rlinusc Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Okay so here is your chance to share your plug for your favorite snail/hermit/anything else that truly does a great job against hair algae. Will it be the ever popular turbos? Margaritas? strombus? Will it be the scarlet hermit, the red legged, the left-handed? All thoughts and comments appreciated. Linus Link to comment
Mnesarchus Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 I had terrible hair algae until I got my turbo's. They had it all gone, and I'm talking thick mattes of 2-4" hair algae, within 10 days. My hermits or bumblebees wouldn't even touch it. Also my urchin is an algae-eating machine. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 i always rely on blue-legs, smaller the better imo. ime the left-handed are pretty aggressive and (true) scarlets don't pull their weight. red hermits tend to be more aggressive than scarlets ime. turbos are very good but pricey here. astrae are ok and decent $$$. ceriths are good snacks for the hermits. margaritas are fast and efficient but also seem to be a delicacy for snails ime. urchins are cool but may also scrape off your coralline. Link to comment
MKramer Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 I've been pretty happy with my lettuce sea slug's progress on my massively thick hair algae. Link to comment
rlinusc Posted October 16, 2002 Author Share Posted October 16, 2002 Do lettuce sea slugs do well in nanos? L Link to comment
MKramer Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Like their nudibranch cousins, they have a very specialized diet. Once your tank runs out of hair algae, it will probably slowly starve to death. Very slowly, since it will produce a small amount of food through photosynthesis (using the chloroplasts from the eaten hair algae). Otherwise, they're a fine addition to a nano. They're gorgeous, and unlike their nudibranch cousins, are non-toxic. However, when they die, they do still release some undesirables into the water, so it's best to remove them ASAP. However, what they release isn't really toxic, it just tastes awful to the other inhabitants (the fishtank equivalent to skunk spray). Link to comment
rlinusc Posted October 16, 2002 Author Share Posted October 16, 2002 So a refuguim that constantly produces hair algae may make the animal a more sustainable inhabitant? L Link to comment
gobies Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 I had red hair algae for a while. I pulled some off, the crabs got a little of it, but it didn't go away until I added a turbo snail. Gone in less than a week. Link to comment
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