are long spine urchins reef safe?

[sjfishguy]

I have heard the Carribean version eats coralline and xenia so that is out. I am not so much worried about the coralline (I have so much light the stuff doesn't grow very well anyway), but I don't want something eating my xenia.

Has anyone had any experience with the Indo-Pacific version of the long-spine black urchin? Are there any other species which someone could recommend besides the blue tuxedo that, in their experience are reef safe?

 

[Lee1]

I had a black long-spine urchin. Not sure what variety, but it had a blue and orange center on the top. It only ate hair algae, corraline and sheet algae I put in a clip for my tang. It went crazy on hair algae and kept my tank clean. It never went for my corals but it constantly knocked over rock work, corals, etc. It became a major pain reconstructing every few days so I killed it. Just kidding, I traded it to a LFS.

Lee

 

[Fish Guy]

Never kept a Pacific long spine but your dead right about Caribbean long spines eating xenia and corraline( all urchins will eat this though). The long spine is still in my reef tank and the only thing he cleaned out was the xenia a friend gave me. Hasnt eaten orange zoanthids, mushrooms, any other type of corals.

Sorry to say but the best type of urchin for a reef is a blue tuxedo. Stay small and never eats corals. Also keep a Purple pincushion that is 4 thick around and it hasnt bothered anything but it does knock stuff over.

 

[LFS42]

I believe all urchins will eat coraline and some corals.
Most are good for algea control.
But they are little bulldosers, and not very accurate.
The SW manager at the store swears by them, I keep taking them out of displays because of rock falls.

My favorite so far are the zebra urchins that are very toxic.
I believe they come from Hawaii.


the motto at the store:
Toxic/venimous=good

 

[wallysarc]

I kept a long spiner for about 4yrs he was about 7" in diameter when I traded him in. I hated to see him go--- was a big hit w/nonhobbiests, but he kept knocking stuff down. very very hardy critter. I keep both hard and soft corals, only time he bothered them is when he cruised straight through them, he goes where he likes and doesnt mind trampling . :lol:

 

[fishfarmer]

Both me and a friend have several long spines from Florida. Neither of us have seen them eat xenia. They do a good job of knocking things over especially when the get big. They scrape the coralline and do a good job on short stands of hair algae and can't get into crevices well. All of mine went into a big Fowlr tank where they do an o.k. job on the algae.

 

[The Pirate]

Will they eat macro algae or mangroves?

 

[Anonymous]

Both me and a friend have several long spines from Florida. Neither of us have seen them eat xenia. They do a good job of knocking things over especially when the get big. They scrape the coralline and do a good job on short stands of hair algae and can't get into crevices well. All of mine went into a big Fowlr tank where they do an o.k. job on the algae.

I agree. My long spine urchin never touched the xenia or other corals (several soft and some montiporas) in my reef tank. I did, however, recently move him to my FOWLR (this tank actually has some soft corals now) because I suspected that he might be (unintentionally) irritating my clams.

 

[brahm]

I had a long spine for 7-8 months, it never ate any corals, and this is the first time I've ever heard that. They eat algie, and they mow down you rock, they also knock stuff over and get really big.

I wouldn't suggest a long spine to anybody unless you have a VERY large tank. Now A tuxedo urchin is a GREAT reef urchin, small, good at cleaning, and won't spear you.

 

[DaisyPolyp]

I have a long spined in my 75G, but I agree with above posts that unless you have a compelling reson to keep one, its not worth the hassle.

 

[srbayless]

Howdy,

I thought about putting one in my tank once, but changed my mind after reading about them, and hearing other hobbyists' accounts. They don't pose to much threat to corals, at least not by consuming them. They are 'little bulldozers" to quote the common title most owners give them.

As some other people mentioned above, stick with the smaller urchins such as tuxedo or pincussion. I have even seen pencil urchins work well, but again, their spines can knock over rockwork.

If you are considering the urchin for algae control, might I suggest an abalone instead. I received my first one as a hitchhiker on some live rock I purchased, and have used them in every tank since. I have never had a problem with them and they have been a great alternative to short lived snails.

Peace,

Scott.

 

[DaisyPolyp]

Abalone, now there's an idea. I wasn't aware that there were tropical varieties, I'm only familiar with the ones that are found off the coast here (and illegal to harvest).

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, I adopted the long-spine urchin from someone because it had outgrown his tank and was causing problems. He was maybe 7-8" across at the time (this was maybe 3- months ago). I threw him into my 360 reef, where he seemed to be very happy. Mind you, most of the live rock in this tank is fairly large - >10 lb pieces - so he really can't knock anything over.

In any event, I moved him to my 175 FOWLR (some soft corals) tank because this tank has more algae and I thought he would be a good addition. Since this tank has three morays, a lion and a trigger, there is not much I can put in it to eat the algae. Anyways, he seems to be happy and is now about 12" across. This tank also has large live rock pieces.

 

[sjfishguy]

Who revived this post? I saw my name as the author and I was like "I did not post about long spine urchins?" This post was a year and a half ago! Anyway, since it is revived, I ended up not getting a long spine and got the "100% reef safe" blue tuxedo urchin. He was fine for a week or so and then really started muchin on my huge pulsing xenia colony. I got rid of him after a month and I will never put urchins in with corals again. My xenia is finally getting back to where it was before.