Algae fascinates me so it follows that algae control is one of my specialties in this hobby. For what it's worth, here is a list of the best herbivores placed in order of how well they have generally worked for WMAS hobbyists over the years:
1. Snails - Tanks under a year of age especially need snails more than most new hobbyists realize. We older hobbyists often forget that we haven't replenished the snails for so long that their numbers have dwindled enough to allow nuisance algae to crop up. The general rule of thumb is up to one Snail per gallon of tank capacity. Snails, snails and more snails is my motto. The various kinds of useful snails are Astrea, Cerith, Margarita, and Pacific Turbo Snails. Here is my favorite web page about Snails and their helpers the Hermit Crabs.
http://www.garf.org/ugly.html Snails and Hermits are the quintessential algae control workers.
*The Stomatella Snail reproduces in our tanks which is ideal, though it looks more like a garden slug than a common snail.
2. Hermit Crabs - Hermits are omnivores so as long as there is algae to eat and so long as there is not too much fish food, they will really help control nuisance algae. We usually consider it good practice keeping up to one Hermit for every 3-5 snails. Hermits can often be useful for mowing down long hair algae.
3. Fish - The Tangs and Blennies are awesome algae eaters if they don't get sidetracked by fish foods. Algae can also taste different in different tanks so don't be surprised if a Tang that loved algae in its old tank, shuns it in the next tank. Give it time and feed sparingly or make it fast for a few days and it may start liking the new algae.
4. Bugs - Before hair algae become a visible nuisance, the many varieties of Amphipods and Copepods can do a marvelous job of eating algae sprouts. Unfortunately, the Wrasses and other carnivores severely deplete bug populations making those tanks vulnerable to sudden nuisance algae blooms. For more on this, read the article
Herbivores versus Carnivores in this newsletter:
http://www.utahreefs.com/SeaStar/SeaStarJunePrint.pdf5. Urchin and Chiton - If we could point these guys where we want them to go we would have more luck with them. Unfortunately, the Urchins favorite food is Coralline Algae and the rare Chiton loves stuff growing on surfaces under the sand. Left in the tank long enough(6 months
), an Urchin may eat up most nuisance algae, even long hair algae. Snails keep it clean after the longer hair algae has been eaten.
6. Sea Hare Gastropod and Lettuce Nudibranch - These eat bacterial slime and soft coatings of algae on surfaces. They sometimes eat hair algae though it is not their preferred food. They have a tendency to roam the tank in search of their preferred food which exposes them to powerheads. If they don't get sucked into and chopped up by the powerhead, they die of starvation or old age(adult lifespan <1yr), often before doing any damage to the nuisance algae.
Aloha
Edited by Mark Peterson - August 23 2014 at 6:16am
Topic Options
Post Options
Thanks(0)
