Bubble algae eaters??

mamagoose45

mamagoose45

Member
I've got some bubble algae growing in a 5.5 nano and I'm in search of something to put in the tank that's going to eat this stuff. I know emerald crabs will munch on it, but I'm not sure if they would be okay to put in a 5.5 nano with a few sexy shrimp and a yellow clown goby. Are there other options I don't know about?
 
I dont know if it would work, but if its on a easy rock to get to, could you just take it out and use a tooth brush or some kind of brush and brush it off? Probably would leave some behind though, I don't know. Just a thought...

Steve
 
I wouldn't worry about it. There is far worse algae to worry about. I've had bubble algae and without worrying about it... it just simply went away.

Has anyone ever had so much that it was considered a nuisance?

FYI I have witnessed bristle worms open its mouth like a snake and swallow a fairly large piece of bubble algae whole! I'm not saying this is a cure... just a fact.
 
i used a emerald in my very first tank which happened to be a 5.5 . the first emerald i got would bother my corals but never ate them. i returned him for another and the second one never touced them. alot of people use them in nanos. i had one in my 2.5 also. they are good for bubble and hair algae.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9046548#post9046548 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rsteagall

Has anyone ever had so much that it was considered a nuisance?
Click to expand...

ive seen peoples nanos get covered in it and have to tear there tank down because of it getting out of control. in such a small tank it dont take long to be overrun
 
in my nano's the shrimp and crab would fight over food when i fead the tank but they wouldnt get where they would hurt each other or anything serious. we use to like watching them fight over food. the shrimp would usually back off after awhile. alot of people have shrimp and emeralds in there nanos and ive never heard anything bad about them being together. it was actually one of my favorite things when i had my 5.5 was to watch the two of them fighting over there food. my wife use to over feed them just to watch them lol. but they never killed each other so they should be fine.
 
emeralds can turn predators. after watching mine try to catch my bi-color blenny, I don't know if I'll ever own another. This is usually only a problem after they get larger though.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9046662#post9046662 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rsteagall
emeralds can turn predators. after watching mine try to catch my bi-color blenny, I don't know if I'll ever own another. This is usually only a problem after they get larger though.
Click to expand...

it might be different from one to the next. ive had 4 all together and never had them kill anything and one was in my 5.5 for 2 years but you just never know i guess. i do alot of reading on nano reefs .com and most everyone use them and ive never read anything bad about them. but i guess you could get a bad one. also some people do sell another crab that looks like an emerald but i cant think of the name off hand and they get bigger and more agressive then an emerald so that could be what you had.
 
i just did some reading on them on nr and one thing i found out was that people who didnt feed there emerald crabs would have trouble with them picking at corals so thats probably why mine were so good since i fead them everyday when i feed my tank. so id just be sure you give it something to eat like i use to. some dont feed them thinking they will eat more algae but thats when they seem to pick at corals but most nano setups have emearlds and shrimps togeteher so that shouldnt be a problem. but like anything they can be different from one to another. ive just had trouble with the one picking at my zoas but he never ate them he was eating algae inbetween then on the rocks and it bothered them so i traded him in.
 
Ask danieljames about bubble;). I had it pretty bad in my 55 before going to the 125 and got rid of it all by scrubbing every rock with a toothbrush and swishing it before putting it in the tank (during the transfer). Once it gets going, it can be hard to stop...
 
BTW, this may be out of the norm, but my purple tang has been known to munch on bubble from time to time...
 
My purple is way to lazy for that. I have 4 of them emerald crabs and they are more interested in other algae than bubble algae. wish they went after that first. Lazy terds. I swear I have the laziest group of fish and crabs. never do what they are supposed to. My tangs pick and pick, but you can never see where they actually get any thing off the rocks.

Gary.. IT was YOU who got that infernal bubble in my tank.. off a frag of something I got from you. dont recall what it was, but I think it didnt make it. you aint kidding, once it gets a foothold, it takes off. I took a knife to it, and got a bunch off, but now that I got that UV, it should help kill alot of the spores...
 
Breaking them open in the tank is hard to keep yourself from doing... I have growing tower of bubble algae that grows on my seio intakes... Of course, I've got a little bit of several types of algae, so I have to pick on the worst one (which changes from time to time). I think I'm not supposed to have the color I do on my SPS with algae like that;).
 
wierd... I dunno how I dodged it if its that rabid. I did nothing special and it pretty much got rid of itself. =\ man... I sure wish I had taken a picture of that bristle worm eating that piece of bubble algae. It was wild stuff.
 
Common variegated sea urchins eat them like candies. I have seen it devour a huge amount of bubble algae on a really big rock at LFS within a few days.

Tomoko
 
in such a small tank i would try and take the rock out like gary said. i had a bad outbreak a while back and it was every where. it sucks scrubbing rock but thats the only way i got rid of it. emerald crabs can eat it but they can also play with them. they pop them to eat them and spread the seeds so end up getting more.
 
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