Sea Urchin

[heath]

I have a chance to get a sea urchin, all the reading that I have done is that they eat algae, right now I don't have any in the new tank. What else do they eat?

 

[barebottomcouple]

i have had many urchins what kind of urchin, you can spot feed them a spirulina flake or nori pieces or sea kelp

 

[barebottomcouple]

I have a chance to get a sea urchin, all the reading that I have done is that they eat algae, right now I don't have any in the new tank. What else do they eat?

just so you know a long spin will also eat coralline on rock and glass

 

[Kman]

I find all urchins will eat coralline algae but they are good at controlling algae and uneaten food. In a well kept tank if you keep your parameters in check the impact can be minimum. If they don't get enough food some of them can and will turn towards corals. I found Capnella soft coral an easy target, the base of sps and green star polyps. But with that being it is an easy fix by adding a algae clip a few times a week for them to snack on and supplement their diets. I like the long spine because in my experience they tend to not bulldoze through things like some of the short spines do. If you have a really packed tank you might want to look at the short spine but the long spine still work, I found the spines just grow shorter. I have had my long spine for almost 20 years and have not had many problems if i make sure he gets extra food. But i have had urchins turn on corals for no reason and they had to be taken out but that is far and few between.

 

[jeffopentax]

I have had my long spine for almost 20 years and have not had many problems if i make sure he gets extra food.

How long do those things live for?!

 

[Kman]

Not sure really. Mine just keeps going and going. The only change i have seen is at the base the spines go a white color. If you have a few together and you are lucky they will broadcast spawn. I have had that a few times, I even got it on a short video once.

 

[pulpfiction1]

c/p:
Lifespan often exceeds 30 years, and scientists have found some specimens to be over 200 years old

i believe they all eat coraline as we as most algae,it will be fine

 

[EricTMah]

I have a chance to get a sea urchin, all the reading that I have done is that they eat algae, right now I don't have any in the new tank. What else do they eat?

Like everyone said. Just supplement it's diet with an algae clip with some nori on it.

I personally don't like urchins in my DT. I like having lots of coraline algae to cover the rocks. I'm my experience, no matter how you try and supplement their diet. They will always eat coraline. So unless your system grows coraline very quickly, you're probably going to see not asuch coraline on your rocks.

Can you describe the urchin to us? Short spines, long spines, black, multi colored, sharp or dull spines

Sent from my Z30 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Sewerat]

Put one on your coral tank heather and it will help to clean it up. But like other said I found mine keeps the coraline cleaned up. I move mine from DT to sump every now and then

 

[heath]

Its a long sea urchin, I feed nori every other day to the fish, just making sure that he won't starve to death.. it is a long spine sea urchin..

 

[EricTMah]

You might want to feed nori daily if you don't have much algae in there for him.

Long spins are great for not knocking things over. You would think otherwise because of the long spines, but they're actually quite delicate.

 

[Jewel]

I've had them and they look nice but they can have a Bulldoze effect, Anything that's not glued down will be moved.