Long Spined Sea Urchin

[ryangorney]

I am new to saltwater aquariums. I have a long spined sea urchin and I had a cowfish. I noticed that the cowfish would swim between the long spined urchin's spines and then recently died last week. The aquarium store said that he may have been stabbed by one of the spines and that they are poisonous. Another dealer told me that he doubted that very much. I am concerned however because I added a powder brown tang this evening and already saw him running into the sea urchin. Will he die as well? :question:

 

[dustin_P74]

if he gets poked there is a good chance he will die, but if you give the tang a chance to get all settled into his new home he will probably start avoiding the urchin

 

[yote]

+1 Dustin
Plus,Just because a fish happens to swam into the urchin,doesnt mean it got stung.

 

[JAG107]

I have a relatively large long spined urchin and it hasn't killed any fish yet-- just given me a few good jabs during maintenance :( Your cowfish more than likely died from other causes. Aren't those sorta tough to keep anyway?
Your tang will probably outgrow your tank before the urchin kills it IMO

 

[daugherty]

cowfish are a very hard animal to keep alive in the first place. i think you will be fine. but it is hard to say for shure

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree with what others have said. Cowfish are extremely difficult to keep alive, even for very experienced aquarists. In a tank that is less than a year old (which is considered "young"), a cowfish would have had a slim chance to begin with.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

I am with everybody on this one. Your tang will outgrow your tank in a couple of years. IMO they are one of the harder tangs to keep healthy. They are ick magnets like the regal.

 

[parrotchute]

I really want a long spined urchin, but alas, I've heard they are bulldozers and I like my fledgling corals...

 

[yote]

Mines not so bad about knocking stuff over.At least not as bad as the turbo snails I had for a while.