Tankmate to help with GHA???
- Thread starter fd678
- Start date
IMO if conditions are right for hair algae then tank husbandry is needed.
Too many nutrients are getting into the tank meaning too much leftover food not being discovered and removed daily.
Any hidden food left in the tank provides nutrient for algae and for the nasty bacteria like vibrio and the majority of us I think have experienced that malady, a major cause of seahorse deaths.
Secondly, the more tankmates you introduce to the seahorses, the more you expose them to pathogens they haven't grown up with and may fall prey to.
Lastly, any fish likely to eat the hair algae will likely stress the seahorses.
Too many nutrients are getting into the tank meaning too much leftover food not being discovered and removed daily.
Any hidden food left in the tank provides nutrient for algae and for the nasty bacteria like vibrio and the majority of us I think have experienced that malady, a major cause of seahorse deaths.
Secondly, the more tankmates you introduce to the seahorses, the more you expose them to pathogens they haven't grown up with and may fall prey to.
Lastly, any fish likely to eat the hair algae will likely stress the seahorses.
TamiW
Seahorse Wrangler
I like the big mexican turbos for hair algae control. They generally don't bother seahorses, and do better at lower temperatures which seahorses should be kept at anyway. The one thing you really have to watch out for is toppling rocks. They're rather clumsy so make sure any rock-work is secure.
dragonland08
New member
Sea hares, when i first got mine it cleaned an area of 2'x2' of eggcrate full of hair algae in less than 2 days.
small alien
The fungus is among us.
Had a blue spotted sea hare for one day before it was sucked into my filter intake. But in that one day, damn, that thing ate A TON of hair algae. Stupid of me not to know tocover that intake.
Canadian Reefer
Reefer Madness
A lawnmower blenny is a pretty voracious eater og GHA also, they are pretty tame towards all other aquarium mates.
TamiW
Seahorse Wrangler
Lawnmower blennies are ill-advised for seahorses, they have a tendency to nip at seahorses. I don't know if they're intentionally harassing seahorses, or just trying to clean the delicious algae off of them. But generally any algae eating fish, including lawnmower blennies, should be avoided.
AquariumBiology
New member
lawnmowers don't really eat much hair algae... they have short soft teeth for rasping cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates off of rocks and glass, but they don't have dentition for chewing and ripping hair algae.
Quill*fighter
New member
I'd get a phosphate reactor and some rowaphos there isn't really a good long term living solution - believe me I've tried them all. 
