Mixing Urchins

[skinless85]

I have a Long Spine urchin that is doing AWESOME in one tank and a Tuxedo Urchin in another tank that isn't doing so well. Is it possible to put my Tuxedo into the tank with the Spine urchin? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Both tanks are 29 Gallon Biocubes.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skinless85 http:///t/392444/mixing-urchins#post_3484660
I have a Long Spine urchin that is doing AWESOME in one tank and a Tuxedo Urchin in another tank that isn't doing so well. Is it possible to put my Tuxedo into the tank with the Spine urchin? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Both tanks are 29 Gallon Biocubes.
Urchins to my knowledge don't fight, however the amount of algae needed to sustain life for two in a single tank would be near impossible to maintain. I think unless you have high nitrates, starvation is why the other isn't doing well. I had a 90g loaded with algae and my long spined (diadema) urchin didn't last over a year. It ate the algae and even though it still had some, it began to lose it's spikes.
The black long spined urchins are hungrier than the pincushion ones.
I checked on line...if you can attach lots of algae sheets to different rocks you might be able to have enough algae to sustain life.

 

[saxman]

Another thing to consider is the size of the urchins...Diadema sp. (long spine) urchins get pretty darned large (think 10" ball of spines), and would pretty much fill most of a BC. Also, urchins eat a lot, so two hungry urchins may be tuff to sustain in such a small setup.