Sea hare---safe or not???

[Clint24]

Hello. I have been battle GHA in my tank. With doing a bunch of weekly water changes & adding a GFO/carbon reactor, i finnaly got my phosphates down. I was wondering if it would be ok to introduce a sea hare in my tank to let him eat the algea. I have heard they ate great for that but have also heard that if they get stressed or die they can release a poisonous ink into the tank that can wipe out my tank. Just lookin for some other thoughts or related info on these creatures. thanks


CD

 

[sirrealism]

I have used them several times and think they are great. What size is your tank? The biggest issue is when you run out of hair algae they can starve and die. The one thing I would suggest is find him everyday. If he has moved your fine. If it dies it takes a couple days before it will release any poison.

 

[Clint24]

Sirrealism.

Thank you. That's good to hear. My tank is 220 gallons. I will definatly keep an eye out for him. Are they pretty hardy or delicate? Should I get one or two. I am planning on passing them on to a friend if & when they run out of algea.


CD

 

[pablomay28]

Get a fox face or a tomini tang. They worked in my tank and are a lot nicer looking specialy the fox face.

 

[Clint24]

Pablomay...
I guess I didn't realize a fix face was an algae eater. I'm gonna check into that. Idk about the Tomini tang, I hear they can be real territorial/aggresive. I'm gonna do some research tho. Thanks.


CD

 

[david42]

Get a fox face or a tomini tang. They worked in my tank and are a lot nicer looking specialy the fox face.

Nicer looking than this?

 

[Kongor]

Ehhh I had a fox face and he never ate algae off the rocks lol, but I got myself a sea hare to clean up a crash once and it was pretty good.

Had one adult sized in a 75 gallon and he did more work the all of my clean up crew put together. I also have a Kole tang + starry blenny and they don't even compare to a single hare. There's a blue stopped one that looks cool but I am not sure if it has the same appetite as the one above in the pic.

 

[sirrealism]

they are pretty hardy and with 220g one will do fine. Really it will be best because by the time he gets it all done there might be some more for him so he wont starve. Do your self a favor and get one. you wont regret it. I know they are not pretty but they are like a machine when it comes to HA and nothing will do the job that just one hare will do

 

[StirCrayzy]

[video=youtube_share;lS_-C7JSJvU]http://youtu.be/lS_-C7JSJvU[/video]

Here's a blue spotted one I had before he sacrificed himself to a WP25, and turned to slug jello.
Mowed down GHA like crazy, but was getting blown off the rocks.

[video]http://youtu.be/lS_-C7JSJvU[/video]

 

[Clint24]

Lol. That blue one is a lot better to look at than the brown one I got. . It does seem like they like the algae tho!! Thanks for all the support!!


CD

 

[Stephane Cote]

poison? hummm i had a small one in my tank and it disappeared. (this was a few months ago). I just though something eat it (at night). i didn't bother replacing him.

i guess i uber lucky i didn't lose anything.