Paracentrotus lividus reef safe?

[mbackonja]

Hello everyone, I'm new here. I have 22l reef aquarium for about six months.

I'm on vacation at Adriatic Sea and I found little Paracentrotus lividus urchin (about 1cm diameter) and I'm wondering is it safe for reef aquarium? Can I put it from Adriatic Sea to tropical reef aquarium? Will it eat corals or maybe my clownfish can be injured by him?

Thanks!

 

[Reeferdood]

As for the Urchin, I would leave it where you found it since you would likely not be able to bring it home without the airline giving you issues. Taking stuff from the ocean can be a touchy subject for some therefore I leave it up to the exporters to bring us goodies in the states.

 

[mbackonja]

Thanks!

Let's just assume that there will not be problems with transferring it to my country. It's not a problem.

Is this type of urchin a reef safe?

 

[Reeferdood]

It is not classified as being a reef safe urchin, nor are the collected for the hobby.
There is not a lot of information on them on the web.

 

[mbackonja]

What is common problem with non-reef-safe urchins? Are they eat corals or they injure corals with spikes? Or maybe they can injure or kill fishes?

I also searched the web and didn't find anything useful so I can classify this urchin to reef safe.

I want to experiment with this type of urchin but I don't really know what a potential problems are.

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Hi, I don’t know about the urchin, but I do know about collecting specimens. First of all, find out if you need a permit to collect and if there are rules for how to collect them. Sometimes non-game species get classified under one big group. For example, I need a fishing license to collect a blue spotted sunfish and some states require I catch it on a hook in order to keep it...even though they only get to be 3” and aren’t anything a game fisherman would want to eat. Second, if you are traveling a long way with the specimens you collect, I would advise just shipping them to yourself.

If you can take it legally, I would give it a try—experimentally— in a small tank where you can find it again and easily adjust to its needs if it doesn’t work out with your corals, heat, etc.

 

[Reeferdood]

The biggest issues most have with them is that they are bulldozers and knock rocks over, they will eat coraline algae as well.
Those 2 reasons alone I would not have one in my system. There are much better options for a CUC IMHO...

 

[mbackonja]

Hi, I don’t know about the urchin, but I do know about collecting specimens. First of all, find out if you need a permit to collect and if there are rules for how to collect them. Sometimes non-game species get classified under one big group. For example, I need a fishing license to collect a blue spotted sunfish and some states require I catch it on a hook in order to keep it...even though they only get to be 3” and aren’t anything a game fisherman would want to eat. Second, if you are traveling a long way with the specimens you collect, I would advise just shipping them to yourself.

If you can take it legally, I would give it a try—experimentally— in a small tank where you can find it again and easily adjust to its needs if it doesn’t work out with your corals, heat, etc.

It's 45min flight and it's not so regulated here so I can relative safely transfer it to my country. I'll give it a try definitely.

The biggest issues most have with them is that they are bulldozers and knock rocks over, they will eat coraline algae as well.
Those 2 reasons alone I would not have one in my system. There are much better options for a CUC IMHO...

Oh, OK, I understand. I'll give it a try in quarantine first!

Thanks guys!

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!!