Things You'll Need
- Fertilized sea urchin eggs
- Small nursery tank
- Larger nursery tank
- Tank with established bacteria substratum
- Algae/plankton diet
- Large tanks with corrugated sides or landlocked saltwater pond
- High protein pelleted feed
Instructions
Nursery
Place larvae in a small nursery tank, approximately one larva per milliliter of saltwater. Provide water circulation at approximately 20rpm. Avoid bubbling air, as bubbles seem to damage larval spines.
Three days after hatching, begin to feed the tank with single-celled algae. Feed only as much as they will eat in 24 hours (approximately 3,000 algae per milliliter of seawater).
Perform a 10 percent water change daily, carefully siphoning out uneaten food and dead larvae.
Move larvae to larger tank, approximately one larva per 10 milliliters of saltwater, after 10 to 15 days and continue to feed well and perform daily water changes until larvae are full grown at three to four weeks.
Move grown larvae to a well-established aquarium with biological and/or mechanical filtration and mature bacterium in the substrate to induce metamorphosis. The process of metamorphosis takes about five days.
Feed small sea urchins a phytoplankton diet. Substrate-dwelling diatoms work best. After approximately one year, the juvenile urchin will be large enough to accept adult food.
Grow-Out Phase
Place sea urchins in large, well-filtered tanks with corrugated sides for climbing or in a landlocked saltwater pond. Do not overcrowd.
Feed them a high-protein, sinking, pelleted food supplemented by sea kelp.
In six years or more, when an urchin reaches sexual maturity, it will produce roe every six to 12 weeks. However, the urchin must be cracked open and killed to harvest the roe.