Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Pencil Urchins - Eucidaris tribuloides

Pencil Urchins are a common sight in the marine aquarium trade. They are usually pretty inexpensive and make interesting pets. These urchins are not reef safe! They eat anything they can catch or mount. They're sharp "teeth" on the underside of the urchin are capable of scraping coral polyps and algae right off the rock. They are also able to push over coral and rocks that are not strongly affixed. I have found these urchins to be very easy to care for; surviving through times of bad water quality. I house them with various reef safe fish, shrimp, brittle stars, snails, small crabs, and other urchins. My oldest urchin I've had for over 5 years, but it is probably a few years older than that. My other two are about 3 years old. Together they are an algae eating army...



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