urchins

[garvondavis14]

just curious to know how many of you have urchins in your tanks....what kind, yada yada yada

 

[Orochimaru]

used to but they knocked over frags so I got rid of them with the rest of the cleaner crews such as snail, hermits, and other craps like them.

 

[jamieb]

tetra, what do you use now instead of clean up crew?

 

[Orochimaru]

none....got a couple tangs, phosban and ozone.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I have a couple tuxedo urchins in my tank, they will knock over stuff, they will grab loose stuff as "decoration" but snails and fish knock things over too, so simply glue everything down. If you have frag plugs stuffed in any hole you have you'll be asking for trouble.

 

[fishieness]

yeah, you really do need to glue everything down. i have a small pincushion in my 40 breeder and he woudl grab any frags and carry them around, sometimes dropping them in the sand, or behind a rock,ect. i got fed up with it so i jsut put him in my fowlr. also, he was eating all the coraline on my rocks.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I have a tuxedo and small black rock urchin in my 75, a pencil in my 55 and a pincushion in my 2.5. I love urchins .

 

[rutz81]

I have a tuxedo in my 75. Like the other said, lotta stuff gets stuck to them, and I only really see me at night(actinics), but, pretty cool, none the less.

Dave

 

[sfsuphysics]

yes, tuxedos will grab onto just about anything (although mine is active throughout the day)... FYI this is a month and a half ago this was taken, and he still has his toupee!

 

[jmack]

I have 3 black urchins that came in as hitchhikers on my FL rock..they are really cool...I'm sure they knock things over but their interesting enough to keep around.

 

[garvondavis14]

cool...so how many of you have had them demolish your coraline?

 

[Island Hopper]

I have 3 that were given to me, I keep them in my sump/refugium. They love the coraline but they also clean the sides so I'm happy with them where they are.

 

[alexk3954]

I don't think they really make a difference in the coralline. I have a tuxedo in my 55 and my coralline is growing better than ever before and my rocks are going from white to pink. IMO there is no way an urchin will make a noticeable difference in the amount of coralline.

 

[jmack]

I don't see a difference really..depends on how much live rock you have too though. They will scrape down some areas but they spread it around too

 

[mwitten]

I have two Tuxedo urchins, and am fascinated by them... They have picked up an worn things I forgot I even had in the tank!

They munch on the Corraline, but don't seem to impact it much, if at all. They are in my 120g reef.

Knocking things around is a problem, but gluing them down works best for me as well. They don't seem to do much worse than large Hermits or Snails in that way.

My two bits...

-Mike

 

[ReefBuilderNJ]

best to not have urchins in reef tanks.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8294543#post8294543 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefBuilderNJ
best to not have urchins in reef tanks.

.... care to explain? This comment follows 8 other posts from people happy with urchins in their reefs.

 

[cb9tunerguy]

ive got two neon green rock boaring urchins in mine. they were hitchhikers from a frag i bought off the internet. they are both about the size of a quarter. they give me no problems so i give them none.

 

[pgammon]

I have a tuxedo. I agree with alexk3954, mine doesn't dent the coraline. It spends most of its time on the glass, I rarely see it on the rocks.

 

[rock candy]

so do you guys supplement their diet with some nori or anything?