Pencil Urchin! Hmmm

[Pheonix]

Are pencil urchin's really reef safe? ive just watched mine eat my whole xenia frag in about 8 hours i couldnt believe it until i actually saw it! glad it was only a small frag but still!

any thoughts? there is plenty of algea and stuff in there for him to eat so he shouldnt be hungry and using that as a last resort!

 

[steelhealr]

I have a black longspine and it depends on what your definition of 'reefsafe' is. If you like coralline algae on your reef, the answer is NO. SH

 

[Donya]

When I was doing a lot of reading about pencil urchins a while ago, it seemed that there are a few different species sold under that name that have different feeding habbits, ranging from mainly herbivorous to carnivorous/predatory. Maybe you have one of the species that eats soft corals? It was mainly mushrooms and riccordea I read about being eaten...xenia wasn't mentioned.

 

[Pheonix]

im fine with him eating me coraline algea, i have enough of that, but corals is not on lol!! i will be watching him closely in the future if he continues this habbit he will be rehomed lol

 

[steelhealr]

The main disadvantage to losing one's coralline algae is that it is 'competitve' with nuisance algaes. If you notice, many will not adhere to coralline. When you have your coralline stripped clean, it provides a surface for unwanted algaes to take hold. However, if you are an 'expert water maintainer', it probably won't have a negative effect. SH