Long Spined Sea Urchin

[tenderuc]

Was thinking of getting a long spined sea urchin. But do not know much about them. They are suppose to be good algae eaters, that is a good thing. Are there any draw backs to the sea urchin, any bad things that I should be aware of. Can get it for $10 bucks I'm guessing that is a good deal. Let me know what you think. Thanks for your time. Tom

 

[honda70kid]

only thing is im pretty sure they eat coralline

 

[rssjsb]

How big is your tank? These things get absolutely huge and grow very fast.

 

[tenderuc]

I have 125, How fast, How huge?

 

[tatuvaaj]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14756569#post14756569 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rssjsb
How big is your tank? These things get absolutely huge and grow very fast.

Sure but most of their size comes from the spines. The actual body is surprisingly small

I have had Diadema spp several years and have found them to be excellent animals for reef tanks (and beautiful, of course). They are amazingly nimble and can navigate through much smaller cracks you would think as they have full control of the orientation of their spines.

The biggest problem is that they can cause painful injury if you are not careful.

 

[rssjsb]

The spines can get up to 8" long. An LFS here had one that went from 2" total diameter to the size of a small soccer ball in a matter of months.

Don't get me wrong - they are great algae eaters and are generally reef safe (in the sense that they don't usually eat the things you are trying to grow), but they get big and, for the reasons described by tatuvaaj, are hard to remove when they get that big.

 

[tatuvaaj]

Very true, and the spines are designed to break easily which make it even more difficult. For this reason many urchins are in bad shape when they arrive at LFS.

In good conditions they grow them back soon, though.

 

[tenderuc]

What do you do with them when they get as big as a soccer ball? Don't want it to be killing my fish because they bump into when it gets that big. Thanks Tom

 

[tatuvaaj]

You might want to consider species with shorter spines, like Tripneustes and Mespilia species.

 

[tenderuc]

OK I was just offered a good deal on it and wanted to know some things about it. Thanks Tom

 

[rssjsb]

It's only a good deal if you can live with it for the long haul. If you don't have plans for a tank that will accommodate it when it gets really big, I would pass.

 

[tenderuc]

OK then I will probably pass on it then, maybe try to find a shorter spined one that is good with algae. Thanks Tom

 

[jhildebrand]

Also, they are only generally reef safe - if they're hungry due to not enough coraline they will sample stonies, especially plating corals. They can also bulldoze frags requiring you to glue everything down. They won't ever hurt fish, but can indeed hurt you if you don't respect their spines...

 

[MartinEric]

Might try Mespilia Globulus-Tuxedo Urchin, or Tripneustes Gratilla-Hairy Colored verieties of urchin as they stay small-2-3" and eat algae as well.

 

[JasonD]

I put one in my 45 gallon Anemone tank and I must admit that thing really mows down the algae. Hasn't hurt anyone yet, one of the cooler looking creatures you can put into your tank IMO. He's only about 7" accross right now, but in the furture who knows.

Jason