ID this urchin

[SaltyJim]

Can anyone tell me what kind of urchin this is, and if it is safe to keep with corals? I know that there are some that are no-nos, but I have never seen this one described. It was given to me when my father got out of the hobby (FO tankwith this urchin) and can go away if it is bad for my corals.

Thanks, Jim

[matt]

Very cool looking. There's an article by Ron Shimek on urchins:
http://www.aquarium.net/0497/0497_1.shtml

Looks like it might be a caribbean urchin that's discussed in that article. How big is it?

[SaltyJim]

It's about 2" in diameter. I feed it everyday with strips of Red Seaweed. It seems to like that and is also great at cleaning the glass for me. So far, I have not ever seen it near the corals, but I just want to make sure. I think I may move it to a FO tank anyway.

Jim

[Jenn]

Can you guys give the names of some good urchins that I can go out and get. My glass has to be cleaned every other day, and from reading this topic, looks like I need 1 or 2. I have a reef with softies only right now, but I do have a blue-dot puffer in there that so far has left them alone. Thanks.

[SaltyJim]

Try a pincushin blue tuxedo urchin. I've heard they are pretty harmless. You also usually seem them in reef tanks, and they look pretty cool too. Nice electric blue.

[Tim Marvin]

Urchins won't do that great at cleaning diatoms from the glass. Snails probably do the best at that. You just have to clean the glass with your mag float.

[MikeP]

Most urchins will do a nuber on your coralline algae too. I have a purple carribean urchin in my FOWLR tank and he scraped a 10"x12" rock almost base over the past few months.

Also be choosy and do the research before you pick one up - some will definitely eat non mobile invertebrates like corals, sponges, tunicates etc - some will even eat fish if they can catch them.

Tuxedo and Longspine / Diadema are about the safest IME.

[robertpower3]

I love my long spine he is very neat to watch.