too many urchins??

[theorkinman]

hi... i was wondering how many urchins were too many to keep in a 55 gallon tank... i dove for my own live rock, and lots of small urchins came along in the crevaces... should i weed them out, and what do you think is a respectable number.... i only have 2 seargant majors.

thanks

 

[steve-s]

Depends on how much you value the coralline on the rock and the species of urchin. In general though, one is usually plenty.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Tripoli]

I had two urchins in my 55-gallon tank for a long time. There was enough food for them, but they did eat every bit of coralline algae they could get their tentacles on. I'm told that tuxedo and pincushion urchins are better about leaving the coralline algae than pencil or longspine urchins.

 

[jamal-188]

I had 2 in my 110g and they stripped rocks of coraline so I got rid of them. It's too bad they were really colorful and were so funny when the one would carry snails/crabs around on his back.

 

[Tripoli]

It's too bad they were really colorful and were so funny when the one would carry snails/crabs around on his back.

One of mine had a habit of snagging my thermometer off the glass and hauling it around with him. For the first few weeks I kept taking it away from him, but he'd always go fetch it again. Finally just decided to let him keep it.

 

[quarryshark]

I have 4 in my 210. They do work on some of the rock, but spend much time cleaning the glass.
It is funny how the pincushion pick things up. I swear one was carrying more than his weight around for at least a week.