Sea Erchin ---Anyone have experience with these??

es355lucille · #1 02-06-2011, 07:30 PM

So I was looking at the TOTM tanks from Reef Central....and this one guy has a large tank and I noticed in the video that he also has a long spiny erchin as well in amongst all his beautiful SPS.

I have an erchin in another small tank that I am going to take down. What are the thoughts of putting him in my large 140 display?? (couple SPS / mushrooms / Rics )

The one I have does not have long spines.......but not the really short ones either....his spines are approx 1" long and I can see blue in between the spines. Maybe he is a long spine....just a juvee.

Thanks in advance.

peasofme · #2 02-06-2011, 07:36 PM

only the pincushion and tuxedos are safe

Rogue951 · #3 02-06-2011, 09:13 PM

make sure your rocks/corals/frags are secure. they're deceptively strong.
and LIKE to run off with things.

toytech · #4 02-06-2011, 09:32 PM

I have a tuxedo now , and have had a long spine that got BIG, both where great and never caused any problems . I also had a pencil urchin which was hell on tube feet , he chased down my starfish and ate him as well as a couple of corals .

untamed · #5 02-07-2011, 01:55 AM

Also... No good with acrylic tanks. (well, don't get a hatpin urchin, they get too large and carve up acrylic pretty good)

es355lucille · #6 02-07-2011, 02:10 AM

Thanks for the comments guys!

shrimpchips · #7 02-07-2011, 02:58 AM

Not all urchins are bad - you just need to do a little research to see which are safe. Longspine (diadema sp.) are generally reef safe, but they can get very big, so they're not typically tank-friendly in the long scheme of things.

I forget the species name, but I have two of these guys in my tank now, and they're completely reef safe. They don't have really long spines, and they aso don't pick things up (just knock them down), and don't chase things down and eat them. From what I cal tell, it just eats coralline algae or the biofilm on rock.