Sea Hares Rock!!!

[JFK_Jr]

I've had a form of macro algae growing on my live rock called Phylum Phaeophyta Dictyota sp. for about a month now. It grows rapidly and has been a nuisance having to harvest it from my tank at least on a weekly basis. My Yellow tang and Kole tang won't eat it, so I was looking for something that would.

Brown algae / Phaeophyta:
Dictyota sp. Photo courtesy of Marc Levenson (melev)



Photo from my tank:




I recently purchased a Sea Hare from Bali... and let me tell you... Sea Hare... hands down!






It is mowing through the Dictyota sp., consuming it at an awesome pace! I'm going to have to keep some in my sump for when he clears the tank. I've also got a small patch of Bryopsis hair that I'm waiting to see if the Sea Hare eats. He's been so busy with the Dictyota sp. that he hasn't had a chance to get to the Bryopsis. I'll update everyone if he eats it. Sea Hares are known to feed on numerous types of macroalgae, including red, brown, and green... they are lovers of Caulerpa from what I've read. I paid $20 bucks for him, and ordered him through my LFS... he's about 4" long.

They do have an "Inking" defense mechanisim... but I've not had any issues so far... and I've handled him by picking him up and placing him down. Funny... some people think they are ugly... but he's grown on me. The head actually looks like a rabbits when eating... hence the name Sea Hare.

Oh yeah... BTW... He's very gentle cruising in and around my corals without bulldozing anything!

[saltwaterfarm]

I agree with you completely. I bought a sea hare last week. At the same time, I bought some Caulerpa. I unfortunately don't remember which caulerpa, but it looks like Shrek ears. I should say "looked" like shrek ears. The next morning, it was GONE. I did witness my sun coral puking one of the ears, but I am relatively certain that the Hare got it.
GO Sea Hares!

[prow]

nice. i have that growing in my tank too. not that bad just a couple spots. but i do have to keep a look out and trim it all the time. never thought of sea hairs. good find. i think i will be getting one of those bad boys real soon. nice info there JFK Jr, karma to ya for that one.

[lcstorc]

I was reading about them just the other day. I may have to try one since I am starting to get some hair algae in the tank. Wherever I was reading they were talking about actually kind of sharing them. They do such a good job at eating the algae that people would actually trade or sell them to fellow reefers once they had cleaned their tank.

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

Wherever I was reading they were talking about actually kind of sharing them. They do such a good job at eating the algae that people would actually trade or sell them to fellow reefers once they had cleaned their tank.

I believe it!!! They really munch the stuff down!

[KMP]

sea hares are great. urchins can also do wonders.

[munki]

what is the difference between a sea hare and a sea cucumber?

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by munki

what is the difference between a sea hare and a sea cucumber?

The sea cucumber is an echinoderm of the class Holothuroidea, with an elongated body and leathery skin, which is found on the sea floor worldwide. Sea cucumbers are generally scavengers, feeding on debris in the benthic layer. Their diet consists of plankton and other organic matter found in the sea.

Sea hares (a type of sea slug) are small marine gastropod molluscs. Sea hares are herbivorous and are typically found on seaweed in shallow water. They have soft bodies with an internal shell and are all hermaphroditic, acting as male and female simultaneously, even during mating.

[PhilOlsen]

Mollies, they are a brackish fish that you can acclimate to a salt water tank and they should keep it under control.

[BoomerD]

I know of several reef clubs that do the "Sea Hare Share"...works pretty well. I suppose changing tanks all the time can be pretty stressful on the animal, but if it's done right, shouldn't be too bad.

[munki]

Originally Posted by PhilOlsen

Mollies, they are a brackish fish that you can acclimate to a salt water tank and they should keep it under control.

could you introduce all livebearing fw fish in to saltwater aquariums? if not then how is the mollie able to do it?

[prow]

Originally Posted by munki

could you introduce all livebearing fw fish in to saltwater aquariums? if not then how is the mollie able to do it?

slowly. they are just very tolerant of salinity levels. naturaly they live in hard waters where rivers meet the ocean and the saltwater mixes with the fresh water, this water is called brackish water. mollies specificly hangout in mangrove swamps like off the coast of florida. anyway, its not much of a jump for them to go to saltwater. its just as stressful for them if not more stressful to adapt to a normal FW tank. fish that live in these waters, like mollies, are able to tolerate salinity changes in there water. there are other fish like archers and gobies that hail from these waters as well. mollies are just more popular because they are cheap, make great feeders and are tank breed.

maybe a better know fish that goes back and forth from fresh to salt waters are salmon. trout, striped bass even scorpionfish among others make a yearly migration from salt to fresh waters during spawning. so they are born in fresh water but as adults live in saltwater only to return later to fresh water. here is link for ya
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c037.html

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by PhilOlsen

Mollies, they are a brackish fish that you can acclimate to a salt water tank and they should keep it under control.

I poured over the 2 large threads about black mollies on Reef Central and only found substantiating evidence of them eating hair algae and caulerpa prolifera. No where did anyone mention experience with Dictyota sp.

My Sea Hare devours the stuff... looks like a cow munching on hay.

Funny thing though... He seems to not completely wipe out a patch. Instead he feeds leaving a little behind and then moves on to another patch. Could it be this guy is smart enough to be harvesting his crop and leaving just enough behind so he doesn't wipe out his food source altogether???

Who knows Interesting observation though!

[saltwaterfarm]

JFK... mine does the same thing when cleaning the glass. One minute it's there and the next minute it has moved on to something else. Didn't pay it any attention until you said that. I just thought it was fickle.
Hmmm... survival of the species???

[lcstorc]

That would be really cool if they did that on purpose. Let's see what happens once the major growth is gone. Will it go back to the patches it left and clean them out? This is gonna be interresting.