Sea Hares

mvp4zo · #1 04/19/2006, 02:31 PM

Do Sea Hares really eliminate hair algae as well as people claim or is it a myth like all those aiptasia stories? In addition, are they hardy or will they easily corak and poison my tank?

2crazyreefers · #2 04/19/2006, 05:02 PM

If you can get a small one not the larger ones. Its like putting a lawnmower in your tank. Although I never had to use one I know many who have. I do keep a Blue / gold rabbit fish in my 180 sps which will eat any king of algae they may want to try to grow.

Avi · #3 04/19/2006, 05:42 PM

I have heard that they are effective and they are interesting to look at. They only live a year, though, from what I've read about them.

JSB5776 · #4 04/20/2006, 08:16 AM

I had a dolabela. It was awesome. It will remove all your HA in a week. MAKE SURE YOUR POWERHEAD INTAKES ARE COVERED!!! Thats how I lost mine. I was fortunate that he didnt ink up teh tank when he died. If you have any aggressive crabs lobsters or fish its not a good idea to get one. Their purple ink can definitely kill off a small tank.

But don't get scared, they are awesome animals and incredible HA cleaners. They are a good temporary solution to removing your HA while you figure out why you have a nutrient excess that is allowing the HA to grow in the firstplace.

infrared69 · #5 04/20/2006, 09:16 AM

My sea hare also ate all of my HA in a weeks time. Awesome little creature. Mine isnt that small,hes about 4-1/2" long alomst 2" wide, but hes an eating machine. On the other hand, what are you doing to stop the HA from growing? Before i added the sea hare to clean the tank, i made sure i took care of the problem at hand which was causing the algae to begin with.

JSB5776 · #6 04/20/2006, 10:35 AM

Ifrared... what did eventually find as the cause to your nutrient problem.

Has anyone had any experience with the alypsia sp?

mnmnm1951 · #7 04/20/2006, 11:25 AM

Sea Hares are a slug that certainly devours hair algae. Although some are carnivorous and will devour other things as well. In a deep sand bed they can disappear for long periods of time. You probably want the species known as Aplysia. The Aplysia will generally consume green and brown algaes. There is also a species, Bursatella leachi, that consumes the cyano bacteria that many aquarists fight with. When you run out of natural growing food they will starve unless fed something like Sea Lettuce of normal boiled iceberg lettuce.

I have done some research on Aplysia from the Aplysia Resource Facility in Miami. It is run by the NIH. These animals are used extensively for research into nervous systems and brain functions. I am not sure if they sell them to the aquarium trade as they are bred specifically as a single species used in medical and pharmaceutical research.

If you get several of these animals they will find each other and form a "slug orgy ball". Each animal carries both male and female sexual organs and when they find a mate they each swap sperm and then lay eggs. The eggs carry a natural anti-biotic. Be aware that when these slugs lay eggs, THEY LAY EGGS!!! There are so many eggs that we just weigh the mass instead of counting. One slug can lay almost 100 MILLION eggs a Month. If these are left in the tank you have just converted your algae into a mass of eggs. Whether the eggs hatch to maturity (highly unlikely) or get swept up into mechanical filters, are consumed, or just rot you have not removed the nutrients from your tank.

infrared69 · #8 04/20/2006, 08:18 PM

i think the cause was a little of everything. i used to feed heavy, but even after i stopped to once or twice a week it kept growing. so then i figured it was my skimmer that sucked (via aqua) so i bought a coralife super skimmer 65. with that i notice it slowed but still continued as well. the majority of the HA was near the sand bed so i did not know f my DSB was failing or my phosphates were high. i concidered a phosban reactor and some rowaphos media, but instead i went all out and added 100mg ozone to my skimmer. once i reaised my ORP to 375mv the algae stopped growing all together and the larger clumps started thining and turning brown. at this point i feel in a few weeks time the algae would have went away on its own, but on a routine trip to my LFS i saw a sea hare and decided to give him a try. i figured it was an interesting looking creature and i had about 50/50 he'd eat the HA. one week later, i have to strugle to find any, he is rounding the last of it up as we speak (type). i read they like caulprea sp? so i will start growing that in tank to feed him.

AqCons · #9 04/20/2006, 09:00 PM

I ordered one a while back and it came in today. I actually ended up with two. THey are big. One is black and the other is kind of green. I'm still acclimating but they look like a big bumpy blob. They are really fat too. I was going to put one in my 180 gallon that has hair algae. My concern is

1. Will they knock over corals easily?

2. Will these larger ones pollute the tank and kill off stuff if they die?

3. How do I know if I have the one that eats hair algae?

Thanks!

Titus77 · #10 04/20/2006, 11:58 PM

mine, which was bought a few days ago was eaten!?!?!?! only its skin and internal black orans were left. does anybody know what it was eaten by, or if it was even eaten?

Nate58 · #11 04/21/2006, 12:21 AM

bump

infrared69 · #12 04/21/2006, 12:52 AM

it died, expelled all of its internal organs, very typical of slugs, cucumbers, etc. your lucky he didnt release any toxins and wipe out ur tank

JSB5776 · #13 04/21/2006, 08:16 AM

Ozone huh??? So you inject it right into your skimmer? What did this set up with the ORP meter cost you? I'd love to learn a little more about this. Will Calurpa grow well in an environment that isn't conducive to HA?

AqCons... Mine was actually more gentle on my corals then my Urchins are Sometimes they grab them and take them with them. I wouldnt worry about them killing off the tank. Just make sure you have a lot of carbon running the first couple of weeks to make sure they acclimate well. Mine died a tragic death in the power head and he didnt ink which was good.

If its bumpy and really really ugly its probably a dolabella. There are a couple pics of him in my gallery. The smoother ones are aplysia.

briantson · #14 04/21/2006, 09:05 AM

I had one in my tank and it does wonder regarding HA. However, one night, I noticed my two cleaner shrimps were devouring on the sea hare.
Again last night, I saw the cleaner shrimp nipping away my red lobophyllia down to the bone. I am going to catch those bastards and throw them into my quarantine tank.
beware of the cleaner shrimps!!

mnmnm1951 · #15 04/21/2006, 04:55 PM

Check out this baby!

mnmnm1951 · #16 04/21/2006, 05:06 PM

Aqcons: these slugs can get big and like anything else that creeps along in your tank they can move stuff around. Sea slugs all produce toxic slime and exude "ink" when stresssed or threatened. When they die they disintigrate quick and can pollute a tank just like a Sea Apple can. these slugs are almost exclusively algae eaters and most are not that pickey. Only a few will only eat a single specie of algae. After the algae in your tank is gone you will need to provide some natural sea marine vegetaton or just normal boiled lettuce. Your black one is probably from Florida, Bahamas, or evanl up the Gulf Coast all the way to Texas. the green one is probably from Florida as well.

find some friends in the area with tanks and share them until they get too large for the tanks. Or find the real cause of your algae and eliminate it for good.

trippyl · #17 04/21/2006, 05:07 PM

AqCons? Is that supposed to be funny or something?

willjeff · #18 04/21/2006, 05:23 PM

Will that fit in my nano?

AqCons · #19 04/21/2006, 10:31 PM

Sorry, is what supposed to be funny? You mean my user name? It's initials for kids in our family and I tried to put them together.