feeding a pancil urchin

[Fphipps]

I understand they eat algae and can be supplimented with meaty foods, would they eat algae sheets if I were to put them in there?

[donya]

Yes, although not all individuals will show the same level of interest all the time, so dried seaweeds may be ignored one day but eaten enthusiastically on another. You may also need to put the food quite close to the urchin if there are any large snails in the tank. My pencil urchins (currently only Eucidaris tribuloides, but I have had E. metularia in the past too and it was basically the same) get a combination of sinking shrimp pellets and various dried seaweeds. They have access to pieces of scallop and fish meat on occasion too.