Sea Hare advice
 

Hello! Anyone have any advice on putting in a Sea Hare (or "Sea Slug") into an aquarium for removal of hair algae? I have a fair bit in my (4 month old now) 90g on the rocks and glass. (No other livestock except for snails and hermits) Will this be a good idea, or will the poor thing starve once it's eaten all there is?

Or.. anyone willing to lend me a Sea Hare?? :) AI has a couple for twenty something dollars.

Thanks!

Sorry I wish I knew something about Sea Hares to help you out! Did AI recommend to you a Sea Hare?

Not really. I basically thought I would get some red-legged hermit crabs and see if they help with the hair algae but they're quite expensive and don't seem to be doing a lot. (Although they ARE pretty) :)

So I was just thinking of getting a Sea Hare instead. My aquarium water's done with the Nitration cycle, but is still not that mature yet. I hope I don't stress out the Sea Hare if I DO decide to put one in.

I have a Sea hare. I have had him for about 6 months now in my 120. I only have about 10 snails in my tank and about 30 or so hermits (red and blue leg) They are mostly night time feeders, and he eats everything...alge related. I do give him alge wafferes 3-4 times a week and he seems quite happy and I don't have any alge in my tank. You just have to watch once he has cleaned up your tank you have to supplement his food. He also likes to burrie him self during the day in the sand so a nice 3-4" sand bed would be nice for him :biggrin:

Cool! I wonder if someone would even NEED to have snails if they had just one Sea Hare? Hmm. Anyway.. I didn't know about them burying themselves in the sand. I do have about 3" of sand however I only have the front fifth of it that's not covered by LR. I wonder if that would be alright. :confused:

Thanks for all the information Dabbler!

It should be fine for the sand, I think they just like to burie themselves for sleeping....well thats what I have noticed with mine

What Dabbler said above is really important. I have had a few seahares over the years but they did not make it past 6mths. They died after all algae was gone & they refused to eat other algaes I provided. I really love the cute blobs and think they are really interesting to watch. But after losing three in the past I researched and found they are short lived in tanks with not a large contant supply of algae. So I can't stand to lose another one. So there are Pro's and Con's for sure but good to be aware of them.

Also noticed there is a post up on the main forum of this topic.
http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15294

Re: Sea Hare advice
 

Hey man, I also have had very bad green hair algae before, and contemplated getting a sea hare for it, however from talking to the lfs and other reefers, i found that sea hares tend to have a very short life span in tanks, and they recommended a foxface for my algea. My tank was almost completely overrun with green hair algea, and within 3 days, all of the green hair algea was gone. once the hair algea was eaten, he ate the frozen food i was feeding with as well as pellet food as well, so he was a great alternative to the sea hare.