Sea Urcins

mytank

mytank

Member
Any comments on Sea Urchins????? I bought 2 this weekend and really enjoy watching them. Interesting little things.
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
Yeah, I love mine! I call him meatball. I hear they are good tank cleaners but I got mine because it was on my LR. He's growing like crazy! He was about the size of a silver dollar when I got him 2 months ago now he is the size of a golf ball.
It's cool when they eat...every now and then you can see them shotting debris out of the hole the the top of their body (I don't know what it's called).
You may have to trade them in for smaller ones at some point because they can get pretty big. The one I have can get up to 9 inches in diameter.
What type of Urchins did you get?
 
csrobe02

csrobe02

Member
they are cool, just stay away from them in the wild. I was down in S. Florida this weekend snorkeling a bridge and stteped on one on the way out of the water, the little booger went through my new fins, my dive boots and into my foot. Needless to say it wasnt very nice!
 
mytank

mytank

Member
I am not very fish savy, the urchins are cleaner to clean the brown algea from the tank and I have an dirty white one and a purple on. The white one moves like there is no tomorrow and the purple one just kinda hang out. They are about the size of golf ball but really fun to watch. Do they eat anything special???? We also got a Harelquin Sweetlips and the pet store told us that if that one got too big to just bring him by and they would buy him back.
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
I don't know what the white one is. Mine is Purple too. Mine just eats whaver is naturally in the tank. He grazes on the rocks and the glass. I don't feed him anything special. Mine moves around a lot sometimes and other times he will stay in one spot all day long.
 
mytank

mytank

Member
They don't seem to bother anything, the others leave them alone also, they are just like a fancy snail. But my white one will go way up to the water line, I would be afraid he would crawl out if the cover was not there.
 
bsktmom

bsktmom

Member
On this site they say to monitor with corals. Has anyone had a problem with their urchins and corals?
 
leopard_babe

leopard_babe

Active Member
i have a pencil urchin named urkel. He is alright. I bought him to eat my algea, which he does. However some of his favorite algea is CORALINE algea. It takes huge chuncks out of my rock. He also has algea hanging off of him. I personally don't really enjoy watching him. He does not do much, but he doen keep my tank spottless.
 
b-good

b-good

New Member

Originally posted by Leopard_babe
i have a pencil urchin named urkel. He is alright. I bought him to eat my algea, which he does. However some of his favorite algea is CORALINE algea. It takes huge chuncks out of my rock. He also has algea hanging off of him. I personally don't really enjoy watching him. He does not do much, but he doen keep my tank spottless.
The main problems I have heard of with urchins is their habit of eatin coraline algae (pencil urchins in particular) and that they can bulldoze corals and knock them to the bottom of the tank. Most that you see on pet stores should be harmless, but some do have poisonous spines (be careful with those on live rock). Some triggers and puffers may try to eat them.
 
marlins #1

marlins #1

Member
I've seen too many Pencil Urchins DIE....
Won't get them anymore, the pinkesh ones that are spiny, i think procupine like, those are cool..
Im starting to think that KENT is a rip off lie, liquid food, yeah what ever... ha ha, give me rice and beans.
 
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