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- Apr 13, 2019
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Just today I bought 9 short spine aka rock-boring urchins. Yes my tank has plenty of algae in it, if they can get through all of it I'll be amazed! And hopefully I can sell off the excess urchins. But it's been quite a while and hundreds of dollars have been spent trying to get rid of this algae.
But there's only one problem! I've never had an urchin before! First I want to ask if they can make it in a tank that's a bit on the warm side, about 80 degrees. Everybody says 72-78. Second, how do I get them into the tank? How do you handle them? It's surprisingly hard to find any information about that.
Some tank info: It's a 40 gallon breeder with a 20 gallon sump. Salinity slightly high at 1.026.
If anybody could shed some light on these guys I'd appreciate it! There seems to be a lack of info on them from what I can tell. Many of their wikipedia pages are nearly empty or nonexistent entirely! Also I have a frag rack with loose frags. I'm under the impression that rock-boring urchins do not have the habit of picking things up, but maybe I'm wrong. Does anybody think they're going to be a problem with the frags in the rack? Any frags out of the rack are glued down.
Here is a slightly outdated picture to give you an idea of what I'm dealing with here. I no longer have the xenia and the rocks are fuzzy with thick hair algae of some kind.
But there's only one problem! I've never had an urchin before! First I want to ask if they can make it in a tank that's a bit on the warm side, about 80 degrees. Everybody says 72-78. Second, how do I get them into the tank? How do you handle them? It's surprisingly hard to find any information about that.
Some tank info: It's a 40 gallon breeder with a 20 gallon sump. Salinity slightly high at 1.026.
If anybody could shed some light on these guys I'd appreciate it! There seems to be a lack of info on them from what I can tell. Many of their wikipedia pages are nearly empty or nonexistent entirely! Also I have a frag rack with loose frags. I'm under the impression that rock-boring urchins do not have the habit of picking things up, but maybe I'm wrong. Does anybody think they're going to be a problem with the frags in the rack? Any frags out of the rack are glued down.
Here is a slightly outdated picture to give you an idea of what I'm dealing with here. I no longer have the xenia and the rocks are fuzzy with thick hair algae of some kind.