How big of a pain will a pincushion urchin be?

[ritter6788]

I was thinking about adding a pink one to my 75 gal mixed reef tank. What are some of the pros and cons to urchins? Thanks for any replies.

[Packersfan21]

I've got one in my 90 gallon reef and it usually doesn't cause any problems. It runs into corals every now and then but doesn't cause a ny damage. They like to carry shells around the tank and also do a good job of eating hair algae.

[NYCBOB]

they r good algae eaters and reef safe. besides carrying a few loose items there and there, no con.

[ritter6788]

Will they bother encrusting SPS like superman montipora?

[noahm]

They will not bother anything any more than a hermit crawling over it does. The main and only real drawback are picking up loose frags and dropping them who-knows-where. They will eat algae down to the rock and then some. See the 'teeth' in my av.

[ritter6788]

Ok, thanks everyone. I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes.

[mscarpena]

Bulldozers and knock things over.

[jenjen]

also do a good job of eating hair algae.

Just wondering if others agree with this comment? Do they actually eat hair algae?

[NYCBOB]

imo no.

[Whisperer]

I suggest do more research. My long spine urchin ate parts ( branches and encrusting base) of my SPS. It also makes a lot of waste because it hardly stops eating. Mine spewed sperm almost every couple of weeks clouding the tank frequently.

[Eldredge]

I had to get rid of a long-spine black urchin because it was eating my chalice frags - one recovered, one was all gone. While he was in the sump awaiting his trip to the LFS, I am quite sure he chewed on a power cord (I don't have any cords in my dissplay). He didn't make it through the insulation, but I think he might have eventually. Maybe he just bit a little to deep when he ate the algae, I don't know.

I don't know if this applies to other urchins or not. I would really like to have another one if I knew it was totally safe. Good luck.

[NYCBOB]

i hv two tux pincushion urchins with sps and zoas. never bother anything. i wish they do eat zoas bc mine r growing out of control.

[noahm]

A regular florida pincushion urchin (pink or purple, spines all the same length) will eat the %^&t out of hair algae and any other algae including feather caulerpa, while not bothering anything else. I can't speak for tuxedos, but have heard the same. The black long spines from the same area tend to eat coralline more and can eat other stuff. Other urchins like other stuff, so comparing them is tough.

Some are definitely not reef safe, and some look similar, but are not.

[skibum9884]

in my experience my tuxedo urchin has been fine. eats hair algae, and doesn't cause any problems. I think the black long-spine urchins have been known to cause more destruction (but still not all that bad).

[pledosophy]

What would you supplement the urchins food with once the algae is gone?

I would like to add one in the next 6 months, after my tank recovers from the move/upgrade, but I don't have any algae in the display, and I don't plan on having it in the future.

[Felix T Cat]

I have 2 pink pincushions in my 135. They started out when the tank was pretty young and they are doing great. I like to watch them move around the tank with their feelers out all over the place. The only issue I had is that I had to create a new hanging frag rack because my acrylic racks would grow coralline and the urchins would clear out all the frags trying to get to the coralline.

I have also had to save a snail or two from their backs but to me thats a small issue.

[ritter6788]

Well I put one in my mantis tank. So far it doesn't seem to be interested in hair algae but eats only coralline algae. Looks like it took a chunk out of some star polyps too. I'm trying to wait and observe to decide if I will put it in my reef tank. I like it a lot. It's really neat to watch it's feelers and pick up shells.

[techreef]

there is another RC'er here who posted pics of nasty bite marks in his acryllic tank from his long spine and/or his tuxedo urchins. so be careful if your 75G tank is not glass.

[strangedingbat]

We introduced 1 into our 120gal system about 2 to 3 months ago. He has doubled in size and is one of our favorites.

He eats all the time and has his hot spots in the system to go hunting. He does knock corals over so we end up gluing or wedging stuff down, but he is definitely worth it!!

We found he eats mysis and brine . . . . great watching him catch food and send it round to his mouth.

[Romewhip]

Pencil urchin ate all the coralline, and made a huge mess. Longspine urchin ate coralline and made a huge mess. Pincushion (collector urchin) ate hair algae with a giant appetite, never knocked anything over, scoured the glass, may have been my favorite tank inhabitant of all- a model citizen. Ate caleurpa when out of hair algae too. Current tuxedo urchin is not as impressive, doesn't eat the hair algae as well, but doesn't knock stuff over and doesn't bother the corals either. It is kind of cute because along with shells and other little bits it's carrying a xenia stalk and a small piece of kenya tree.

[ritter6788]

We introduced 1 into our 120gal system about 2 to 3 months ago. He has doubled in size and is one of our favorites.

He eats all the time and has his hot spots in the system to go hunting. He does knock corals over so we end up gluing or wedging stuff down, but he is definitely worth it!!

We found he eats mysis and brine . . . . great watching him catch food and send it round to his mouth.

I didn't know they would eat meat at all. I'll have to check that out. I fed the mantis some mysis but I didn't notice if the urchin got any.

[ritter6788]

Well here is a pic. I guess they are pretty strong, that's a good sized rock on it's head. That rock that it is eating on had a rhodactis mushroom on it about as big as a silver dollar and the it is gone now so I guess they will eat mushrooms.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee283/ritter6788/P2903100003.jpg

[gmatta]

mine like my gorgonians :( got a pencil and a longspine black

[Crush Coral]

Can they climb the glass walls?

[brycerb]

Yea they can climb glass. I have a green one. We call him the master of disguise, because he puts things on his "head" to camoflage himself. Looks pretty funny most of the time.

[piscivorous]

From what I've been reading, the Salmacis bicolor or Bicolor Urchins are the least problematic...but I haven't seen anyone carrying them yet, though others on the forums have gotten theirs hands on them. They seem to be the most colorful as well....I'll be getting one for my tank once it matures more....

[ritter6788]

Here's another pic of it. It is eating the coralline off that snail on the left side of the pictures. You can see how clean the shell is. It was almost solid purple before. Urchin still hasn't eaten any hair algae that I can tell. To the right side of the pic is a flat rock it carries on it's head.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee283/ritter6788/P0204100003.jpg

[Maxi]

can they climb glass?

[ritter6788]

can they climb glass?

Yes, it climbs glass very well. I haven't seen it eat any coralline off the glass yet though. In that pic it climbed up the glass and was eating the coralline off the snails.