My own newbie thread
- Thread starter iidylii
- Start date
silverado61
Well-Known Member
What types are you getting? I've got a long spine and a collector urchin.
iidylii
Active Member
I'm getting a long spine...hairy colored pincushion...pencil...and a short spine...I also have a fighting conch...coral banded shrimp...porcelain crab...2 emerald crabs...serpent and brittle star...Sally light foot and various hermits and snails as well as 3 pajamas and a two spot goby "which I wasn't aware seems to be a pain in the butt to take care of" coming tomorrow as well...so hopefully I didn't overdue it right away but like I said they offer reef package deals so I was just trying to take advantage of that as well...should be fun tomorrow though...see how many times I get hit by the urchins 
Last edited:
flower
Well-Known Member
That is way too many urchins! In a new system.... you will have a hard time to keep even one alive. Sell them to a pet store, before they starve... I had one long spine urchin and all kinds of algae in an established system... after 6 months it was out of food and it's spines began to fall out. Also, that's too many critters to add at one time... What do you think the other 3 urchins will do??? Then you added snails and a Sally to the mix...this is very, very bad...
Last edited:
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Flower is right. It's not way too many, but it is too many at one time in a new system. Even if you use algae sheets (wafers won't work) they are slow movers and all the other critters will beat them to it. They're also coralline algae eaters so any chance of getting that to grow in your new tank is gone.I'm getting a long spine...hairy colored pincushion...pencil...and a short spine...I also have a fighting conch...coral banded shrimp...porcelain crab...2 emerald crabs...serpent and brittle star...Sally light foot and various hermits and snails as well as 3 pajamas and a two spot goby "which I wasn't aware seems to be a pain in the butt to take care of" coming tomorrow as well...so hopefully I didn't overdue it right away but like I said they offer reef package deals so I was just trying to take advantage of that as well...should be fun tomorrow though...see how many times I get hit by the urchins
If you use wafers the Serpent and Brittle will get to them and literally swallow them whole. I speak from experience on that one. I've got three Serpents.
If you plan on getting corals the Pencil will go after them, which is why I didn't get one. They can also catch fish.
Short Spines are borrowing creatures so they will eat their way into your coral rock creating a pocket and you'll never get them out. I saw these by the hundreds in Hawaii.
The Sally will attack the Serpent and Brittle Stars, and anything else they can get their claws on, including corals which is why I didn't get one.
As far as "being hit" by the urchins, the long spine is the only one you'll have to worry about. Their spines are hollow and thinner than injection needles, which makes them very easy to break off when you get stuck with them and they're filled with a painful venom which burns like hell. The spines are also barbed which means when they break off in your skin, you can't just pull them out and the more you try, the deeper they'll work into your flesh. Not to mention the fact that the spines grow very fast. When I got mine, with the spines, he was about the size of an orange. Now, six month's later, he's about the size of a small cantaloupe. Your fish will probably end up skewered on the spines because they'll have no place to swim.
A long hard road would be an understatement. With all those sensitive inverts, Just to acclimate them correctly is going to take you all day. Each species needs it's own acclimating period. That's a lot to juggle. Good luck. Like Flower said, if you want any chance of success, sell half of what your getting to a LFS.
I'm going with Flower on this one.
Last edited:
iidylii
Active Member
Crap...I thought I asked about all this earlier but I guess not...maybe I'll have to give some stuff to my brother and dad :~}
I'm not sure why my fish will end up "skewered" how big of a tank do u need for a long spine...does everyone who gets one have a 200+ gallon tank? I guess with the reading I did I never seen mention of that...
I will get algae sheets instead also...but I was seeing peopl keeping multiple urchins by feeding sheets and or chip or wafers...without problems...
And our LFS will not take any animals from people :~{
Thanks guys for helping me out...I'll take all of what u said into consideration...and I hope I didn't come off as sounding like I don't think u guys know what u r talking about because I wasn't. :~}
I'm not sure why my fish will end up "skewered" how big of a tank do u need for a long spine...does everyone who gets one have a 200+ gallon tank? I guess with the reading I did I never seen mention of that...
I will get algae sheets instead also...but I was seeing peopl keeping multiple urchins by feeding sheets and or chip or wafers...without problems...
And our LFS will not take any animals from people :~{
Thanks guys for helping me out...I'll take all of what u said into consideration...and I hope I didn't come off as sounding like I don't think u guys know what u r talking about because I wasn't. :~}
Last edited:
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Long spines grow up to 16in in the wild. 12in in a closed system.
Its not a matter of what you feed them. Its a matter of the competition for food amongst critters.
If your fish get "spooked" they can dart right into the spines. Hence being skewered.
Its not a matter of what you feed them. Its a matter of the competition for food amongst critters.
If your fish get "spooked" they can dart right into the spines. Hence being skewered.
flower
Well-Known Member
Too many critters at once.... Means too many CUC members to be added to a new system at one time. The people who feed algae sheets have (at least I hope so) an established system, the sheets just supplement, it's not be their only source of food. Your plan is to completely feed all those algae eaters like they are fish that need to be fed, then there are the meat scavengers. Like Silverado said...competition for the food.
I have never had a fish hit by the spikes of a Diadema urchin (Black long spine)...but it's pretty weird to put your hand in the tank, and see them aim those spikes right at you. LOL...That red orb is not an eye, its an anus, so I don't know how it knows where to aim, since they can't see. I would move my hand one direction and then the other...the thing would bunch up it's spines and point them in whatever direction my hand was in.
A CUC is just that, their job is to clean up...but in a new tank, you have nothing to clean up. A CUC has to be built as the need for them arises. Urchins as part of the CUC, are what you add if you have problem algae, otherwise the snails do a fine job. You got in a hurry, and/or you wanted to "save money" by getting everything at once. This hobby is not cheap, and cutting corners like getting everything at one time, just to save on shipping charges, is how to crash your system, if you do that with fish you don't quarantine, your tank will be in real trouble.
I learn something new here all the time....I never knew that a serpent or brittle star would eat algae sheets, or any algae at all. Mine lived in the rock (never seen them) and feed on meat...like bits of food that falls in there that the fish can't reach or get to, when I fed the fish, I would see an arm reaching from the rock to grab a bit of floating food (they do come out at night, you can see them if you have moonlights)....I always got them because they clean up the wasted food in the rocks...and eat the dead, same with shrimp.
I have never had a fish hit by the spikes of a Diadema urchin (Black long spine)...but it's pretty weird to put your hand in the tank, and see them aim those spikes right at you. LOL...That red orb is not an eye, its an anus, so I don't know how it knows where to aim, since they can't see. I would move my hand one direction and then the other...the thing would bunch up it's spines and point them in whatever direction my hand was in.
A CUC is just that, their job is to clean up...but in a new tank, you have nothing to clean up. A CUC has to be built as the need for them arises. Urchins as part of the CUC, are what you add if you have problem algae, otherwise the snails do a fine job. You got in a hurry, and/or you wanted to "save money" by getting everything at once. This hobby is not cheap, and cutting corners like getting everything at one time, just to save on shipping charges, is how to crash your system, if you do that with fish you don't quarantine, your tank will be in real trouble.
I learn something new here all the time....I never knew that a serpent or brittle star would eat algae sheets, or any algae at all. Mine lived in the rock (never seen them) and feed on meat...like bits of food that falls in there that the fish can't reach or get to, when I fed the fish, I would see an arm reaching from the rock to grab a bit of floating food (they do come out at night, you can see them if you have moonlights)....I always got them because they clean up the wasted food in the rocks...and eat the dead, same with shrimp.
iidylii
Active Member
Thanks again everyone for your input I really appreciate it and I to am learning everyday flower :~}
The 115 lbs or rock and 60lbs of sand was in fact used before from the previous owner...whether or not it still has any food source on it i dont know...I did have it sitting in my system running for like 4 weeks now so like I said it may have a source of food already in the sand and rock
Silverado...I do have a 93 gallon cube so I thought I would be ok with a long spine...I am aware of the size they get :~}
And what's wrong with feeding tank mates to other tank mates...? We do it with stars and harlequins all the time right ;~p jk
I could also QT things a little longer and add portions at a time over the course of a month or so :~}
The 115 lbs or rock and 60lbs of sand was in fact used before from the previous owner...whether or not it still has any food source on it i dont know...I did have it sitting in my system running for like 4 weeks now so like I said it may have a source of food already in the sand and rock
Silverado...I do have a 93 gallon cube so I thought I would be ok with a long spine...I am aware of the size they get :~}
And what's wrong with feeding tank mates to other tank mates...? We do it with stars and harlequins all the time right ;~p jk
I could also QT things a little longer and add portions at a time over the course of a month or so :~}
Last edited:
pegasus
Well-Known Member
I know they'll be fine under your care. I don't know why I haven't taken the plunge, as I've always been fascinated with pincushion urchins. I've had a rock boring urchin for a couple of years, and have toyed with the idea of adding PC urchins... just never quite got around to it. I can be a little s-l-o-w sometimes... lol!!!
iidylii
Active Member
that's a nice hitchhiker
so I just had a question..."again" lol...my 2 spot goby is known to be a picky eater and know to starve itself over time...so im wondering how long should it be in the QT "no sand" without eating before you should be concerned? I guess the natural sand environment in my display seems like it would be more likely to sift sand and eat?
so I just had a question..."again" lol...my 2 spot goby is known to be a picky eater and know to starve itself over time...so im wondering how long should it be in the QT "no sand" without eating before you should be concerned? I guess the natural sand environment in my display seems like it would be more likely to sift sand and eat?
flower
Well-Known Member
Hi,
My Golden sleeper head goby couldn't eat after a few days when the fauna had been depleted. I was told it would not never be able to recover since, sand sifters need the fauna to live, and eat constantly. Once it began to starve, it actually got a sunken tummy because it kind of fed in on itself, and no amount of food could help it. I don't know about your type of sand sifter...I had a diamond sand sifter, that sometimes when frozen foods fell to the sand it ate it as it sifted for fauna...it learned learn to eat frozen foods that way.
So if your sand sifter is anything like the golden head, or diamond, your fish will starve very quickly once the fauna is depleted, and then it won't be able to eat. Eating frozen is not natural for them, but if they do so, their chances to survive are great...otherwise not so much.