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View Full Version : What is the GOOD & BAD of a sea hare?


judy j
09/06/2006, 07:37 PM
I have a 55 gal and some pesty green hair alge. I know that a sea hare can rid a tank of alge in no time but are they worth it?They had a few at the pet shop and they were about 4". I was told that they hide under the sand by day and come out at night. They dug one up for me to see and it was quite unsightly. Do I realy want one? Anyone out there have or had one?

MJAnderson
09/06/2006, 07:57 PM
I have. They eat the hair algae, but are fragile. I had mine for about 2 weeks then it just dissapeared. Have you tried Mexican Turbos? They are big, but mow through hair algae. 6 of them cleaned up my 72g in 2 weeks.

judy j
09/06/2006, 08:01 PM
I have 3 turbos and they don't seem to like the hair algae.

kimbertent
09/06/2006, 08:21 PM
i have a sea hare and i love him. he cleans the glass and the rocks. i have not personally seen him eating hair algea though. he likes to disappear for a few days and then come out for a little bit. however, here on RC people say that you ahve to be careful becuase he extracts a small amount of poison into the water, this only happened once to me, and nothing happened to the tank. I'd say get one...you just have to make sure you have a lot of algea growth for him to eat. :-)

PatrickJ
09/06/2006, 08:54 PM
I like them. Just don't play too rough with them.

judy j
09/06/2006, 09:15 PM
do they eat the kind of algea that you buy? Because I just through out alot. It grows fast. Also, I heard that they can get sucked up the intake on the power head. Anyone have that happen?

TWallace
09/06/2006, 09:41 PM
Do sea hares eat bryopsis? I'm battling that now, I can't find anything that eats it. I've tried lettuce sea slugs, two varieties of turbo snails (not Mexican though), margarita, cerith, fake nassarius, real nassarius, astrea, blue leg hermits, banded trochus and nothing touches the bryopsis. I bought 3 of the lettuce sea slugs a couple weeks ago, but haven't seen them in over a week. As far as I know they did not get sucked into a powerhead, though one of the turbo snails did and it died.

PatrickJ
09/06/2006, 10:08 PM
from what I hear, they do.

MJAnderson
09/07/2006, 07:09 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8093088#post8093088 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by judy j
I have 3 turbos and they don't seem to like the hair algae.

Did you get the Mexican Turbos? They have a Californian Turbo as well that isn't as good for it.

Honestly I bought 6 and 5 of them made a bee-line for it and cleaned all my rocks off.

Sk8r
09/07/2006, 07:39 AM
Will a sea hare eat the really hard green algae that turns up on glass?

imtheonlylp
09/07/2006, 07:51 AM
i purchased a sea hare about 2 weeks ago and so far it hasnt really made the progress i was hoping on my green hair algae...it is pretty neat though, keeps my substrate nice and clean and is cool to watch..it's actually pretty fast!!...i have only seen him climbing on the glass ONE time, and was completely shocked...also, i have never seen him digging or burying in the substrate...i bought a lawnmower blenny yesterday to help with the problem...i just want to get a hold of this algae before another major outbreak

judy j
09/07/2006, 08:44 AM
MJ, I do have the Mexican turbos and they do a job on the glass. They go on the rock but there are a few spots on the rock that the hair algea keeps growing and they don't seem to touch that.
I'm thinking that the sea hare might knock things over being so big. Has that been a problem for anyone?

jmcmahon66
09/07/2006, 09:20 AM
IME, sea hares do eat bryopsis, and are great at it. The larger sea hares do a better job. I have rarely seen them on the glass, so I don't think they eat the hard green algae. For eating hair algae and cyano, there is nothing better.

imtheonlylp
09/07/2006, 09:28 AM
mine hasnt knocked anything over so far...in fact ive only seen him "on" any live rock about 4 times so far...he mostly stays on the sand and moseys around minding his own business...then again, ive got my LR really wedged together...