I was wondering what consumes cheato, not only in the aquarium but in regard to it's role in the ecosystem; what keeps it from over growing in the ocean? Also it is illegal to sell caulerpa in California, due to outbreaks along the coast. But among my keeping of both macro algaes I found that cheato grows much faster, with no revealed natural predator in the aquarium, and it is much more common to find it available for sale.

I've not heard of anything eating cheato in the aquarium. It's interesting that your cheato grows more quickly. I grow both caulerpa and cheato and in my system the caulerpa grows more quickly. It would be interesting to see why.

We put cheato in our tanks as a nutrient export as it competes with algae for excess nutrients in the water column. We do not provide it as a food source for herbivores. Herbivores do eat calupra, but I have had it ge sexual! Want to see your skimmer go CRAZY? I feed my tangs Seaweed Selects, Formula 1 & 2, and spirulina. Use the macroalgae as a nutrient export, cut and harvest the bound phosphates and nitrates by cutting and trimming weekly!

Our long-spine urchin loves cheato.

Hmmm, the urchin knows whats best.... hey Seahorsedreams, do you know why the whole issue with caulerpa in california, or anyone at all???

It's not suppose to be shipped here... it's banned. Where do you live around here? Althought it's not suppose to be imported of course it shows up. I see a lot of it come in as little pieces on LR.

We are about to prune the 12 gallon nano.

My tuxedo urchin eats Chaeto... sits on the ball of it all day, in one end, out the other.

Caulerpa -vs- California: It is considered an "invasive species" because some nut jobs dumped their pruning trash into a waterway that eventually made it into the Pacific. If you google "california" and "caulerpa", you will find lots of information.

Dave

Hey.... http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/image.php?u=1248&dateline=1171743740 <----- Poke... how ya been?

cool, thanx for the info. JustDavid, why would cheato be allowed to be sold here or other algae's if the same can happen to them?, and Seahorsedreams i live in Downey

To be brutally honest, if other types of macro algae were released, intentionally or unintentionally, and caused problems, they'd ban that too.

It happens over and over again, whether plant, animal, marine, fresh water, etc. In Massachusetts, we can no longer purchase a popular landscaping bush, the "Burning Bush" or Euonymus alatus compacta. This is because it has been found to be "invasive"

I also have a Koi Pond/Water Garden. I used to love putting in an annual called "parrots feather" or Myriophyllum aquaticum. Their lacy branches or runners would float on the water's top and help provide shade and oxygen to the pond. It too has been banned.

Most of the decisions made by local environmentalists make sense ONLY because you really can't trust the end user to make good judgement calls. All it takes is for one bozo to toss plants into a pond at the end of a growing season and you could be in lots of trouble.

D

Bozo is right! Look at what kudzu did here in the south. :)

Bozo is right! Look at what kudzu did here in the south. :)

No doubt, except kudzu was introduced intentionaly. I guess bureaucrats shouldn't mess with nature either, huh :rotfl:

True that!

Hmmm, the urchin knows whats best.... hey Seahorsedreams, do you know why the whole issue with caulerpa in california, or anyone at all???

Aren't they importing Oxynoe (http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=oxynoliv) into CA to eat out-of-f-ing-control caulepra? If mine is still alive you can have it :)

Haha smuggle some into Cali, no it's ok thanks. My sticky reefer hands have already aquired some, I was just wondering why it wasn't allowed. But thanks to everyone's answer I got it. And it does grow mighty fast!

Aren't they importing Oxynoe (http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=oxynoliv) into CA to eat out-of-f-ing-control caulepra? If mine is still alive you can have it :)

Importing other non-natives to combat a non-natives is a bad plan and never works. All it does is create more problems when that animal runs out of food.

SoCalReefer- If you are familiar with San Diego, the lagoon in Carlsbad with the power plant on it had the Caulerpa, as did a waterway in Huntington Beach. It was successfully eradicated, but remains a concern for those of us that work on it. California has native species of Chaetomorpha and C. linum is sold in the aquarium industry.

That works too, I think I have some of that already. I bought some at a LFS a while back.

My tuxedo urchin eats Chaeto... sits on the ball of it all day, in one end, out the other.

Caulerpa -vs- California: It is considered an "invasive species" because some nut jobs dumped their pruning trash into a waterway that eventually made it into the Pacific. If you google "california" and "caulerpa", you will find lots of information.

Dave

when i went to my LFS here in N. San Diego. i asked for some macro algae and handed pamphlets on cuaulurpa in CA. I guess it happened in Orange county are and cost the state over $$7 million to fix the problem. and on top of that it says the nation spends over 2 billion.. yes i know it said 2 billion to keep caulerpa out of our waters

We definitely have to be responsible with anything we have in our tanks. No Free Willie with anything!

Here in Northern California, many of the LFS use Caulerpa in their own tanks, and some will even sell it to you. I know of only one store that posts signs as to why they do not use or sell Caulerpa. Sad.

BTW - my Powder Blue Tang will eat the occasional (small) piece of Cheato that I throw in the tank. Of course, he eats everything. I had an adult French Angel that would chow down on the stuff, but then he would have some interesting ... ah ... poops. (Not to get too gross here, but Cheato must be very hard to digest!)

besides our Diadema urchin (as Renee AKA seahorsedreams mentioned), our foxface ate the stuff quite readily.