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

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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

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GreshamH
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Get a rabbit fish and be prepared in a few years to get him a new home.

GDawson
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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

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GreshamH
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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..

Kensington Reefer
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What G said

Erin
1000+ gallons in the back yard

CookieJar
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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
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Pygmy Angel specifically maybe a Cherub angel.

25 gal. Red Sea Max- http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/10939

65 gal. Marine Land Tank- http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/11738

"You know someone is a reefer when they compare plants to corals."

nudibranch
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Maybe if it gets really bad you could try a tuxedo urchin. They will eat them and uproot them for camouflage.

25 gal. Red Sea Max- http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/10939

65 gal. Marine Land Tank- http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/11738

"You know someone is a reefer when they compare plants to corals."

GreshamH
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nudibranch wrote:
Pygmy Angel specifically maybe a Cherub angel.

He's looking for a grazing herbivore. Cherubs are horrible at controlling anything other then feed in the tank Laughing out loud

650-IS350
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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.

Charles-
AKA " DELSOL650 "

GDawson
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A Rabbit it is.....got get one this weekend. This stuff is suffocating everything it touches.

thanks for info folks!

-Gregory

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