IMO, Salarias fasciatus is a super hair algae eater. Mine was my absolute favorite fish to watch in the tank. It's kind of cute how they watch you when you're at the tank. BUT, beware that they do jump....mine ended up a carpet shark and I didn't find him until it was too late!
Also...I would try to acclimate it to prepared foods. Once he's cleaned up your algae, you'll probably want to supplement him with nori or something similar.
Here is what my Marine Fishes book says about feeding for this fish:
Foods & Feeding: Vegetable matter including frozen and dried foods containing marine algae and the blue green alga Spirulina. Does best if a crop of microalgae is present in the aquarium. May starve in tanks that are not well established or that have insufficient algae.
Starve ?? Did you see pictures of my tank ?
He will explode !!! He got work to do !!!
im sure he will thrive for a bit, but you want to keep in mind that in a few weeks/months, it will have all that algae stripped. at which point you need to make sure there is something else for it to eat, or yes, it will starve.
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dude, Im still in my bryopsis phase and it sucks! I bought a lawn boy also and the damn thing did nothing. Just ended up belly up. And I still had the lawn, so luckily I took the store to credit me ( gosh darn 37.00 bills) and got my skimmer a new pump and some seachem phos buster stuff. seems to be working better. But I miss the little dude. He was sooo cool. Im just mad he didnt eat. (and no rob, I dont blame cyanide either ) It was just weird. stayed reclusive and wasted away in a 3 day period. Do you guys have pics of your little lawn mowers? I personally like the cebu variety.
you bring up some good points...
its important that when you try to deal with things with predation, whether is blennies, for hairalgae, peps for aptasia, wrasse for flatworms, or nudi's for so many things..
these are never 100%, they may not choose to eat what you think they should eat...
the other issue is that in many cases, they are still only covering up the root cuase, which has to be adressed.
for hair algae, nitrates, phosphates, or exces nutients in some way are usually to blame..
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the other issue is that in many cases, they are still only covering up the root cuase, which has to be adressed.
for hair algae, nitrates, phosphates, or exces nutients in some way are usually to blame..
Truer words have not been spoken One thing to remember is that "algae phases" are NOT normal they're only common. If there's an algae outbreak in your tank then there's an underlaying problem elsewhere. Look for the root of the problem then work from that.
Keep in mind that while an algae/lawnmower blenny may NOT take to bryopsis (very few things do), it could be very effective in control of the old 'run of the mill' hair algae. Yes, in the end, when the alga bloom is under control, you will want to ensure that your blenny or whatever is eating properly. If not, fish him/her out and pass it along to another reefer who may need its services.
Very few things will eat bryopsis. It's like the brussel sprouts of the reef Acutally, look into what is called a "sea hare". They've been known to do the job of eating the bitter, stringy 'weed' called bryopsis.
Hey Dave,
I heard about the "sea hare" I was trying to buy it , but the LSF was out.
Well
So far so good the lawnmower is doing his job ( also the cleanup crew ) I can say the re is less "grass " than before ....
I will post pics latter ...
__________________ 55 galon , 2 powerheads, skimmer , 40 pound of sand , 40 pound of live sand, RO/DI filter.
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) It was just weird. stayed reclusive and wasted away in a 3 day period. Do you guys have pics of your little lawn mowers? I personally like the cebu variety.
Acutally, look into what is called a "sea hare". They've been known to do the job of eating the bitter, stringy 'weed' called bryopsis.
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