Sea Hare Question

[Reefer07]

I just got a sea hare for my tank. My cleaner shrimp is picking at it a lot......is this going to bother it?

Also, the thing poops a lot, is it maybe creating more waste than it's actually cleaning up? It hasn't eaten any algae yet....

Any input is appreciated.

-Zac

 

[ctenophors rule]

it would be impossible for any animal to create more waste than it is eating. keep in mind that herbavores must process food longer than carnivores, so it may still have some from the lfs.

if the excrements are tooo bad than you may want to get a seacucumber to help with those

 

[Reefer07]

What about the cleaner shrimp? My starfish bothers it too now, all night. (the starfish that is like a brittlestar but smaller, serpent star?)

 

[garrettm85]

They are probably just checking it out. I would just keep an eye on it for a while. If it starts to stay pretty dormant and doesn't move around alot for a couple of days I would consider possibly bringing it back to the LFS or trading it with another local reefer or something.

Most of the time the pellets that they excrete are composed of sand and other particles, not necessarily all waste. I would imagine that it is cleaning more than it is making things dirty. Those littel pellets start to fall apart and you shouldn't notice them after too long.


Garrett

 

[Elysia]

The fecal matter of the sea hare wouldn't have sand in it. Sea hares don't eat anything but algae.

It is generally not good for sea hares (or any slugs for that matter) to have other animals pick at them.

 

[Reefer07]

Ya it died.....I really need to get that cleaner shrimp out I have been trying for 6 months.

 

[J. Montgomery]

The cleaner shrimp was picking at it b/c it was doing its job. Sea hare mortality is insanely high in aquariums.

 

[Elysia]

I doubt the seahare had parasites, if that is what you mean. Part of the reason that seahares have a high mortality rate in aquariums is because they are put in tanks with tankmates that are incompatible w/ them, for example, animals that will pick at them.

 

[circusink22]

seahares have a short life span they need alot of algae to eat too i had one for 2 years it did a great job at eating hair algae i had.

 

[pagojoe]

As Elysia said, cleaner shrimp will pick soft invertebrates to death, and that's way more likely the cause of death in this case than old age.

Cheers,



Don