What eats calupera?

[arrowheadpuffer]

Its gotten into the DT from my fuge and is running rampant! I pull it out all the time but there is so much I cant get it all and it grows back rapidly choking my softies.

[dh350twin]

my naso tang eats it like no tommorow.

[sbin]

My Vlamingi tang eats it like spaghetti.Give it a softball sized clump once a week not a chance that could live in my display tank

[SkyPapa]

I have had 3 one spot foxfaces that would eat caulerpa and other macros. Still have one. It's a personable fish.

[HydroMan]

My scribbled rabbit devoured the stuff.

[cliff717]

i have a blue tang a hippo tang and a purple tang all three of these fish love it. i feed them some every couple of days.

[corigan]

My Scopas tang eats it everytime I throw him some.

[1DeR9_3Hy]

Anything that fits in a smaller tank? Like a cube or a breeder size?

[arrowheadpuffer]

How about a nudibranch

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+524+724&pcatid=724

are they hard to keep?

[PaxRoma]

a tang will make quick work of the caulerpa. I have a one spot fox face, a yellow tang and a blue hippo all goes nut whenever I put caulerpa in the tank.

[tylorarm]

I tried getting rid of mine with sea hares and then diadema urchins. Also have bunch of very large turbo snails. All the inverts seem to avoid caulerpa like it was nasty. Regal angel and rabbit fish eat it all in a few days. As previous poster said the rabbit would eat it like it was spagetti, sort of slurp it up. Rabbits also pretty good at getting into smaller cracks and difficult to access places given their head structure. Regal more or less picks at it, but pretty consistently. Achilles tang never touched it, even when it was suspended in the water after someone else ate sloppily.

[arrowheadpuffer]

I am thinking about getting a scopas tomorrow. My LFS has a bunch of healthy ones and I have the QT ready to go.

Is it a pretty sure bet that they will eat calupera? The LFS said they were not sure and suggested a naso, but they get way too big for my 90g.

[corigan]

I've never not heard of a scopas being an algae eating machine. My Scopas best friend is my glass scrapper. He follows it around the tank like he's connected to it.

[arrowheadpuffer]

but in particular grape calupera?

I cant get rid of this crap its so deep in my rocks every time I pick it out it comes right back.

[blennymower]

i have had 3 one spot foxfaces that would eat caulerpa and other macros. Still have one. It's a personable fish.

+1

[arrowheadpuffer]

I read that fox faces can nip at soft corals, my tank is currently all soft coral...

[SkyPapa]

I read that fox faces can nip at soft corals, my tank is currently all soft coral...

The one spot I still have is in my sps tank now but it was in a tank full of shrooms and zoas and it didn't bother that stuff that I could tell.

[Frogmanx82]

Emerald crabs will pull it out of every nook and cranny. You'd need a few of them. No doubt tangs would get rid of it the fastest.

[LeslieH]

How about a nudibranch
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+524+724&pcatid=724
are they hard to keep?

Just as a warning, be careful about what the LFSs are selling. The animal pictured in the link is actually Elysia diomedea, not Elysia crispa. Diomedea is reported to eat brown & possibly red algae - it's not supposed to eat Caulerpa. Even some of the other slugs that are reported to eat Caulerpa will only eat it if their preferred food isn't available.

[arrowheadpuffer]

Ugh the thumb and fore finger method isnt working!

I have been every other day picking at it, but so far this has only resulted in the algae not forming runners, but growing more dense and close to the rock and making tons of grape stalks...

So far I have 8 turbos and 21 astrea, I am considering a emerald, but I also have a bad aptasia infestation and was thinking nudibranchs might eat the aptasia, but be eaten by the crabs... Ugh

So what to get next? Tang? Emerald crab?

I hear tangs can be hit or miss with calupera, and I would prefer not to have to put a tang in a 90g...

[Mad_Reefer]

One spot foxface or emeralds would be my suggestion. After the foxface is done with the caulerpa, feed it nori sheets and it should never touch your corals. Emeralds can also turn to corals if they don't have enough food.