiny bit of diatom that may every once in a blue moon show up.. The long spine has ate corraline, but I think, like you said, that it's so thick and so much, that I don't notice much anymore.. Corraline is a blessing and a curse. It's very good for letting you know if something happens, as it will bleach first, but for its growth on glass, yeah, lol, it does become a nuisance.. The rose corraline is even worse though, and I will never, ever put that in a tank again on purpose..
Mine does more if the tiny bit of diatom that may every once in a blue moon show up.. The long spine has ate corraline, but I think, like you said, that it's so thick and so much, that I don't notice much anymore.. Corraline is a blessing and a curse. It's very good for letting you know if something happens, as it will bleach first, but for its growth on glass, yeah, lol, it does become a nuisance.. The rose corraline is even worse though, and I will never, ever put that in a tank again on purpose..
e048
New member
I have green and the deep purple coralline, the rise coraline looks better than the green though, I have some red coralline that looks like cyano, only way I found out it wasn't was by blasting the rocks with a powerhead and not seeing any change in the rocks, usually cyano will blow away pretty fast but not this red on my rocks it's stuck for good
I read a research article that urchins actually help in forming new coralline growth I don't remember where though
I read a research article that urchins actually help in forming new coralline growth I don't remember where though
DamonG
New member
I would think it's by their chewing it up, and getting it in the water stream. Then, of course, the small fragments float all over the place, spreading the corraline spores.
And this rose corraline I'm talking about it different. It looks a ton like plating monitopra. It's very, very pretty, but grows crazily when established..
