jrlbrennan
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Just got a pin cushion urchin I’ve never had an urchin before any advice and help would be appreciated
Urchins
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They are pretty hardy and actually kind of cool to watch. They will collect all sorts of things on their pins and I try to very carefully help them out by removing some of the stiff with tweezers. Great for algae, especially hair algae. Enjoy!
Currdawg12
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Make sure when you do water changes that you mix the water and salt in a separate container and put a power head in the separate bucket for 12 hours before adding it to your DT
If you do not glue your frags and corals down, be prepared to constantly move or reposition them. They are awesome algae eaters and love wearing different hats 
definitely one of the most unique creatures I have in my tank.
definitely one of the most unique creatures I have in my tank.
I think he stated that because urchins are quite sensitive to swings in the water perameters. But you should be mixing salt and water in a separate container regardless.
Make sure you have enough algae in your tank for them to feed on. If not, nori sheets are good.
mattzang
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nkyreef
Well-Known Member
+1 on gluing anything down you don't want moved. One thing I found fun was to stick a couple of zoa polyps on him and see how many would grow. I stuck 3 polyps to my tuxedo urchin and within a few months I had a whole colony on his back.
Sarah24!
2500 Club Member
Hello,
I may be wrong on this but don’t all urchins eat alage and or gha? When I had my 125 they ate any kind of alage and I loved it. I have some now and need to get another one but want one that will devour alage lol.
The best way to description them is miniature powerful bull dosers. Just because it’s glued down doesn’t mean they won’t break it off to get to what they wanna eat .
I may be wrong on this but don’t all urchins eat alage and or gha? When I had my 125 they ate any kind of alage and I loved it. I have some now and need to get another one but want one that will devour alage lol.
The best way to description them is miniature powerful bull dosers. Just because it’s glued down doesn’t mean they won’t break it off to get to what they wanna eat .
Mattyice572
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Awesome algae eaters... they have quite an appetite and may also eat coraline algae so if you see white swirly lines in your coraline growth, the urchin is culprit
So true. I had one of my hammers glued down with a good amount of the thicker consistency superglue. Came home and found the hammer in the sand bed.. always wanted a long spine urchin, but they grow so BIG!!
Sambird2942
New Member
I have a tuxedo and a Long spine.
i only have issues with the long spine knocking stuff over. other than that they are super hardy.
i only have issues with the long spine knocking stuff over. other than that they are super hardy.
Sarah24!
2500 Club Member
Hello,
Yes but wow can they consume alage lol, and they will strip clean your rocks of alage also. They have knocked rocks down before in mine and I was scared they would make the rock wall come crashing down.
Currdawg12
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Its advice so you dont kill it. They dont do well with the smallest of salt spikes. trust me i know
Currdawg12
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i love me some long spine.I have a tuxedo and a Long spine.
i only have issues with the long spine knocking stuff over. other than that they are super hardy.
muzikalmatt
Valuable Member
I've had a pincushion in my IM Nuvo 40 for almost a year now and it's definitely a mixed bag. I love his character and color, and he eats algae like a champ, but he is absolutely a bulldozer. I had a frag rack on the front of the glass for several months and he would go through it every other day picking up multiple frags to "decorate" himself. Any frags that are on the rock but not secured with glue he will knock over or pick up. In addition, he can irritate corals when he runs over them in his quest for more algae. My utter chaos zoas have been closed for a couple days since he ran over them. I have found you can feed them small pieces of nori to satiate them for a while but inevitably they'll go back to bulldozing for algae. I kind of wish I had gotten a smaller tuxedo urchin as they don't grow as large as a pincushion. All in all they are definitely worth having and a great member of the CUC so long as you're willing to deal with the downsides.
Old thread, I know. I just wanted to add a datapoint for posterity, which is that my urchin (salmacis bicolor—beautiful pink thing) ate my xenia. Granted it was a new, small colony, but it just housed them overnight. Hasn’t bothered anything else—totally peaceful and a favorite animal.
