best sea urchin for 46g reef??

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JASONinNM

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Feb 11, 2011
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What would be the best sae urchin for a 46g???

I really like black longspine but seem like id need more space than I can provide. Maybe a blue pincushion?? Please get back to me!
 
Why do you want an urchin? They are nocturnal, and mostly hide during the day. The Blue Tuxedo (Mespilia globulus), or Pincusion (Lytechinus variegatus) would be fine a 46 with lots of LR to roam around.
 
The red urchin like in my display pic are very very pretty. Best colors in my opinion...i forget the scientific name, I'll try to look it up.
 
Urchins and corals don't get along as the urchin will knock over your corals.
 
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I guess I mainly want one because of how weird and interesting they are. Are they effiecient at helping with algae?
 
I've had a black longspine. Mine grew too quickly, and those spines kept my hands from the tank. It always seemed to be in the area I wanted to be in. It stuck me once, and that was enough.... If I had a 125G I think I'd get one again, but start with a tiny one. I have a collector urchin, but had to move him to my smaller tank that had less coral. It has a habit of picking up smaller frags and putting them somewhere else. I have a small tuxedo in my other tank. It doesn't carry quite as much. Right now it has a Xenia, GSP, and some macroalgae on it. I put macroalgae in the DT to supplement my california sea hare, good treat for it. I'd consider a pencil urchin, they are more compact than the spiny black, but still you'd need to make sure you have some stable rock structure, looks like he could move some stuff if he wanted. Oh, all my urchins are out during the day. I can't say they do that great of job with algae, just neat to have. I have plenty of coraline in both tanks too.
 
The nice thing about the red or black urchin is the fact that they dont pick things up. I've had a pencil urchin once and didn't like him too much. He was a very large one and took chunks out of the rock. He was a little too constructive for me. Very cool looking though! I dont think you would too much of an issue with any urchin you choose to get. Just get the smallest one you can get since like nick and i said they do grow very very quickly!
 
Here is my urchin, and my sea hare is eating the macro-algae that he picked up.

img_1251435_0_e7fdcc8f7f4f55d34326098365652b64.jpg
 
Thank you guys soo much! I think iv decided not to get an urchin after all. Id rather it not eat my (starting to grow) coraline, and move frags. Course like he said, "live and learn" so I may someday!
 
JASONinNM said:
Thank you guys soo much! I think iv decided not to get an urchin after all. Id rather it not eat my (starting to grow) coraline, and move frags. Course like he said, "live and learn" so I may someday!

WhaT can I say guys.... he was basically givin to me! He's been in for almost a week now. Ig he messes up too much rock work etc.. I have a good home lined up already... but he's awesome!!
 

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Haha, it was only a matter of time :)
Let me know how it does, I've always thought the pencil urchins were cool. I don't have any room in my tanks now, but I was thinking about one for my next tank.
 
Haha "only a matter of time" is right! He cool and at one point it looked like he was stuck under rock but didn't have any problem movin around!
 
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