Sea urchin care ?

#1
So I recently bought an urchin to help keep my tank clean however after a few day in the tank he seems to be losing color in the base of the spines. There is plenty to eat so am I missing something about caring for an urchin? I plan on doing a water change tonight
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#2
They typically like good water quality and are fairly sensitive to nitrate levels. I also take an extra long time to acclimate to my water conditions. If it is moving around that is a good sign. I have 2 that just go about their business of eating and plowing through coral colonies while picking up every new frag that I swear I glued down....
 
#3
Hmm interesting so my urchin is def moving around a lot so I guess it's safe to say he isn't on his last let or anything but I prob def could have better water quality so maybe that it
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#4
If it starts dropping spines, also a sign that he is going downhill. I had an awesome green one that stopped moving dropped all of it's spines....and when I took it out it smelled, well like death. Seriously, it smelled so bad. If your tank doesn't have a lot of algae in it you can always try supplementing it with part of an algae sheet, but I've never had much luck with that.
 

alindell21

Cleaner Shrimp
#5
I had an urchin once, it was medium length spines I guess I dont know the techinal term, but they tend to like flow, good water quality and mine was feed small bits of fish or shrimp. make sure you have low nitrates and try feeding it.
 
#6
Is this the same urchin you posted a month or two ago and were told and or asked about water quality and parameters. I do not speak up about folks decisions with their tanks often but buying livestock that "looks cool" or "the wife and kids love it" gets me going off on tangents. Please, research this shit before purchase.
Off the soapbox now. Plus, you say it's moving around so good luck to ya.
 
#8
timnem70;636839 said:
Is this the same urchin you posted a month or two ago and were told and or asked about water quality and parameters. I do not speak up about folks decisions with their tanks often but buying livestock that "looks cool" or "the wife and kids love it" gets me going off on tangents. Please, research this shit before purchase.
Off the soapbox now. Plus, you say it's moving around so good luck to ya.
Timnem70

I do not believe I have posted anything else about my urchin until recently. However I had an extensive conversation about its care with a local shop prior to purchasing. Regardless of your assumptions about my purchases, the purpose was to get advice from other experienced reefers.
Thank you for your concern and input as I am also and advocate of researching before purchasing.
 
#9
I have a radiating hatpin urchin and I have to supplement his grazing with frozen chunks of shrimp otherwise he gets aggressive with my inverts
 

Mermaid Gardens

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
We had a spiny urchin in our anemone tank. for a while that ate mojano anemones. When he decided to eat an entire large white tree leather he went back to the fish store. Someone once told me, that nothing eats leathers so I was really surprised when it did. In two of our other tanks we have tuxedo urchins. They eat algae from the rocks and tank walls.
 
#12
elmotheodd;n638191 said:
Big40k
How big is your tank and what all do you have in it ?
I have a 125g with a 75g sump/fuge I have 3 tangs that came from the same size tank and all get along, a pair of spotcinctus clowns and had a soccer ball size anemone that split into three softball size ones, the urchin and several snails and hermits. It will be a mixed reef if I ever find a new home for my coral beauty
 
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