I have a very strange Sea Hare

[ReeferKimberly]

It's a Wedge Sea Hare. Dolabella auricularia. They are suppossed to eat a mixed variety of algae. I got mine for HA but I also have bryopsis. I did not expect him to eat it. But he does, I watched it and made sure he swallowed. Now that's not extremely strange, I just got lucky I think. What is truly strage is I just saw him eat clam. (tiny pieces, not like a live clam).

I thought they were strictly herbivore? Weird.

 

[Khemul]

"Strictly herbivore" is a tricky thing in the ocean. More like "bulldozers that focus on plants but eat everything living in the plants as well".

That species of Sea Hare especially fits the description. They seem to like caulerpa, HA and basically anything green that has that shape. They don't sort the meat out of their food as they feed. They just flow through and leave barren rock behind. Any inverts that don't get out of the way (feather dusters for instance) become food as well.


The same thing applies for just about all the herbivores really (except maybe the small/medium snails). Blennies for instance eat detritus and pods while picking at algae. There aren't many strict herbivores. In the ocean herbivore just means they won't actively hunt down living food. Serve it to them and they'll accept.

 

[ReeferKimberly]

Yeah I totally get ya but the weird thing is there was no algae around the pieces. It was just a chunk of frozen clam I dropped in there and he went after it like he could smell it and wanted it. I have never fed clam before so he hadn't seen it, at least not in my tank, and he just loved it. He actually ate like half of one of those little chunks from the frozen variety packs all by himself. He seemed very pleased with himself. He is such a cool little creature, we call him pooh bear because he looks like a piece of poo lol

 

[Khemul]

The one I had used to eat fish flakes and mysis shrimp if they fell nearby. Was usually how I knew when I needed to drop an algae covered rock in.

How long have you had it? If it is relatively new then keep in mind they starve easily. I had a 120 with LR covered in HA and I still had to drop in refugium rocks covered in caulerpa and thick HA multiple times a week. They eat a lot. And they get to be a nice size. In the wild they have whole grass beds to plow through.

 

[ReeferKimberly]

Had him oh maybe a month. I have been switching him between tanks. He eats a ton, and he poops even more! If he looks poorly I know plenty who would want him This is the first time I have seen him eat anything but algae....and I still have too much bryopsis Bad for me, good for him as he doesn't seem to know he is not suppossed to eat it. There is some HA in one tank as well, I have lots of rubble I switch up as I also have a royal urchin. I have a 10 I grow pods and algae in....not a refugium as it's not hooked to anything else, but I keep it well fed and get lots of HA from that one. Chaeto too but I havn't tried feeding anything that yet.

 

[Charlene]

This animal is also listed as a possible natural way to control colonial hydroids. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who can confirm this to work using one of these animals.

http://www.masa.asn.au/masawiki/index.php/Myrionema