Sea hare good for hair algae?

[coryjac0b]

Are these any good for cleaning up hair algae?

 

[scottallert]

yes

 

[Elysia]

It can depend, I think. Some are more generalist feeders than others, who prefer specific types of algae. Do you know what species you will be purchasing?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14400139#post14400139 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elysia
It can depend, I think.

true.

Aplysia and Dolabella will eat many types of nuisance algae IME.

 

[honda70kid]

i had a blue spotted sea hair and it did an excellent job on my hair algea it had it gone no lie in 2 days

 

[KyleP]

I have one now that won't touch the hair algae. Prefers to be on the sand bed and glass. Black with blue spots on his back.

 

[jtreefdweller]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14400151#post14400151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
true.

Aplysia and Dolabella will eat many types of nuisance algae IME.

Are these a threat to small (1/4" - 1") fish? Mainly juvenile clownfish. Also are these a threat to mysid shrimp, polychaete worms, anemones and pods?

 

[Elysia]

Anemones are a threat to sea hares. As are pump and filter intakes, cleaner shrimp, and many fish that like to "pick" at things. One sea hare came into the LFS hosting a small shrimp of some kind. Sea hares are only a threat to algae while they are alive. Hair algae can provide safe harbor to a reproducing population of pods and mysis; loss of such algae can be detrimental to these populations.
As anything else, when they die they can degrade the quality of the water.

 

[jtreefdweller]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14452661#post14452661 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elysia
Anemones are a threat to sea hares. As are pump and filter intakes, cleaner shrimp, and many fish that like to "pick" at things. One sea hare came into the LFS hosting a small shrimp of some kind. Sea hares are only a threat to algae while they are alive. Hair algae can provide safe harbor to a reproducing population of pods and mysis; loss of such algae can be detrimental to these populations.
As anything else, when they die they can degrade the quality of the water.

I forgot that when it dies it pollutes the tank. I can't risk that many fish.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14452785#post14452785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jtreefdweller
I forgot that when it dies it pollutes the tank. I can't risk that many fish.

IMO this is not a good reason to dismiss using a seahare for bryopsis eradication-
if a fish dies it pollutes your tank

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14452541#post14452541 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jtreefdweller
Are these a threat to small (1/4" - 1") fish? Mainly juvenile clownfish. Also are these a threat to mysid shrimp, polychaete worms, anemones and pods?

IME- no.
The seahare species I've used in reef aquaria have been herbivores. I've kept them in aquariums with large anemones, too. I've used the blue spotted type. This one worked better

 

[jtreefdweller]

The thing is it not a display tank, it is just a 20g grow out tank for juvenile clownfish, so I don't really care how the tank looks (though I wouldn't mind the algae being gone). At times there are over 100 clowns in there and I would really hate to see them die from the tank being polluted if it happened to die.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I would not place a seahare in a 20 gallon clownfish grow out tank. Like you posted, algae in such a grow out system isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

[small alien]

I had a blue spotted sea hare for one magical night (it got sucked into a power head.) But in that one night, dang, it ate a holy mother load of algae. I was lucky it didn't ink when it died.

 

[edandsandy]

Gary Majchrzak,
That guy is BIG! do you have a problem with him knocking stuff over or around?

 

[Elysia]

I can't speak for Gary's sea hare, but mine does not cause the problems that, say, snails typically do. Snails seemingly don't have a real good sense about how large their shell is, which I guess would make sense as they don't have nerves radiating out through the shell. But sea hares have a better sense of their bodies, and often will move gelatinously around obstacles. I guess one area where they can cause a problem is if things are balanced delicately, and their weight upsets that balance. But in my experience they don't behave like bulldozers.