Question about a Sea Urchin

[mandysam]

I have a 29g FOWLR with 3 fish and a large feather duster. I went to the fish store last night and they had a long spine urchin that I have been waiting for. I put the urchin on hold because I was worried about my feather duster. The guy at the fish store said he didn't know if there would be a problem or not. Has anyone else had an experience with both? :notsure:

 

[bergamer]

generally, urchins are safe as they only eat algea, but some are meat eaters you might want to do a search on your urchin.
also, as you said that you have a Fowlr tank, you know that you can't mix triggers and urchins. as the urchin will be a tasty little snack

 

[ryan115]

if it is a long spine urchin it should be ok. Is this the one you are looking at? If so that is an herbivore and you shouldnt really have any problems with it

 

[sterling007]

But also remember that urchins munch on coralline algea and in a small tank it could desimate any growth you may have.

 

[dreuster]

From my experience, some urchins eat coralline so be aware.

 

[mandysam]

Great thanks for the responses. I think I'm going to get him. I think they are so neat. I'm not to worried about the coraline but I will keep an eye on it. Thanks again. And the picture was the species I was looking at.

 

[ophiura]

That species gets very large, has fragile hollow venemous barbed arm spines that get very long and easily break off in the skin. IMO, the tank is far too small. The can be bulldozers as well.
But be very very careful when placing your hand in the tank!
Also be sure that your specific gravity is in the 1.025-1.026 range and that you acclimate them well!

 

[plomanto]

I bought one about 3 months ago it was about the size of a golf ball...Now it is twice the size of a softbakk....It has the tops of my rocks white it's eaten off all the purple...also I have had to eopxy all my corals to the rocks , It can easly move even the tightest weged ones......Just my 2 pennies worth

 

[eaglefan]

I have a pencil and a pincushion urchin which I bought off this site 2 yrs ago both are doing fine, every once in a while a coral comes up knocked over but nothing critical

 

[laust]

i was doing some reading on some other posts...
is it true that this little guy is going to grow to the size of a softball? and that he'll suck all the pretty coraline off my rocks?
if so, i'm just not even going to cut him out of the bag... going to take him to the fish store.

 

[eaglefan]

My two have stayed at a normal size a little bigger than a baseball. No I haven't had any real coraline destruction. You do see a trail in the morning on were they have been but imo it hasn't hurt the patches I'll post a some tank shots to show you.
In th first shot right above the rics to the left you can see the trail my pencil left last night.
The pincushion stays on my glass
As you can see I have plenty of coraline

 

[acrylic300]

I went on vacation in Spain and saw tons of these up close to the coast. Unfortunately I was in the water trying to figure out how to get back on shore. They cause large boil like sores and you can't dig the spines out because they break apart. I think that was the last time I really cried from pain and fear of death. I got them in my feet, hands, knees, and one shoulder. This was all in about 30 seconds as they brought me to my hands and knees.
Good Luck With Your New Pet