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got new urchin


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  1. #1

    Default got new urchin

    New sea urtian is covered in shells is this normal?

  2. #2
    davejnz - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Daytona Bch,FL
    Posts
    1,446

    Default

    The only urchins i would use in a reef tank are the Diadema spp.I'm not familiar with your urchin so i don't know if its normal or not.

  3. #3

    Default

    It's eating the rock!!! Shaving it actually. It is small with long sharp pink spines.

  4. #4
    davejnz - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Daytona Bch,FL
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    1,446

    Default

    Yes,it is normal for Urchins to graze the rock.While doing so,the strip it bare.Don't worry,its actually a good thing.First off,the eat those algae turfs that the rest of your cleanup crew doesn't eat.By stripping the rock,it can open up some of the pores in the LR that algae might have covered.If your worried that the Urchin will eat all your coralline,it grows back faster than the Urchin can eat it.I had a nice sized Diadema sp. Urchin in my old 40gal.That thing would eat coralline/graze rock all day and night.Even so,the back glass/sidesof the tank as well as my LR was always covered in coralline.

  5. #5

    Default

    That good to know. But will I have rock left when its done?

  6. #6
    davejnz - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Daytona Bch,FL
    Posts
    1,446

    Default

    It shouldn't actually be eating your rock,merely stripping off the calcareous/turf algae that grows on it.

  7. #7
    dakar - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    NOLA
    Posts
    4,336
    First Name
    Dave

    Default

    What type of urchin do you have? We are now critter sitting for a couple three months for a buddy while he moves house and stuff. One of the critters is a blue tuxedo pincushion urchin. His spines are covered with shells and all sorts of things he's managed to find in his travels, normal behavior, tonight's the first night we located where he was grazing (an extremely thick coraline encrusted area) so we'll see what he found tasty in the morning.
    Every electronic device is manufactured with smoke stored deep inside... only a true genius can find a way to set it free.

  8. #8

    Default

    I am not sure what kind it is. It looks like the one in his pic but it has a white body and pink spines.

  9. #9
    JustDavidP - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Marlborough, MA
    Posts
    738

    Default

    Urchins will only graze on the rock and will not actually eat the rock itself. They tend to want to eat just the algaes off of it.

    Carrying around its own camoflague is normal too. It's a defense mechanism. I love the fact that mine does that. I let him collect, and then clean his back of the rubble and toss it away. I let him keep just his 'purdy flowers', a small colony of zoas that he adopted.

    Thus far, mine has eaten hair algae, coralline, film algae from the glass..and the best of best... CYANO!! Yep.. he sat in the middle of a cyano slick that I developed (long story) and in a day's time, cut it to less than 1/8 of what it was. He's like a machine... he was eating away and pooping all along!

    Dave

    urchin - got new urchin
    ><((((

  10. #10

    Default

    SSSOOOO cute! His flowers are beautiful. Mine keeps trying to pick up the new ricordea frag.

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