Long spine urchin good or bad?

[Dj City]

Do you have a long spine urchin?

I have one in my 180 gallon reef and it is beautiful but very large. Maybe too large for the tank.

I've heard they can eat coral.
I know they can bulldoze stuff.

So, longspine urchin

Good or bad?

 

[DaneGer21]

Both, for all reasons you mentioned plus some haha Mine stays in downstairs in my “algae tank”, which is part of my filtration, not the DT.

 

[homer1475]

While I would never own a long spine(My tank isn't large enough), I do have a couple tuxedo's and they are the hardest working members of my CUC.

 

[runcis]

I have two of them in my tank (100 gal), they're wonderful, neither eating coral, nor bulldozing anything.

It's because of diadema setosum I started a saltwater aquarium.One day saw at lfs (it was in Riga, Latvia, where I spent three years with my job) a beautiful specimen with many bright blue "eyes", and, without blinking, bought the whole setup with the urchin in the middle of it. It happened in 2017

 

[Waters]

Absolutely not lol. I have tried in the past but they grow way too fast and get way too big for my 105g. Definitely tear through algae but their size and risk of getting tagged every time I am playing around in the tank keeps me from trying them again. I stick to the smaller harmless urchins now.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

My small urchins are a menace. At any given time they have 2-3 hermit crabs stuck upside down on them!

 

[OrionN]

I think they are suitable for large tanks due to size. Other than that they are great animal to have in a reef. I did not take picture of him on purpose so only see part of him here. Mine is a really beautiful one with both dark black and very bright white spikes. They don't attach small corals to themself with is an irritation of mine with Tuxedo Urchin.