Urchins. What are they good for?

[TomToro]

've got two tuxedo urchins eating my red turf Algae like it's candy. I'd like to mix it up a little in the other tank with some urchins.

Q:Are all urchins reef safe? If not, which ones should I watch out for at the lfs?

Q: Do any urchins eat detritus?

Q:Are there some urchins that eat specific algaes? I can see the tuxedo eating turf and coralline Algae in my tank, but leaves the Valonia alone.

Q:And this is a big question: Do any urchins do damage to acrylic surfaces with their (teeth or whatever they eat with)? Are Tuxedo urchins known for this since they can plow through coralline?

Thanks,
Tom (Urchin Fan)

 

[Azurel]

There are some that are not reef safe and I have also heard tha they are not good for acrylic tanks as the rasping parts of the mouth can and will scratch the acrylic...

I would check out wedwebmedia.com and see what they have posted about them.

 

[TomToro]

There are some that are not reef safe and I have also heard tha they are not good for acrylic tanks as the rasping parts of the mouth can and will scratch the acrylic...

I would check out wedwebmedia.com and see what they have posted about them.

I'm reading it now. What a great link that I've never used! You'd think after many years I'd have stumbled across it.

Thanks very much. I've got it bookmarked.
Tom

 

[msman825]

litlle bulldozers lol

 

[Azurel]

You did type Wetwebmedia.com correct....? I messed up the spelling in my post....

 

[seafansar]

long spines will eat SPS

 

[nanodude87]

litlle bulldozers lol

lol exactly... What are they good for? Knocking stuff over!

 

[JR's Reef]

long spines will eat SPS

And chalices:cry:

 

[revhtree]

They are also good for becoming a home for baby bangai cardinal fish.

 

[Salt man]

I have a rock boring urchin. I have had it for 4 years and have no problems with it knocking over stuff, or eating corals. I do know it eat algae, but I can never tell where he has ate at. Still got all my coraline so I assume he's eating film algae off the glass. He stays hidden all day, but as soon as the lights go out he's out and about on the glass, never on my rocks.

 

[wicked demon]

Caribbean rock urchins are a beautiful and functional part of my cuc.

 

[TomToro]

You did type Wetwebmedia.com correct....? I messed up the spelling in my post....

I did...the second time.lol. Thanks.

 

[Sikryd]

I have a rock boring urchin in my sump. He's a cool little dude that came in as a TINY baby that I never saw for 6 months since it was so small. Now he's about the size of a 50 cent piece.
I like watching him.
I might have to switch him to the display if he's cool in a full mixed reef.

 

[Sikryd]

Here's a picture of mine

 

[Salt man]

Yes that's my exact urchin. I have had it in my reef for years with no problems at all. I have kept all kinds of things to and he never bothered anything. I have had it with softys, LPS, SPS, and nems.

 

[Salt man]

They come in a really pretty purple color to, but I have not been able to find one for sale.

 

[dell2go]

They're good for SUSHI

 

[Reef Goddess]

I really think tuxedo urchins are the best for a reef tank. They will take care of various types of macro algae before eating the coralline algae. I have one in my plenum, this tank had some trouble with bubble algae growing on the aragonite and my urchin would help out by decorating itself with bubble algae which we would pull off of it every few days. Now I have emerald crabs so there's no problem.

The black urchins have a real taste for coralline so they don't work well if you don't have any macro, same goes for pencil urchins.

Diadema urchins love macro, but grow fast and usually eat everything and out grow the tank they are in. They will eat coralline when there is nothing else and usually starve to death. They really grow too large for most aquariums with spines reaching a good 8-10 inches at adult size.

I've never kept any of the weird/poisinous urchins cause I don't see the point.

 

[SDguy]

My favorite reef urchin is Salmacis bicolor. They stay small, and don't carry frags around. Only problem with them, IME, is they love to eat gorgonians.

 

[Salt man]

Mine doesn't touch my macro or coraline. At least from what I can tell. The sides of my tank are covered in it and I noticed him going up the wall and there's never missing coraline.