Who gets the greens: Snails vs. Tang

[HayesAveLive]

I have a problem with my mexican turbo snails. They eat all of the algae in my tank and they dont leave any for my tang. I like my tang far more than the snails, but I dont want to get rid of the snails because they clean the glass and eat algae that grows in between anenmones that the tang cant eat because it would be stung by the anenemones.

I know algae is vitally important for my tang (a juvnile desjardini tang) and I have one last rock that is completely covered in lush green hair algae. I know if I let the snails have their way, that rock would be completely bare in a night and a half. So every night I take the rock out and put it in it's own little container with it's own little heater and it's own litte air bubbler so the snails cant decimate it while im sleeping. Doing that every night is a real pain though, and I wish there were a way I could just keep the snails off of that one rock. Or let them eat it and find another way to get the tang to eat greens.

I thought if I could get the tang to eat dried seaweed, I could just put some seaweed in everyday and the snails could eat the algae and the tang would still get it's green from the seaweed. But when I put dried seaweed on an algae clip, the tang never even looked at it. I even tried removing the algae covered rock so the only green in the tank was the seaweed. Eventually, the snails got it.

Like I said, I would just get rid of the snails, but then algae will grow all over the anenmone covered rocks.

Anybody have any ideas what I can do?

Oh and btw, how come there's not a dicision of the "Livestock Forums" for inverts like snails, hermit crabs, etc? Fish, coral, anenmones, clams all have their own sections... I'm lucky my question involved a tang so I could put it in the fish section, but where could I put a question that's just about hermit crabs?

Oh and that reminds me! What's up with all these anti-crab clubs? I saw something about "crabs dont belong in my reef and crabs are delicious" and another one "crabs are evil society" or something like that. Are they talking about hermit crabs? What does everybody have against crabs? I'm just curious.

Thanks for any info.

Best to all,

Ian

[iamkellogg]

I am not sure how to get your tang to eat other greens other than to add them to the clip and see how it goes.

A lot of the crabs people dislike are the other crabs like emerald crabs, mithrax crabs, and Jumbo hermit crabs. They ALL eat coral. I added an emerald crab to my reef at the suggestion of a LFS to get rid of bubble algae only to find the dude munching on some zoo's instead. He went into my QT tank.

Kelly

[charlir1954]

the biggest reason so many of the members dumped the crabs, especially the hermits is because, besides decimating their own crab population, they kill most of the snail population whether or not they seek the snail's shell.

[lcstorc]

Those are exactly my reasons for not having crabs in my reef. I just couldn't watch my snails all be eaten, but that was my decision, not necessarily yours.
One thing I have tried with success on the Nori. Try soaking it in garlic first and/or wrap it around a rock with a rubberband. Most fish love the garlic and it stimulates a feeding response. Putting it aroud a rock is a more natural place for it and they will often learn to eat it that way. Then later on you can start using the clip and the tank will recognize it as food.

[Dentoid]

Some great advice for getting your Sailfin Tang to accept Nori. Lynn is so good!

As far as the hermits "decimating" the snail population, well I have not witnessed this in my own tank. Perhaps I have well behaved hermits or well fed hermits. Besides that, in my 90 gallon w/ 180lbs of LR, I have no way of taking an inventory of my snails. I guess it's a matter of coincidence, when the snail and hermit coincide. The bigger the tank, the less likely they are to encounter one another. Hermits can not go on the glass! I'll say it again, snails are inexpensive and replaceable. Snails are also delicious with garlic butter and toast.

[lcstorc]

LOL. I prefer to eat crab, but to each their own.

[Dentoid]

Escargo is a delicacy in France and other developed countries!

[lcstorc]

Yes, I know, but I still prefer to eat crab. LOL Guess I am just not refined enough to appreciate the Escargo, but I know some love it.

[Dentoid]

LOL! You are refined enough! The thought of eating a slug that lives in a shell is enough to make your stomach turn. It's much like eating an oyster, you have to just let it go down and not think about where it came from.

[HayesAveLive]

thats a good idea about putting the nori under a rock instead of a clip. and i'll try soalking in some garlic flavoring too. thanks.