What do I need to know about urchins

Aquaph8 · Oct 4, 2012

I have some red turf algae snd was thinking about trying a couple urchins. Please tell me what you know about them. Will they eat my zoa's? What kind would you reccomend and will they work on this particular algae?
Thanks

mainereefer · Oct 4, 2012

long spine or a tuxedo urchin are the only "reef safe" urchins I have found but the long spine will push everything over and the tux will carry everything around

ritter6788 · Oct 4, 2012

I've kept a few pincushion urchins. They only ate coralline algae and carried stuff around like hats. I never had one eat any coral at all.

swissgaurd · Oct 4, 2012

long spines work,they grow fast also when algaes are gone they tackle the coraline,also beware when your hands are in tank,there spines hurt bad.
i would look into your spectrum,when i ran T5's i started getting the red turf with one of my combos,i also was using DD salt and tring natures at the time could just be a combo of things,im now using redsea coral pro and continue using kalk,vinegar,and thats all, no red turf,
i think the blackfoot snail eats the red turf as well.

vic

slugwall · Oct 4, 2012

I had a couple pencil urchins and it was like having a billy goat in the tank, they ate everything except coral, starfish are definitely prey!!! Snails soft shelled invertebrates they will go after. I forgot that they went after the feather dusters, my bad! I had just bought it and it was huge!

Have fun watching your tank closely!

Aquaph8 · Oct 4, 2012

Thanks for the info everyone. Any advice on alternatives is appreciated.

BigJohnWoody · Oct 4, 2012

Long spines are not always reef safe. I bought a larger one and he was fine for about a week and then he ate my entire piece of Tyree Seasons greetings. The seasons greetings was only about an inch, but it made me mad enough that I took it back to the store I got it from. I went about a year without one and about a week ago I bought another one. This time it's very small, so I'm hoping his appetite is for algae only. Good luck

Giancarlo · Oct 4, 2012

Agreed, I have a long spine diadema. Fairly reef safe, but after about a years time it started to eat my montiporas, fully ate one of my setosa frags. Very small frag mind you, but ate it none the less. This particular species had the white bands around the spines when it was younger so keep that in mind.

Giancarlo · Oct 4, 2012

I removed the urchin after, and it never happened again. Which is why I blame
It.

Z-man · Oct 4, 2012

BigJohnWoody said:
Long spines are not always reef safe. I bought a larger one and he was fine for about a week and then he ate my entire piece of Tyree Seasons greetings. The seasons greetings was only about an inch, but it made me mad enough that I took it back to the store I got it from. I went about a year without one and about a week ago I bought another one. This time it's very small, so I'm hoping his appetite is for algae only. Good luck

+1 I bought a long spine urchin for my Bangghia Cardinal babies for safety. My Tokyo Tort Acan was sprouting babies also. Woke up one morning and the Tokyo Tort was 3/4 eaten. I moved the Tokyo to a different tank and it has come back with more babies, but the urchin went to a LFS.

twisted · Oct 4, 2012

Glad I read this thread. I've had a long spine for a while now and noticed some acans missing some parts. Never seen it on them but....
I will say its cleared about 50% of my red turf though. I also have a few margaritas in there that seem to have a taste for it as do my Mexican blue lega

Twisteds 40 breeder