Kessil

Name this fish: Whats small, cute, full of personality. and eats macroalgae

GDawson

GDawson

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After two years one rock has sprouted a macro that looks like dicondra (ya know..from lawns?). Very small roundish oval leaves..tight compact growth and runners that try to stretch all over the tank. It is slowly enveloping EVERYTHING. I tried emerald crabs (which coloured up beautifully with the diet) but they can't keep up with it. They never made a dent.

I'm looking for a good fish to take care of this. Say..3 to 4 inch max. Would share tank with 3 psycho anthias and a pair of black ocelaris.

Ideas?

-Gregory
 
Get a rabbit fish and be prepared in a few years to get him a new home.
 
Thought of that or a tang but I really shy away from puchasing "temporary" animals hence the small size request. If there are no other options I'll just have to bite the bullet and do it to save all the corals.

Given a choice between a tang or rabbit I'd prefer a tang. Would they work as well as a rabbit?

-Gregory
 
Nope, not in my opinion. IME rabbits won;t grow as fast as tangs, they tend to be much more active eaters of macroalgae, especially the caulerpa you are dealing with.

I've had rabbits in small tanks for years. They tend to get stunted more than tangs, and since they capture large groups of juvies, its easier to get a viable small rabbit over a tang.

Just my .02 cents..
 
I've had a few 1-spot rabbitfish, supposebly the 1-spots are smaller than the non-spot ones but I've never tested that theory. They do fine like Gresham said, they don't grow super big, you should get around 6-12 months of grazing before he gets larger than 4". Plus no fish ever pick on them because of the venomous spines, and I"ve never seen aggression with my rabitfish, but I've never comingled them with tangs. If you're not certain that algae will be eated by a rabitfish I'd see if the LFS will allow you to drop it in the tank with the rabitfish to make sure he'll eat it before buying one.
 
nudibranch said:
Pygmy Angel specifically maybe a Cherub angel.
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He's looking for a grazing herbivore. Cherubs are horrible at controlling anything other then feed in the tank :lol:
 
CoSign with Gresh on the Cherub.

Do try a very small rabbit fish, used to use one to control HA and other type algae in my 100 gal before.
 
one last thought - what about a flame fin tomini tang...stay's relatively small, and good algae eater. (although, I agree, rabbits do a fantastic job at algae control!)
 
JAR said:
nudibranch said:
Maybe if it gets really bad you could try a tuxedo urchin. They will eat them and uproot them for camouflage.
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+1 on the urchin.
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Flipside to them is they are awesome at fragging and transplanting
 
Now a rabbit fish is what I would choose. These fish might outgrow your pond but they do the job they are designed to do. Eat the macroalgae. The macroalgae can be a right nuisance and I can not think of any cute quotes and sayings that make it any better. I do not know but I do not think a tang would do the same. They also grow quicker than a rabbit fish. Let us know how you get along with the rabbit fish. It may help others with the same problem.
 
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