Pincushion vs Tuxedo Urchin for Beginner FOWLR

EricR

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Newbie curious which urchin, if any, the experts would recommend for beginner FOWLR -- considering pincushion or maybe tuxedo.
Goal being least effort and compatible with current tank occupants (obviously).

Main occupants:
  • 1 small (about 1") black Darwin clownfish (I think)
  • 1 bicolor blenny
  • 1 chocolate chip sea star

Other details in case any bearing:
  • 4 month old 37 gallon glass aquarium with 2 HOBs
  • Coarse aragonite sand bed (about 2") with cultured live rock structure
  • 2 tiny hermit cabs and a few margarita snails
  • Lots of bristleworms and amphipods
*starfish/hermits/snails came from smaller tank at beginning of this current tank

Blenny has his favorite hole in the live rock structure -- hoping the urchin won't displace him.
 

Fish Think Pink

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Newbie curious which urchin, if any, the experts would recommend for beginner FOWLR -- considering pincushion or maybe tuxedo.
Goal being least effort and compatible with current tank occupants (obviously).

Main occupants:
  • 1 small (about 1") black Darwin clownfish (I think)
  • 1 bicolor blenny
  • 1 chocolate chip sea star

Other details in case any bearing:
  • 4 month old 37 gallon glass aquarium with 2 HOBs
  • Coarse aragonite sand bed (about 2") with cultured live rock structure
  • 2 tiny hermit cabs and a few margarita snails
  • Lots of bristleworms and amphipods
*starfish/hermits/snails came from smaller tank at beginning of this current tank

Blenny has his favorite hole in the live rock structure -- hoping the urchin won't displace him.
You will be fine with either urchin, but you'll be amazed at how much your urchin can eat. You could get dry nori and rubberband 1/2 sheet to rock and let it go to town.

Item of note, don't poke yourself with sea urchin spine. IF you do poke yourself with sea urchin spine broken off inside wound, treat as emergency if near cartilage, as spine will dissolve cartridge (think: fingers/hand/etc) and spines are designed to keep working in. Info based on scuba diving doctor treating BF years ago for sea urchin. We had a long spine back then, but think broken off sea urchin spine was in his thigh due to scuba diving so no real concern (but always thought it was good info for home tank, just in case)
 
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EricR

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New&no clue

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I have both, and as far as care level goes, they are pretty similar. My tuxedo urchin appears to eat less, however, both are great with algae. The big difference I've noticed is my pincushion eats hair algae, and my tuxedo does not. Pincushions get much bigger than tuxedos, so based on your tax size, I might opt for a tuxedo or be prepared to rehome your pincushion if it gets too big. As far as compatibility with your other tank inhabitants, they will all be okay together.
 

Uncle99

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The issue I find with urchins is they are voracious eaters and not courteous to corals however you have no corals so that point is mute.

Make sure he always has something to eat or he will dwindle.
 

ctopherl

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Newbie curious which urchin, if any, the experts would recommend for beginner FOWLR -- considering pincushion or maybe tuxedo.
Goal being least effort and compatible with current tank occupants (obviously).

Main occupants:
  • 1 small (about 1") black Darwin clownfish (I think)
  • 1 bicolor blenny
  • 1 chocolate chip sea star

Other details in case any bearing:
  • 4 month old 37 gallon glass aquarium with 2 HOBs
  • Coarse aragonite sand bed (about 2") with cultured live rock structure
  • 2 tiny hermit cabs and a few margarita snails
  • Lots of bristleworms and amphipods
*starfish/hermits/snails came from smaller tank at beginning of this current tank

Blenny has his favorite hole in the live rock structure -- hoping the urchin won't displace him.
I have not had a pincushion but from the looks of them they may be a bit more risky to physically handle due to accidental stabbings :p the tuxedo is very easy to handle with bare hands and avoid injury in my experience

In general, go with whichever one you think looks cooler. Or try both!
 

Wick3d_1

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I have a pin cushion. I remove things from my urchin a lot with bare hands. And mine is a decent sized since it's in a 180 about the size of a baseball. They do get fairly large and it's like having a velcro covered bulldozer in the tank.
 
