Why do sea hares still have a bad rep?

[CanuckReefer]

@CanuckReefer That's so interesting to hear you say that because I've been debating getting a cucumber but again had been clinging to this idea that they're time bombs. I think you just convinced me to pull the trigger!

You get that sea cucumber yet? Here is my 15 year old 'time bomb ' doing its job between crevices ( wedged right in lol) , sand like a boss....

 

[JumboShrimp]

Wow, he really blends in, I had to look twice!

 

[CanuckReefer]

Wow, he really blends in, I had to look twice!

I literally 'lost' him for over a year about 5 years ago in a 90 gallon JS, worried the tank was gonna get nuked for a month or two...life went on...then one day, like magic he reappeared. Never seen anything like it before. Guess my eyes were either not up to snuff or he just buried himself. No clue.

 

[nim6us]

@CanuckReefer Like many reefing things I got distracted with another tank and forgot about the cucumber . So it's still on my to do list! The one in your picture, is that a tiger tail?

 

[fragit]

I have yes, still have a tiger tail (there are 2 in my system) that some hiw made it through the weir of my overflow and into my filter roller where it was literally shredded in half. I put it back in my display after I found it. My striped blennies decided he was tasty. So I put him in my fuge, it’s still alive and so is my tank.

 

[CanuckReefer]

@CanuckReefer Like many reefing things I got distracted with another tank and forgot about the cucumber . So it's still on my to do list! The one in your picture, is that a tiger tail?

Yep do it.

 

[Rbjames]

The problem I had was one of bad luck. I bought him home, dropped him in after acclimation and after two weeks of munching he died in the corner - no idea why. Two days later my fish came down with velvet :-(

I think a lot of people buy them then return them and one of the tanks he came from had the disease. I can’t be sure of course.

 

[saltywoman]

Everyone I've talked to that has tried to keep it as a pet say that eventually you'll find it not moving and it'll start turning very dark. Sign it's either about to die or already dead.

Did it poison the tank where fish died? No. But from I heard you have to watch its whereabouts bc its hard to find when it dies. Decomposition leads to bad bad bad water chemistry

Why does it die? Lack of algae diversity. I don't believe it can survive long term on just the strain of algae your tank has.

I say "Wait for it" bc I believe it won't last but 4-6mos.

But you seem really excited and enjoying it. It may last overa year or two. Just get thst thing O U T when it dies die. Bad things when you can't find it and it decomposes

@zoa what Thanks for going into a bit more detail. And this is exactly what I’m trying to get at, do you know anyone this has directly happened to? Can they confirm this was directly caused by the sea hare dying? Because I suspect it’s like most of these stories about someone who “knows a guy it happened to”. Or the tank wiped and they think it may have been a sea hare that crashed the tank.

There’s just so much bad info floating around out there coming from third or fourth hand experience and I suspect this is the case with nuclear sea hares. However to be clear I think you should treat them like porcelain crabs. Unless you have a massive tank they’re not forever residents. Once the algae is gone you should move them on.

I had one and it literally disappeared. Our three year old tank immediately crashed even though we did all the things you are supposed to do ( activated charcoal in filter, water changes , constant perimeter checking, ect. ) We have now lost several awesome corals , all of our CUC , A CRAB LITERALLY CRAWLED out of the tank! Heartbreaking. He gobbled up all the HA alright , but then wouldn’t touch the sheet algae. We found him less than 24 hours after he disappeared, but he was just a brown thin slime film by then. This was a blue spotted hare. Just a disaster!