Question about Sea Hares??

[jeemann99]

I am looking into purchasing a Sea Hare to reomve some hair algae in my tank ecspecially the algae growing on and around my zoos. Does anybody have any expereince with these things? Are they safe if I have an anemone? I have a Black Sea Cucumber, but he is pretty lazy and does not do as much as I thought it would.

Advantages and dis-advantages?

Advise needed

Thanks in advance
Garrick

 

[guzz64]

I used them with good success. IF you are getting Dolebella Auricularia, they do a great job. Did not bother any of my tank inhabitants. I did not have an anemone, so I do not have a direct answer to that. They get fairly large and are clumsy (coral bulldozer).
I have not witnessed, but understand they can ink.

 

[slave-of-rock]

I had one for about 4 months to get rid of my HA problem. It took him about a month to eat it all (I had a large problem with it, on everything). It did not harm my coral at all, I have mainly softies with 2 LPS and a few SPS frags. It never inked or anything like that, and never harmed my corals. I think these are the best things to get rid of HA.

 

[zoebeaglezoe]

I think they only ink if harassed and after theres no more hair algae I heard they will starve

 

[jeemann99]

I really only have hair algae on a rock covered in Zoos. How else woudl I remove the algae without getting rid of the zoos?

Thanks

 

[kerusso316]

I have a green one in the SPS tank and a brown one in the softy tank.My green has been there for a year with no HA.He has not starved and is in great condition.Posphates at .01.I just got the brown guy from Dave at Oceans Floor,so I cant really say much.He had one more yesterday.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I had zoo rock that kept regrowing hair algae & it spread all over the tank. I bought a seahare & it never ate much. I loaned it to a friend & her giant green brittle starfish ate it. I started to meticulously picked the HA off every few days. I suddenly noticed it stopped growing back & now I have none!

 

[MBasile]

ditto with slave-of-rock

 

[jeemann99]

This is what I am trying to get rid of. The Algae on my Zoo rock. The rock is about the size of a fist. I tried placing my Turbo snails and blue legged hermits on it, but no luck. I tried taking it out of the tank to workl on removing the algae manually, but the rock has already attached itself to the bigger rock underneath it.

What else can I try? I do not want a toxic problem in my tank with the use of sea hares, but if that is my only option then I guess I will have to get some. Which color sea hares should I avoid are some more toxic than others?

Thanks
Garrick

 

[Pufferpunk]

Get the giant brown one: