Sea Hare: "INKING"?

Jon770

Jon770

New member
:confused: I wanted to get a Sea Hare to deal with a slight hair algea problem, and I heard something about them 'inking'. I think that at times they might release some type of toxic ink (or something like that) that is obviously bad for the tank.

Has anyone had any experience with these, and what are the chances of it actually 'inking'? If I were to get a small (1 inch) hare, could it release enough toxins to affect a 75G?

Thanks in advance...
 
I have about a 4 incher in a 50 gallon.. Hasnt inked at all, but he hasnt made much of a dent in my hair-algae problem either..

Ha! All the lawyers have sea hares..
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6652234#post6652234 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zimmy1979
If it dies..your in trouble. If it is happy and not bothered you should be ok.
Click to expand...
So if I passed on a boxfish/cowfish because I was afraid of what might happen if it dies a stressful death, then along the same lines I probably should pass on a sea hare?
 
So the hare inked last night, I dropped some carbon in, but there were absolutely no ill effects on the tank... The water cleared in about 10 minutes and I think my skimmer took out anything potentially harmful (I had red foam). So I wouldnt pass on the sea hare on those grounds, you should be fine with a 75 galon.
 
I added a seahare to help with runaway grape caulerpa. He ate the stuff but not as much as I would like. I wouldn't add one unless you can keep it fed with a macro algae other than HA. I've heard HA doesn't have enough nutrition and it will slowly starve. I would definitely run carbon if you aren't already, just in case.

It didn't touch my hair algae. Kind of a cool critter but hit or miss with the hair algae. Good luck.
 
Hmm... I see you are in Miami. If you want mine and can pick it up you can have it. I'm thinking of cooking my rock to get rid of the runaway caulerpa and was worried what to do with this guy. PM me if you want it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6657616#post6657616 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MinuteJohn
Hmm... I see you are in Miami. If you want mine and can pick it up you can have it. I'm thinking of cooking my rock to get rid of the runaway caulerpa and was worried what to do with this guy. PM me if you want it.
Click to expand...

How big is it?
 
We had a bad hair algae problem a few months ago and we bought a sea hare.It cleaned up ALL the algae in a months time,then slowly starved to death.We tried to feed it sheet algae,but it wasn't enough.It never "inked".When it died,I never found a body or lost anything in my 125 reef.We haven't seen him in over a month,so we are pretty sure it died anyway.I would try a few lettuce nudibranche(I can't spell too goos,lol) and try them.Sea Hares don't do too well long term.
 
Yeah Sundance, that's what I've heard. That's kind of why I'd like to get rid of him before I cook the rocks and it starves.

They're a good utilility species, use them and when you're done, give them to someone else who could use them.
 
I had the same situation as Sundance in a 30G with no problems. Mine has been missing for about 2 months though. Although I will admit it seemed to disapear for a month then show back up for a few days then it would disapear again.
 
Yeah, the one I have is pretty good at pulling disappearing acts then showing up gain. Their camo is pretty impressive too.
 
Yeah I dont know what mine eats but he is certainly pooping a lot... He must be eating something. He never disappears though, it seems like it would be very hard to miss a giant undulating slug with wings in my tank.

I like him, but he was only $10 so if he passes on he will certainly not be the most expensive casualty in my reef..
 
MinuteJohn - I think I'll take it. It seems that many people have had one without a problem, so I'll give it a shot. I come to the beach every so often, so I will PM you my cell number so we can arrange a time. Thanks!

thepudge - It's not the loss of the sea hare I was worried about...it's the loss of EVERYTHING else in my tank that might result from the loss of the sea hare!!!!
 
On sea hare ink being "toxic", do a search for "sea hare" here on RC. The idea of them being poisonous when they ink is exaggerated, as is the case with many cucumbers and boxfish. The ones that do produce toxic ink in nature also need a specific type of diet they don't get in captivity.
 
Well my seahare went missing after I got home and I finally found what I believe to be his shriveled remains in my overflow this morning. He had tons of caulerpa to eat so I wonder if the over flow didn't kill him. Regardless I haven't seen any ill effects in the tank so I guess they aren't that toxic after all. Sorry Jon770, I tried.
 
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