Baby urchin hitchhiker

[mje113]

Wow, some days I love that I went with live rock over fry rock, some days I regret it. I'm hoping that today is the former.

My tank is ~3 month old and surprise surprise I saw this tiny urchin today. It's roughly the size of a quarter including the spines.

I love the idea of having an urchin, and to me it looks similar to ones I see sold in LFS, but any chance it could be harmful to corals? I'm guessing if I keep it it'll eventually become a nice Uni snack for my hitchhiking mantis shrimp I caveat been able to trap.

 

[Zach B]

I believe it's a "pencil urchin"

 

[Zach B]

They are considered reef safe as well if it is indeed a pencil

 

[Hadla]

Awwwww he’s so tiny

 

[mje113]

Just like my baby mantis

 

[Uncle99]

Might bulldozer some corals by accident.

 

[Reefing102]

Agree with Pencil Urchin. Also agree definite bill dozer. Some say they have issues when they get older. To my knowledge I haven’t had any issues with mine

 

[Hairyteeth]

Might bulldozer some corals by accident.

By might you mean it will regularly haha

 

[Rmckoy]

Very cool find .
The best I’ve found as hitchhikers were bubble tip anemone inside a rock
Mantis shrimp that I sold to the lfs
Acro crab that much have come with a acro colony

needles to say I haven’t bought rocks or coral colonies in a very long time . I feel like I’m missing out in all the treasures

 

[mje113]

By might you mean it will regularly haha

At this size? It's really tiny. I'll keep an eye on its size, just seems unlikely at this point.

 

[CK00020]

Mine came in the same way, didn’t know it was there for like 6 months. It eats my zoas if it ever gets down on the sand.

 

[mje113]

Hmm... maybe I should yank it then...

 

[Alexoss]

I have a big one (say around 2 inches wide plus spikes) and i had to put it in my sump, was munching at soft corals sometimes, wasn t sure at first until i saw it live.
I think most of the inverts who are considered "reef safe" might become annoying when full grown.
I have a BIG money cowrie snail (4 inches long shell) and he ate a litlle of the seams of my tank...

 

[mje113]

Wow you all weren't joking. Just found that little bugger bulldozing some mushrooms. Gone.

 

[Hadla]

Too bad you’re on the opposite coast, I’d have taken him