my coris wrasse eats hair algae

[d-man]

anybody ever seen this? I watched him for 5 mins or so macking down chunk after chunk of green hair algae. Are they known for this?

 

[WuHT]

i've seen wrasses go for nori, so i guess its not impossible

 

[Daniel Reef]

Post a video.

 

[d-man]

i have neither a decent camera or any idea how to do so.

 

[olemiss reb]

Mine does this with algae and nori but I always assumed it was trying to dig out some inverts as it spits out the algea and nori. I have seen it catch amphipods that come out of the algae.

 

[d-man]

the algae is on the side of the overflow box, so i know he's not digging for anything

 

[IFbettas]

It's possible that your wrasse is going after copepods/amphipods that are hiding in the algae. My melanurus wrasse used to go nuts picking pods out of algae patches.

 

[d-man]

maybe, but i'm positive he is ripping off chunks repeatedly

 

[iamwrasseman]

many times they will dig at the algae in an attempt to find critters that are hiding beneath it . take some time and see if he is actually ingesting it or possibly grazing for whats underneath it . i have seen some eat prepared nori or other sheets like it but i have never seen them actually eat "tank algae" .not to say that he's not but i have many wrasses and just haven't seen this activity .