Hitch Hiker!!!!

[Clyde]

Got home last night I got home and my wife points to the tank and says "what's that in the tank". "It's a F'in urchin" I say. "When did you buy that?" she said. "I didn't".

So, a hitch hiker it must be. The only thing is I have bought nothing but small frags for the past 3-4 months. I did buy live rock from TACo some time ago it must have came in the rock. It is not small about the size of a "jaw breaker". You know the big candy ball.

 

The ? is I have no idea on the care of this creature. Any suggestions?

[MisterTang]

How big is your tank? They tend to knock things over and create a mess, which is why most don't want them in the reef tanks; however, I don't think they will eat corals or anything.

[L8 2 RISE]

treat it as you would a snail, as that is basically what it is in your tank, it will eat what it needs from the algae. As doug said though, alot of times it will just plow through all of your corals.

[lhcorals]

I also got one as a hitchhiker. Had him or her for 3 years. hasnt bothered a thing in the tank. As

far as taking care of it i have done nothing. I think they feed on Destritus and left overs.

[JMsAquarium]

The only reason people tend to consider them as nuisances is because they tend to bulldoze whatever is in their path, thus your corals are knocked off, includind being able to wedge temselves between rocks and sometimes dislodge the rockwork. Most of them aslo prey on coraline algae. Besides that they are rather reef safe.

They do not need particular care nor feeding. I have one in my refugium for the last six months and I let it be. It's a rather interesting critter IMO.

[mogurnda]

It also depends on the type of urchin. This rock boring urchin never bulldozed anything, even though it was big and grazed enthusiastically. It was great for keeping coralline off the glass.

 

This variegated urchin, on the other hand, isn

[SeanCallan]

It also depends on the type of urchin. This rock boring urchin never bulldozed anything, even though it was big and grazed enthusiastically. It was great for keeping coralline off the glass.

 

Stupid question, but would one of these be worth keeping if you were trying to keep coralline off your tank? I guess what I'm asking is, is it likely they will go to the glass/acrylic or stay on the rocks?

[reefmontalvo]

My ? for the group is how would you handle such a thing? Aren't the spikes venemous? And how would you know you have one in the tank?

Edited November 7, 2008 by reefmontalvo

[WDLV]

Some have poisonous spikes but I think the majority just hurt like crazy. I've been stuck several times by the purple long spine variety. I still like them though. I'd take it off your hands if you don't like them.

[JMsAquarium]

Stupid question, but would one of these be worth keeping if you were trying to keep coralline off your tank? I guess what I'm asking is, is it likely they will go to the glass/acrylic or stay on the rocks?

 

They will go every where, rock, glass , acrylic, substrate etc.... As for keeping the coraline off the tank , it will help but you will still mostly have to scrapt it as well. Just handle the urchin with care. Their spines can really hurt. Again, it depends of which one you have. A pic would help.

[gastone]

Sean, urchin have teeth. I know you are planning an acrylic build. Urching teeth + acrylic = me not wanting anything with teeth eating off of my acrylic.

 

Garrett.

[SeanCallan]

Sean, urchin have teeth. I know you are planning an acrylic build. Urching teeth + acrylic = me not wanting anything with teeth eating off of my acrylic.

 

Garrett.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I would be furious if I came home and noticed that something had scratched my tank up.

[Clyde]

How big is your tank? They tend to knock things over and create a mess, which is why most don't want them in the reef tanks; however, I don't think they will eat corals or anything.

My tank is 24 gallon cube. I will keep him until I set up a tank at my daughters school and put it in there ( a10 gallon coral tank).

[ctenophore]

The short-spined urchin pictured above is relatively harmless. You'd really have to try to get stuck by one. The long-spine urchins on the other hand are quite dangerous. A friend of mine has close to 7 in his tank. They look beautiful but you really need to be aware of where they are when you reach in.

 

Mine were never really effective at keeping coralline off the glass, you still have to scrape it. They do eat some other types of nuisance algae though, particularly that wiry red stuff that grows in high light/flow that is a bane to sps tanks.