Pincushion and pencil urchins

Cerberusfish · Mar 4, 2020

So I've got the opportunity for a free pincushion or pencil urchins. Possibly both. I've got a 75 with a tomini tang, 2 ocellaris clowns, 2 firefish, 1 Royal gramma, some snails and hermits, a pom pom crab, a recently added fighting conch, 3 cleaner shrimp and 3 peppermints (soon to be 2) with a roughly 7 gallon refugium. I'll be doing mostly soft corals and LPS with MAYBE an SPS or 2 waaaayyyy down the road. What is everyone's thoughts? I figured I could probably put it in the refugium at first but I think it would run out of food and wouldn't have enough hiding places, and I'm worried that if it's in my DT it'll .was with my corals and maybe knock stuff over. Would you guys add either of these and if so which one

Spare time · Mar 4, 2020

Pencil urchins will eat coral. Pincushions are fine. I love urchins. They last a long time and graze like there is no tomorrow. If you put them in the refugium they will eat your macro algae so I wouldn't do that. The only things they would knock over or carry are corals not secured or ones that are small and light.

Cerberusfish · Mar 5, 2020

My one coral that I actually have right now is about a 2.5 inch gorgonian (adding more soon) and it hasn't been attached to the rocks yet. I've also been told and read that urchins will eat Coraline, which would be very undesirable at this moment since I'm trying to get my Coraline to grow faster and cover my rocks (lots of different colours from different places and I'm waiting for it to all be one colour with a nice natural look)

xxkenny90xx · Mar 5, 2020

Ya they will carry coral around all day, but they are awesome. How long has the tank been set up? Did you use live rock or dry? I ask because they need to graze all day

Cerberusfish · Mar 5, 2020

About 4.5 months. I used some liverock but mostly dry to save money. Lots of algea, diatoms, film, gha

YankeeTankee · Mar 5, 2020

Pincushion are aka Tuxedo correct?

SudzFD · Mar 5, 2020

I have a pincushion. He is really great. Roams around like crazy and ears all the algae. Really cool to watch as his spines wave around. Hasn’t touched my frogspawn or zoas. When he’s on the rock next to my bubble tip the bubble tip moves away and shrinks down but no harm has come to either.

Cerberusfish · Mar 5, 2020

I SUPPOSE I could grab him and see how I like him. If he causes issues I could take him back to the store. Until then I can join the tanks of people who have urchins and maybe I'll fall in love with them. At this point in the hobby it's probably best that I don't totally limit myself from things and let myself have experiences anyway right?

TheShrimpNibbler · Mar 5, 2020

YankeeTankee said:
Pincushion are aka Tuxedo correct?

No, they are two different types of urchins.
To answer the OP’s question, I loved my pincushion urchin and would highly recommend one, but they do eat macro algae, they eat coralline, and the need lots of algae to graze on. If that doesn’t sound like something you want, then you probably shouldn’t get one.

Spare time · Mar 5, 2020

YankeeTankee said:
Pincushion are aka Tuxedo correct?

Pincushions are bigger

Cerberusfish · Mar 5, 2020

TheShrimpNibbler said:
No, they are two different types of urchins.
To answer the OP’s question, I loved my pincushion urchin and would highly recommend one, but they do eat macro algae, they eat coralline, and the need lots of algae to graze on. If that doesn’t sound like something you want, then you probably shouldn’t get one.

How quickly do they eat Coraline? They can have at everything else on my rock and glass but do you think they would inhibit the coraline spread very much? I am trying to get it to cover my back glass as well to use as my backdrop so would they mess up that plan? Or is it more of I'd see lines on my rock where they've been like with my snails?

TheShrimpNibbler · Mar 5, 2020

Cerberusfish said:
How quickly do they eat Coraline? They can have at everything else on my rock and glass but do you think they would inhibit the coraline spread very much? I am trying to get it to cover my back glass as well to use as my backdrop so would they mess up that plan? Or is it more of I'd see lines on my rock where they've been like with my snails?

It’s not really a line like a snail leaves, but because of their mouth shape, they leave little star shapes in the algae with each bite. I didn’t really think that mine inhibited my coralline that much. It was worth any loss in coralline growth to me.

X-37B · Mar 5, 2020

Here is what pincushions do. And yes they like coralline in my tank better than algae. The clear spots are where it chewed down to the glass. They do the same on rocks and back wall. Those spots are only 2 days worth.