In Praise of the Sea Hare
 

I recently go into this hobby and bought a tank that had a hair algae issue. In moving the tank, I got rid of 90% of the algae but I want it ALL gone ! I've been leaving the lights off a lot and the water chemistry is much better now so I'm on the road to recovery but I was at Red Coral yesterday and found they RENT their Sea Hare.

Yeah.....that's right, they RENT it.

They devour algae but when it's all gone they tend to starve and can release a nasty toxin when they die. So, they rent him out. $30 and you get a $15 livestock credit when you return it -great deal !

This ugly slug-like thing is actually pretty neat to watch and just mows his (her?) way through algae !! At this rate, I'll be algae free in a few days and I'll be returning slug-o to Red Coral so he can visit someone else's tank to dine. :mrgreen:

Ya SeaHares do a great job, but eat themselves out of house and home real fast! It's great that they rent him.

haha perhaps you rented the same little guy that cleaned up my tank lol.

I don't know about 'little' -this sucker is a good 4" long and I've seen him crane his 'neck' to reacha tuft of algae so he was at least 6" long.

That's a whole lot 'o slug !

I've got one living in my sump. I have no idea how it got there, or for how long it's been in there. If someone else wants it, they are free to have it so that it doesn't die. I haven't looked for it for a little while, but I spot it occasionally when I'm working in the sump.

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I'm no expert but I'd venture a guess that if you've had one in your sump for more than a month or so, there's enough algae (or something else) in there for him to survive. If so, then you may as well keep him.

I'm pretty sure it has taken a liking to my chaeto, so it is being counter-productive at this point.

I also rented from red coral, i should have just kept the little monster, hehhehe, I bought a baby blue spotted sea hare, a very small one. It got eaten up by the hitchicker crabs in my tank. I was so mad.

I was attempting to move the slug out of my quarantine, and it started to squirt, what I think is poop, out. I was wondering if this is normal for these critters or not? I stopped as soon as I realized what it was doing, as I am concerned that it was something lethal it was expelling. Can anyone confirm if this is normal or not? I was trying to be slow and gentle about it, so as not to hurt the slug.

Hmm, you probably just scared him and now you should consider mixing some water in case you notice signs of toxicity. That ink can be toxic, though if he's been a tank for a while he's probably less toxic than a freshly imported specimen.

What they squirt that is toxic is like a dye (purple, black) If what came out of the SH looked like poop, felt like poop, its your guess as good as mine LOL.
Kevin

That's what I was thinking, but you never know with sea critters. Thanks for the help, BlueAbyss as well. I've got a fresh water change ready.

The one I had pooped white, clylindrical poop. I've heard that if they die in your tank (they usually starve if your tank is healthy) then they can release toxins. I don't know if they secrete them when frightened but it sounds like if what you're seeing is white, it's poop; if it's black or purple..... WATER CHANGE !

Well, it was light brown, so I'm thinking he just went poop. "Shrek" has now been moved into the main display, where there is a little bit of algae, but not a lot. I'm convinced that it was eating the chaeto, as the sump is very clean. I've got some algae in my quarantine as well when he runs out in the main display, and then back into quarantine I guess, where it has lived for quite a long time.

The toxin is meant to protect the animal from predation, so yeah it can be released when the animal is alive and kicking and not just when the creature dies. If it looks like poop, it's poop. If it looks like ink you're in trouble :wink:

Does the toxin save them from anemones? or are they smart enough to stay away from them? just curious I got some HA left over from when it was worse and a tube anemone but the tube is movable and i would probably keep the Hare in the nano and move the crap rocks into there for it to feed.

Poonoka, if he ever runs out of food in your tank I'm sure theres a few weeks of food in mine.