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EricR

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I have not had a pincushion but from the looks of them they may be a bit more risky to physically handle due to accidental stabbings :p the tuxedo is very easy to handle with bare hands and avoid injury in my experience

In general, go with whichever one you think looks cooler. Or try both!
My plan was to just check them both out and pick whichever I liked best (leaning towards pincushion) but...

Only place within reasonable driving distance just has these right now:
-- pink urchin -- is this a type of pincushion?
-- purple Sri Lanka urchin -- can't seem to find anything about this type.

Are either of the above worth a ways of a drive to check out, keeping in mind that I don't have corals but I do want an easy one and to be safe with a bicolor blenny that hangs out in the live rock and a very small clown?
 

Snuffy The Seal

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My plan was to just check them both out and pick whichever I liked best (leaning towards pincushion) but...

Only place within reasonable driving distance just has these right now:
-- pink urchin -- is this a type of pincushion?
-- purple Sri Lanka urchin -- can't seem to find anything about this type.

Are either of the above worth a ways of a drive to check out, keeping in mind that I don't have corals but I do want an easy one and to be safe with a bicolor blenny that hangs out in the live rock and a very small clown?
Almost all commonly available urchins are safe to fish as far as far as ive see, although they will eat/scavenge dying/decayed fish. pink urchin is a spiker version of the pincushion urchin, and my personal experience says if you want a cool pincushion or tuxedo go for the halloween or hairy pincushion urchins. come in nice colors and spikes are rarely displayed.
 
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EricR

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Almost all commonly available urchins are safe to fish as far as far as ive see, although they will eat/scavenge dying/decayed fish. pink urchin is a spiker version of the pincushion urchin, and my personal experience says if you want a cool pincushion or tuxedo go for the halloween or hairy pincushion urchins. come in nice colors and spikes are rarely displayed.

Those look cool. Too bad out of stock right now.

That site has some inverts labeled "ORA aquacultured."
In terms of less likely to introduce any diseases/etc, is it much safer to buy those or not really?
Same question for both urchins and snails.
 

Snuffy The Seal

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Those look cool. Too bad out of stock right now.

That site has some inverts labeled "ORA aquacultured."
In terms of less likely to introduce any diseases/etc, is it much safer to buy those or not really?
Same question for both urchins and snails.
ORA still can introduce pest but since the nature of urchins that attach things to themselves its probably better to to get ORA. It doesnt matter super much to me personally but the chance of getting a pest hitchhiker from a urchin seems pretty low, although ORA are likely better to fare in captivity anyways.
 
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EricR

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Not of any importance but just to wrap this up...
I ended up with a pink urchin (or so I'm told).
I'd heard that urchins love to munch the coralline algae off your rocks.
True dat!

Day 1:
urchin5.JPG
 

Amandakayphoto

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Sorry,,, last one.
Tried to get him interested in some nori instead but he wasn't having any of that.

Day 2:
urchin_day2_3.jpeg
What I have found is that they will ho crazy for whatever they like best (coralline algae seems to be a particular love), and then once they get their fill of that they will go for other options like sea lettuce, nori, or algae wafers. Super cute little guy, get him a hat!
 
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EricR

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What I have found is that they will ho crazy for whatever they like best (coralline algae seems to be a particular love), and then once they get their fill of that they will go for other options like sea lettuce, nori, or algae wafers. Super cute little guy, get him a hat!
My little clownfish wants a hat -- a hard hat! He was freaking out when the urchin first went in. Starting to get used to it and becoming more curious now though.

*I have seen someone on here 3D printing hats for their urchin -- pretty funny. I like the viking helmet one I saw a picture of.
 

Amandakayphoto

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Yeah, my Damsel was like what the heck?!?

Yes! So many hats. There might be some on here, but I have gotten mine from etsy!


My little clownfish wants a hat -- a hard hat! He was freaking out when the urchin first went in. Starting to get used to it and becoming more curious now though.

*I have seen someone on here 3D printing hats for their urchin -- pretty funny. I like the viking helmet one I saw a picture of.
 
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