Pros and cons of urchins

[Hockeypunk1]

mine likes to where a monti cap hat

 

[schooncw]

Urchins are great and I have 4 in my 120.

 

[joqubr]

mine packed around several things - but never a live coral

 

[tastyfish]

There great till they start eating the glue in the corners of your tank...

What type of urchin? That would be the first I've heard of a tuxedo doing that, although I wouldnt' have an urchin in an acrylic tank...

 

[tastyfish]

Fascinating watching them work. You can see the tube feet and the mouth working here

 

[shred5]

What type of urchin? That would be the first I've heard of a tuxedo doing that, although I wouldn't have an urchin in an acrylic tank...

I think it was a Echnometra viridis from the Caribbean..

Urchins will pretty much graze over anything especially if there is algae on it. There usually is some algae on the glue since it is harder to clean than the glass. I have seen it happen more than once, I have also seen it in others tanks too that did not know what caused it.

I have seen urchins leave a nice white patch through corals too...

 

[Philt56]

Any urchins go after bubble algae?

 

[tastyfish]

Any urchins go after bubble algae?

Not sure they specifically go for bubble algae, but my blue tuxedo certainly helped, mainly by scraping the rock where the bubbles where, removing any fragments and rhyzomes which would otherwise regrow

 

[Just_Pete]

Love this guy. Been in the tank for two days and he’s doing some work on my GHA. Light colored part of the rock is what he’s cleaned. The rock was covered in GHA. Got him from Algae Barn. Best $20 spent on algae control.

Also noticed he hasn’t touched my coralline either. Prob cause there’s so much GHA ha!

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

How do they pick things up and drag them? It's not like they have arms, lol.

Are the short-spined ones able to make things stick to them? So they act like fly paper or something? I can see the long-spined guys just bumping their spines or accidentally lifting something up with them. But I'm curious how they are able to drag things or place them on top of themselves.

Yup, the short guys get lots stuck to them. They just motor on and eventually the hitchhiker drops off.

 

[Forsaken77]

Yup, the short guys get lots stuck to them. They just motor on and eventually the hitchhiker drops off.

Do they always move with their mouth on the bottom? Or can they spin around like a ball being all of them is covered in feet?

 

[cmcoker]

Mouth is generally oriented down. I've seen them in some funny angles, but they're looking for food and munch along they way

 

[NDIrish]

I have a short black spine urchin. Like watching him move around. Doesn't mess with my coral. Keeps rocks clean and doesn't knock anything down.

 

[VanIsleReefTherapy]

I love my tuxedo. They come to the top to be fed with algae disks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I love my tuxedo. They come to the top to be fed with algae disks.

Healthy little guy !

 

[Syntax1235]

I had a few urxhins that ate all kinds of algae; however, they also ruined two pumps by chewing through the cords.