Urchins....

[zmazza]

My LFS has an urchin, and they are really cool looking. Just had a few questions about them...

I'm going to have a pair of ocellaris clowns and a hi fin red banded goby for sure. I'm also going to have a few ornamental shrimps, sooner or later.

Back to the question though... do they require special lighting? Are they difficult to feed? Are they reef friendly? Are there any special requirements? Etc?

Thanks.

 

[fijireef]

What species of urchin?
1:Lighting-no req
2:Feeding-scavenger/can (should imo) also "target feed" algae sheets
3:Reef safe- yes..however they can "bulldoze" over corals, been reported to snack on xenias etc. I personally have had no problems but a watchful eye is recommended.
4:special requirements: None i'm aware of. Keep water quality excellent and you should be ok.
DO find out what species they are selling as there are toxic varieties!!

 

[Terminal]

i have a question about urchins too. not to take away from your questions zmazza. I have an urchin and it seems to stay hidden in a small crevase in my tank. It never leaves the inside of it and no food is able to get to it. Its still alive yet Im afraid it won't be alive long if it remains in the crevase. I have tried to take him out of it yet he is stuck tight. I don't know what to do with him because food cannot get to him and I can't get him out of it. Is there any way to coax him out.

 

[fijireef]

By "tried to take him out" did you actually remove the rockwork to physically extract him? How stuck is he? The can get themselves buggered up pretty good them emerge days later no worse for ware. How long has he been in there? I take it you watch the tank at night to see if he comes out right?

 

[zmazza]

Not sure exactly what kind of urchin it is. It reminds me of an old depth charge to tell you the truth.

 

[Terminal]

well I watch him at night but all he does is move back and forth in this little area. I cant take the stuff apart because its glued for safety purposes, not to crush anyone, I can't get him out with my bare hands and he has been in there for about 4 days

 

[fijireef]

terminal: is it a rock boring urchin? Do you know the species name?

Zmazza: like a pencil urchin?

 

[Terminal]

i dunno what kind it is, The shop had it labeled as a pencil urchin but its not. Its little green and spiny.

 

[Terminal]

no worries about the urchin anymore. My chocolate chip starfish flushed him out of his little hole and he is doing well.

 

[fijireef]

Glad to hear it terminal!

 

[zmazza]

I actually did a little bit of research and it looks to be a Pencil (Mine) Urchin. Does anyone know anything about them? Do they stay small? As a scavenger, is it important to calculate them in your total inches of fish?

I'm wanting to go with a pair of clowns, my yellowtail damselfish, and a blenny or goby of some kind, and a scarlet cleaner shrimp, and various little hermit crabs and snails.

Would I need to remove the urchin? Or will it not have too much of an effect on my bioload?

 

[Terminal]

well what size of tank do you have and how long have you been cycling it

 

[zmazza]

The tank is about two weeks old. I'm at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and about 20-30 nitrate. I think it comes in on my water and in my chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metal remover. I bought 5 big pieces of live rock and 8 pieces of base rock. The live rock didn't have much die off at all. It currently has 2 hermit crabs, a turbo snail, a nassarius snail, a yellowtail damsel, and a spotted cardinal, and the pencil urchin.

The yellowtail (probably) and the spotted cardinal are going back to the pet store. I'm going to keep the urchin if he doesn't put much on the bioload.

I'm thinking of picking up one or two ocellaris clowns and maybe a lawnmower blenny or neon goby this weekend. I'm going to go do some research on shrimp and might pick one of those up in the future.

 

[Terminal]

Well if you have a big enough tank it won't effect your bioload that much. However if it is a smaller tank then it might strain it a tid bit, because they will get bigger. He probably won't do too much just don't mix him with some fragile corals because he will bulldoze them.

 

[zmazza]

I probably won't be keeping corals for a good year or so. It's a 29 gallon FOWLR. I've got more live and base rock than I know what to do with. Probably a good 50-60 pounds.