You can find it pretty cheep in most healthfood stores. Feed about a 1x1 inch square once a week and he'll be a happy urchin. This article is divided into four sections. General Information contains general notes on husbandry while the other sections deal with specific species broken out by type of urchin and contains specific details on tank size, diet requirements, special needs, and the like.
There are about eight different kinds of urchin, including the sand dollar, sold in the trade. Their habitats range from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean. Most urchins are reef safe with the notable exception of the Pencil Urchin which is carnivorous and will eat corals as well as fish and the very pretty but very venomous flower and fire urchins. Urchins tend to be some of the more unusual and potentially entertaining additions to a cleanup crew and actually cut down substantially on the required number and diversity of said crew.
In general one urchin can handle the job of several glass cleaning snails and several rock cleaning snails and hermits. They are no harder than other invertebrates, like crabs and hermits, to keep and do a good job relative to their size of keeping control of algae. While urchins tend to be nocturnal, many will come out during daylight hours. The best Urchin for Nano tanks are the Tuxedo's as they remain relatively small while still providing entertainment and high cleaning to relative size value.
Watching them work is interesting especially when they are on the glass and their mouth can be seen in operation. They will eat all kinds of algae including diatoms, green hair, etc and there is anecdotal evidence of them eating cyno as well.
There are three downsides to having an urchin in the tank. If the urchin selected is a Pinchushion or Tuxedo and there are small loose bits of rock, small bits of coral or frags, or hermits and snails in the tank the Urchin may take them for a free ride around the tank on its back. The reason for this is that this subspecies uses shells and loose strata as tactile and visual camouflage from their natural predators.
The caution used when putting a turbo snail into a tank would be the same for an urchin. Make sure the rocks and corals are stable and not easy to move.
Finally, urchins eat all kinds of algae including coraline. Most Urchins are either herbivores or omnivores with the notable exception of the Pencil Urchin which is carnivorous. Urchins will eat all forms of micro-algae from all surfaces including rock work, glass, and substrate. If algae is not prolific in the tank it is best to supplementally feed urchins with some form of sea weed such as Nori.
A 2"x2" sheet about once every week or so should be sufficient. Feeding can be handled in one of two ways. First, hang it on the glass or rock where they will find it. Second, hand feed them. Fatherree, M. Ken Feldman Jon E. Shimek, Ph. All times are GMT The time now is PM. TapaTalk Enabled. Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement. How big of a pain will a pincushion urchin be? User Name. Remember Me? Mark Forums Read.
Page 1 of 2. Thread Tools. Find More Posts by ritter Find More Posts by Packersfan Find More Posts by noahm. Find More Posts by mscarpena. Quote: Originally Posted by Packersfan21 also do a good job of eating hair algae.
Find More Posts by jenjen. Find More Posts by Whisperer. Find More Posts by Eldredge. Find More Posts by skibum Find More Posts by pledosophy. Find More Posts by techreef. Find More Posts by strangedingbat. Indeed, these hardy individuals represent some of the first captive-raised specimens to become available to hobbyists!
And, because their spines are not needle-sharp, they are a bit safer to handle even so, caution is always advised when handling any sea urchin. There is no perfect clean-up crew animal. Though they literally scrub rock surfaces clean , sea urchins including the pincushion urchin cannot get into the tiny pores in rock.
This job is mainly for the smaller herbivores such as pods! Urchins act more as the bulldozers, doing the big job, while the smaller grazers can follow up and finish off the crumbs. Pincushion urchins are not finicky about feeding, housing or water parameters.
Specific gravity can be maintained between 1. They usually do not require supplemental feeding when housed in a saltwater aquarium where some nuisance algae and leftover fish food present.
As scavengers, these urchins will constantly scour the live rock in your tank searching for algae or uneaten fish food or fish waste. Sea urchins are one of the most effective and indeed most natural choices of algae-eater for the marine aquarium. Though there is a fairly wide range of urchin species to select from, pincushion urchins especially aquacultured specimens are among the best.
If you're stung by a sea urchin, immediately remove any part of the sea urchin that's embedded within your body. Use tweezers to remove the large spines. You can use a razor to gently scrape out the pedicellariae. Once you do this, wash the affected area with soap and water. They can live quite a long time think turtles if parameters are kept stable. In the wild they can live anywhere from 5 to well over years is what I am finding everywhere I look. You have blood that transports nutrients all over your body.
Echinoderms circulate water throughout their bodies. The system not only transports molecules, but also works with muscles to walk and move. The canals of their vascular system are found throughout their entire body. Sea urchins are full of sugar, salt, and amino acids, giving them an umami-salty sweetness.
Like oysters, they tend to taste like the ocean they come from and the seaweed they feed on. Uni from Hokkaido, Japan, for example, eat kombu, and therefore taste like kombu. Do sea urchins need sunlight? Species have come up with a variety of ways to protect themselves from the sun. The sea urchin is a lowly creature, to be sure.
Urchin tube feet are also photosensitive, which means they can sense light.
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