Blue Tuxedo Urchin eatin my coraline algea

[gregrocks79]

<B>Hey everyone Happy New Year! :beer: :celeb2:

So I have a Blue Tuxedo Urchin in my 12G nano and he has a sweet metallic green mushroom on it. My question is this... I noticed he's got a healthy appetite for my coraline algae and since I only have a 12 gallon should I worry about him eating a good portion of it? I like him a lot and he has a sweet hat so I dont want to just give him up. Any suggestions?


Here he is! :)
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v646/bekkenmusic/?action=view&current=l_b220e495436c9a97247b6316affb121b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/bekkenmusic/l_b220e495436c9a97247b6316affb121b.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[camaroracer214]

that's what they do...urchins are very notorious for eating coralline algae. mine does, and i don't mind. they'll also eat other algae while grazing on the rocks.

[Troy the Nomad]

"that's what they do" were the exact words that came to mind :)

[Kemo484]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11507584#post11507584 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Troy the Nomad
"that's what they do" were the exact words that came to mind :)

haha, Agreed. I drop some green marine algae slivers in every few days from mine to munch on so he doesn't eat the coraline as much. Here's a recipe too for some urchin food http://www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/cookie.html

[InLimbo87]

That's what they do sums it up quite well lol.

I love urchins, they are one of my favorite creatures, but I enjoy my purple tank far too much (and being able to keep my frags in one place.)

[mathias999us]

That IS a really cool urchin. If I were you, I'd almost be willing to settle for more sparse coralline coverage, and leave him in there. Maybe you can "feed" it and control the coralline apetite like Kemo suggested.

[gregrocks79]

Sounds good to me! He is cool and I like his hat! I guess Ill just toss some food in there for him once in a while. Thanks guys! :)

Thanks Kemo for that recipe