Urchins

95accord · #1 12/20/2007, 06:09 PM

i have a few questions regarding sea urchin that i dont seem to be abe to find aswers for;

are they good algae eaters?

how would a urchin compare to a couple snails?

are urchins poisonous/venomous? could they cause a tank to crash if they died?

any advise would be great.
Thank
Tom

acrodave · #2 12/20/2007, 06:16 PM

good algae eaters absolutely

to compare them to snails the urchins eat almost all kinds of algae including corline

some are venomous but both with not cause a crash

95accord · #3 12/20/2007, 06:18 PM

are they worth it? or would a handfull of snails be a better alternative?

also eat coraline eh? hmmm.....

bertoni · #4 12/20/2007, 06:20 PM

Some people like having them. Some have been known to eat corals now and then. Personally, I don't have any, but they can be fine, if you're not attached to coralline. You'd need to pick a species before we can say much more.

MalHavoc · #5 12/20/2007, 06:21 PM

Do you still have your chocolate chip starfish? That thing will eat snails and urchins.

95accord · #6 12/20/2007, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MalHavoc
Do you still have your chocolate chip starfish? That thing will eat snails and urchins.

ahhh...good to know. he's probably the reason a couple of my turbo snails died too......

ill probably be trading him in sometime soon then......

Dingo Dog · #7 12/20/2007, 06:29 PM

I had a tuxedo and hoped it would help my algae problem. It basically just left temporary scar trails on my LR by munching a fine line out of the LR. It also knocked over some corals. As for helping rid the algae, it didn't. I gave it back to my LFS. If you're having algae issues I'd pass on the tuxedos.

acrodave · #8 12/20/2007, 06:39 PM

My tuxedos eat it all

IHOP · #9 12/20/2007, 06:43 PM

I had a longspine urchin and it was great for algae but it kept knocking over my corals.

mspad · #10 12/20/2007, 06:49 PM

I have purple urchins in my reef and they really don't seem to eat very much. I would rather have snails.

Lee_Bay · #11 12/20/2007, 11:24 PM

urhcin = BULLDOZER.

Dozing over anything in its path.

demonsp · #12 12/20/2007, 11:59 PM

He loves algea and coraline. Mine got way to big and just bothered the coral. Plus whene ever i had my hand in the tank i would freak whene bumbed and thought it was him.

jdmcivicek9 · #13 12/21/2007, 01:12 AM

i have a blue tuxedo and it does a great job of eating algae also its kinda neat to see him pick up different things to stick to himself for camouflage he does bump corals sometime but not bad enough to want to get rid of him!!

ACBlinky · #14 12/21/2007, 02:04 AM

My pincushion is a great pet! He eats loads of coralline, which saves me having to scrape as much, doesn't bother the corals (which are all epoxied/glued in place) and provides daily amusement by wearing a different 'hat' for every mood. There's the 'nobody can see me' hat (lots of shells and rubble), the 'I fear nothing' hat (a single tiny piece of rubble), the 'fancy man' hat (a tuft of Halimeda algae sticking up like a mowhawk) and more. Urchins are great, I highly recommend getting one

digidana · #15 12/21/2007, 05:26 AM

i have a pincushion. everybody really seems to like to watch him more than everything else. i brought mine a bunch of hats home from the beach too. but yea, make sure the corals are glued down. he does do a bunch of rearranging!

digidana · #16 12/21/2007, 05:27 AM

OH! but i heard from the LFS, that they suck so hard that they will scar acrylic tanks! the acrylic tank that they keep the urchins in have all kinds of discolored spots. i don't know if this is all kinds or not tho.

MalHavoc · #17 12/21/2007, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by digidana
OH! but i heard from the LFS, that they suck so hard that they will scar acrylic tanks! the acrylic tank that they keep the urchins in have all kinds of discolored spots. i don't know if this is all kinds or not tho.

Urchins don't "suck", they scrape. If you watch an urchin eat when it is on the glass, you'll see its five toothed jaw rasp away at the coralline or algae underneath.

Yeah, they'll knock over corals, but your corals should be epoxied down anyway. I had a couple of tuxedos in my 180, and they did a great job of eating algae.