sea hare id

turbo2oh

turbo2oh

New member
Well I did purchase a HOB refugium to hopefully outcompete my HA outbreak on my restarted tank.

I was at the LFS the other day to pickup a few more hermits and was considering ordering a sea hare online but they had one there. I got the smallest one they had and they're all esp. ugly :)

Here he is, he's all green no spots or anything not like the ones I've seen online. He's only been in there for about 24 hrs and he made a lap around my tank on the sand overnight and left lots of little "presents" so i guess he's eating something. But at one point he was up against the glass and i saw his mouth move over some HA very slowly but it was still there. From what I've read online these guys were vacuums for this stuff. Should I just give him a few more days before taking him back? I don't want him to starve if he's not eating it. Also he's stayed on the sand no LR, occasionally moving his mouth along the glass near the sand.


ID?
sea_hare1.jpg
 
It is a Dolabella auricularia, they eat a massive amount of hair algae and if big enough bryopsis and everything else in sight
 
thanks esva! not sure why I havent witnessed mine actually eat any yet.. :\

Update: I checked on him a few times today and he's basically making laps around the edge of the tank crusing the sand (sometimes leaving a clear slime trail over the sand..). I even tried placing him on some rock to see if he'd take to it and he immediately returned to the sand looking a little upset I disrupted his route.
 
Last edited:
I have one of these and your right...I haven't seen him eat any of the hair algae either.

I sure hope that he gets to it pretty soon.
 
i have had mine for over a year and he is about 6 or 7 inches long and fat, he eats every algae in sight even caulerpa. he eats so much i actually have to feed him nori sheets now as a supplement. he's a beast
 
i like having one around just incase i ever have another outbreak of bryopsis lol as of righ now he is in a 40 gal tank with just algae for him to eat.
 
mine has never inked but i know somebody who had one that did and it just made the skimmer go a little nuts for a little while but didn't effect anything.
 
each one is different i have had some in the past that didn't eat it for months and then just ate it all and then got stuck in a power head and died, they tend to gravitate to power heads or things that can suck them up so keep your eye on him
 
I've got one and he obliterated what had been a serious hair algae problem in the tank. The guy keeps the rocks neat and trim, plus he's an interesting creature to watch. He blends with the rock and grazes on the algae like a cow.
 
well mine began to venture on to the live rock but i still have witnessed this lawnmower ability everyone is talking about :) I think I might trade him off or take him back to the LFS in a day or 2.

He is pretty big, and I asked for the smallest one they had, some of the others were HUGE.
 
Nah...keep him/her about...it will work...from what I've read...they are good.

If you took it back..what would you trade it in for? Do you have alot of hair algae?
 
I had 1 till it met my 1500 seio PH the 2nd time.. ( wasn't there to save him the next time )....

He cleared my tank of caulerpa and HA. just give him time... maybe he's just stressed from the LFS and move to your tank...

are you parameters good ? Did you acclimate him for a minimum of 2 hrs... ( this inverts are quite sensitive to acclimation and inproper water conditions )

I will get another one though in the near future...
 
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