caulerpa-vore

[insanefishguy]

I am looking for something that will eat caulerpa. Preferably something small that I can house in both my 55 and a 10 gallon tank full of rock. Does anyone know if a mithrax crab will eat caulerpa? I hear they eat a lot of algae.

 

[coralnut99]

Though it will outgrow your 55 in time, a hawaiian sailfin would be my first suggestion. You can start with a medium sized specimen that would be fine in a 55 for a long time. I sense you have caulerpa pretty well entrenched on the rocks of your main display? I have 3 in different tanks and they just don't let caulerpa exist for more than a minute. I have caulerpa in one of my frag tanks, and when it gets out of hand, I'll just pull a piece of rock, and put it one of the tanks with a tang in it and it's clean as a whistle overnight.

 

[insanefishguy]

Thanks coral nut. That stuff grows ridiculously. I am so mad at my self for gettinig it into the display. Once it sends out a runner and gets into the rock work, it comes back everywhere.right now I dont have anything in the tank that will eat algae, so before i get something I just want to make sure it will eat what I need it for. I have read that a foxface will eat just about any type of algae. My only concern is the fact that they may munch lps.

 

[coralnut99]

I could be wrong, but foxfaces will also munch on zoanthids. Hopefully someone will chime in on that point. Yeah, the stuff can be as invasive as any "nuisance" algae that your tank could incur. Foxfaces can get up there in size too, and their dorsal spines are poisonous. My sailfins are fabulous fish. A week or so to acclimate, and then always front and center looking for food. Nothing timid about them, and model citizens. My oldest has been with me upwards of 4 years now and has survived a couple of bouts with my stoopidity over that time. They tirelessly scour the rocks to keep ANY sort of algae from getting a foothold. My oldest even warmed up to bryopsis at one point. I have a purple tang in one of my 125's I would swap out in a heartbeat for a sailfin if it didn't mean tearing the tank down to catch him.