Long Spine Urchin

[andyguck]

What's your guy's thoughts on l.s. urchins in reef tanks? I have one and it seems okay-but would my coralline algae grow more rapidly if I tossed him? He has never ate any coral, but obviously algae. Just curious on others experience.

 

[andyguck]

bump

 

[fishieness]

ive never kept the longspine specifically but they are all pretty much the same. the reason i took mine out of my reef was partialy because he was eating the corline. needless to say, i was a little upset, but what really really ticked me off was when he woudl pick up and move delicatly placed frags... a lot of money down the drain.
also, the longspines get BIG!! antoher thing to consider.

 

[ninjamini]

I keep 2 urchins in my 90 reef. I got them as hitchhikers. They eat coraline and knock things over. But there cool.

 

[maxalmon]

Like a bulldozer, keeps knocking things over and you find them in the strangest places. I swear that one day I thought that I was going to have to tear my 125 apart because we spotted him wedged between 2 rocks and there was absolutley no way he was going to get out, sure enough the next day, he had moved on and knocked a bunch of stuff over along the way.

 

[mach03infront]

just took back my pink tip urchin.... that was the worst thing ever! Just like a lot of people posted picks up things than drops them ..... kills you when it's a very rare frag!

i've learned my lesson! never again!

 

[ophiura]

In a system that favors coralline growth, urchins, in fact, are consider a means of spreading the growth. So I would first review your tank parameters and other possible issues.