keeping caulerpa at 0 with which snails or hermits?

C

CTaylor

Active member
Hi,
Sorry I have to ask this, but the search function will not work for me on either of my browsers.
**I tore down my tank and pulled out all the caulerpa and even brushed some of the finer sprigs off a few rocks. From what I have read it's very hard to find a eater of Caulerpa, especially the worst of feather caulerpa. But I can't do a search to verify
**Is there any crab/snail that will eat brand new caulerpa? as in before it grows to anything visible. I thought this might be possible b/c maybe caulerpa is more tasty/tender when it's 'brand new' and super tiny. Maybe a tang? I know those are way more miss than hit, and from what I read rabbit fish are not very likely to do the job either. I've even had a fox face for a few weeks that didnt touch it (though my caulerpa was mostly more 'mature' back then). I do not want to get large hermits, as I'm quite sure they have eaten some of my fish -- when I took the medium sized to large sized ones out, I have had no more weird fish losses. (that's a side note.. but to state why I prefer no medium/large hermits.. just little ones lol). Or any snail (pretty much).
My tank looks amazing right now compared to before. 50% of that is because it's caulerpa 'free'

Thanks
 
try a rabbit fish

and a tip..
Search google vs the function here..
and if you want results specific to this site then use the site: search modifier like this example
"Eats caulerpa site:reefcentral.com"
 
Hi,
The fox face didnt do anything (a rabbit fish). I remember reading rabbit fish generally do not eat caulerpa much, and something else about them eating coral or something along those lines. And they get pretty big. And they are butt ugly lol << which I can tolerate if they kept caulerpa under control.
I'll try that search, thanks :)
 
I looked up the slug. Tiny it seems, and would probably need several to keep caulerpa away, and there's no place to actually buy them from.
 
Double band rabbit fish will eat anything green. Beak-like mouth and voracious appetite for any vegetation.

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/1D1AA62A-E974-42F8-8215-84A0CBBD35E1_zpscovlemeo.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/1D1AA62A-E974-42F8-8215-84A0CBBD35E1_zpscovlemeo.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1D1AA62A-E974-42F8-8215-84A0CBBD35E1_zpscovlemeo.jpg"></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/1FB5FFB9-E80B-4C28-A03A-1BD6A3AD3226_zpsviervpgr.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/1FB5FFB9-E80B-4C28-A03A-1BD6A3AD3226_zpsviervpgr.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1FB5FFB9-E80B-4C28-A03A-1BD6A3AD3226_zpsviervpgr.jpg"></a>

Younger pics:

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/FC007792-AC2B-43A1-9AA8-0E6D7B6963AB_zpswjjl8zmc.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/FC007792-AC2B-43A1-9AA8-0E6D7B6963AB_zpswjjl8zmc.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo FC007792-AC2B-43A1-9AA8-0E6D7B6963AB_zpswjjl8zmc.jpg"></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/6598f3aa-412f-4eaa-baeb-a03841d6d33f_zpsnmsrxjmu.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/6598f3aa-412f-4eaa-baeb-a03841d6d33f_zpsnmsrxjmu.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 6598f3aa-412f-4eaa-baeb-a03841d6d33f_zpsnmsrxjmu.jpg"></a>
 
While a fox face is also a species of rabbitfish, its mouth is not as capable.

There are other species of rabbitfish that also work. Look for the beak- it's capable of rasping, tearing, cutting and crushing vegetation of all types.
 
yes. that'll work too. I think my rabbit is very pretty.. look at the color and pattern.... I think they're very pretty fish - but beauty is in the eye of the aquarist.

if you have the $ and can find it, go for the gemmed or gold spotted, they're very pretty

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that is a nice one.. where did you get it? The 'ugly ness' .. ANd I do hate using the word ugly for a living thing, never for a human.. But anyhow .. How big is yours? And do you know yours eats caulpera (esp the feather PIA type lol)
EDIT >> it grows to 1 foot! :-/
 
Last edited:
Mine eats everything vegetation. It eats caulerpa, even grape
Even eats bananas, spinach, kale, lettuce, nori, hair algae,
Got it at a LFS

Mine is ~9" now. Was 1.5" three years ago.
 
Nice. Hopefully a blue spot would tear up all algae also lol. I'd likely tend to that one only b/c it's smaller at full size
 
CTaylor said:
*what about a LawnMower blenny?
Click to expand...

My lawnmower blenny and filefish do pick at caulerpa but not much (and mostly only c. prolifera at that). They can slow down caulerpa growth but I'd never say exterminate it or even keep it in check.
 
Here's my experience:

Blennies do well with very short hair and surface film growth
Tangs & foxface with long mouths do well with long thin hair
Tangs with short mouths work well with broad bushy turf
Tanks with flat mouths are more specialized and even eat meat
True rabbits with beaks are true opportunistic feeders but will only eat vegetation
You want a mix of all of them

Someone much more qualified in fish mouth morphology should probably redo this response using more technical terms.. but for the purposes of the thread...
 
I have just a 65, so I can really have just one. Though I already have a sailfish tang (will get a much bigger tank by time he grows out of mine). So I'm thinking to get the blue spot when liveaquaria gets it in.
 
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