Pincushion Urchin

[JaaxReef]

I just got a beautiful small purple spine pincushion urchin from Algae Barn! It is so cool, but it isn’t moving around a whole lot since I added it to the tank. It hasn’t lost any spines but it stays in one spot for quite a while and doesn’t seem to be rasping the rocks much yet.

I drip acclimated for 2 hours while aerating the container. Do you think it just needs a little time to adjust before I see it cruising around and wearing rubble from the tank?

Anyone have any experience with these little guys?

Any insight is much appreciated.

Best Regards

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

Urchins eat coralline algae so beware if your rockwork has any desirable purple spots then don’t Ben surprised if they are gone. other than that they are pretty cool and can help spread coralline algae through the tank even

 

[4FordFamily]

Sometimes they don’t move a lot for the first day or so after you add them. I wouldn’t freak out yet

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

It doesn't move much in new tank.
I used to have 1 and once it does move around it pick a wrong spot so Its bought it ticket out of my tank LOL (I know its off topic but picture just for a laugh)

 

[JaaxReef]

Thanks for the replies!

I’m not too worried about it eating coralline algae. Most people hate how it takes over everything in mature tanks anyway and I don’t have a ton of it. Got it mostly to help with small amounts of hair algae.

I’ll just be patient like I would adding a fish for it to feel more at home and start scooting around more!

 

[JaaxReef]

Update:

After over a week, the little guy is scooting around nicely and eating mostly just film and hair algae. Not a sign of coralline consumption yet. Very cool and peaceful creature that is great for cleaning your rocks! Mine is only about 1” in diameter at this point. I really like it and I’m glad I got it!

 

[tdileo]

Make sure if you run out of algae put in nori sheets. Mine starting eating zoas when the algae ran dry.

 

[Kamden Uelton]

Make sure if you run out of algae put in nori sheets. Mine starting eating zoas when the algae ran dry.

are you sure the urchin ate the zoanthids or he would just pick them up and misplace them?

 

[tdileo]

are you sure the urchin ate the zoanthids or he would just pick them up and misplace them?

Nope, was definitely eating them. He wouldn’t move from the spot for an entire day and I finally pulled him off and a few were missing from the plug. As soon as I started supplement feeding this never happened again.

 

[Kamden Uelton]

Nope, was definitely eating them. He wouldn’t move from the spot for an entire day and I finally pulled him off and a few were missing from the plug. As soon as I started supplement feeding this never happened again.

I think he removed them from the plug and dropped them... My urchin does this a lot and often stays in my "zoa patch" just to pick them off rocks and let them blow in the flow I've never heard of even a hungry urchin eating coral.

 

[JaaxReef]

If I put the nori in there, will he find it?

He doesn’t go on the glass at all, so I wedged my Nori clip in the rocks. Ha.

 

[JaaxReef]

I also noticed his tiny pellet sized poop is great food if it blows around in my corals! They love it...

 

[tdileo]

I think he removed them from the plug and dropped them... My urchin does this a lot and often stays in my "zoa patch" just to pick them off rocks and let them blow in the flow I've never heard of even a hungry urchin eating coral.

I’ve heard of longspine urchins doing it, but more rare with the other species. I read that tuxedos are the only ones that will never do it.

 

[JaaxReef]

My urchin seems uninterested in the Nori...

Seems content just munching away at my rocks. Hopefully he leaves my corals alone as I do have a couple nice zoa frags that are growing out...