Teaching herbivores to eat gha?

OscarHaglund

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 27, 2021
Messages
256
Reaction score
278
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How do you teach your herbivores to eat GHA?
I am in the middle of treating my tank with flucazonole in order to get rid of bryopsis and as a result the only algae i have is film and hair algae. But none of my fish seems to be interested.

I have a one spot fox, scopas and tomini and I would have thought that at least the fox and scopas would go for it.

I have several flahser and fairy wrasse so I need to feed reasonably heavily for their sake so I don’t feel like i can just “feed less”.
 

Dom

Full Time Reef Keeper
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
5,829
Reaction score
6,376
Location
NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
When it comes to GHA, manual removal is first. Then invest in a good sized cleanup crew.

But most importantly, your water chemistry must be examined closely. When was the last time you tested for Nitrates and Phosphates and what were the results?
 
OP
OP
OscarHaglund

OscarHaglund

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 27, 2021
Messages
256
Reaction score
278
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
When it comes to GHA, manual removal is first. Then invest in a good sized cleanup crew.

But most importantly, your water chemistry must be examined closely. When was the last time you tested for Nitrates and Phosphates and what were the results?
Both my phosphates and nitrates are zero and have been for a while. I am in the process of lowering the intensiof my fuge light to reduce nutrient uptake.

Mind im not having a lot of hair algae (i have 4 urchins), I would just like to train my fish to eat it as well as the urchins are a bit arbitrary in where they go
 

Dom

Full Time Reef Keeper
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
5,829
Reaction score
6,376
Location
NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Both my phosphates and nitrates are zero and have been for a while. I am in the process of lowering the intensiof my fuge light to reduce nutrient uptake.

Mind im not having a lot of hair algae (i have 4 urchins), I would just like to train my fish to eat it as well as the urchins are a bit arbitrary in where they go

I don't think you can train a fish to eat something that isn't in their diet.
 

StatelineReefer

Reef Safe With Caution
View Badges
Joined
Jan 1, 2020
Messages
9,339
Reaction score
27,764
Location
Beloit, WI
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I don't think you can train a fish to eat something that isn't in their diet.
That's going to come as a huge disappointment to the people who have trained mandarinfish and butterflyfish to eat frozen prepared foods.
 

Dburr1014

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2016
Messages
8,452
Reaction score
8,488
Location
CT
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How do you teach your herbivores to eat GHA?
I am in the middle of treating my tank with flucazonole in order to get rid of bryopsis and as a result the only algae i have is film and hair algae. But none of my fish seems to be interested.

I have a one spot fox, scopas and tomini and I would have thought that at least the fox and scopas would go for it.

I have several flahser and fairy wrasse so I need to feed reasonably heavily for their sake so I don’t feel like i can just “feed less”.
If your already dosing fluconazole, leave it in a little longer to take care of the GHA.
 

Dom

Full Time Reef Keeper
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
5,829
Reaction score
6,376
Location
NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
you mean hair algae is not in the foxface and scopas tang diets? Seems counter to basically everything i hear online

I said: "I don't believe you can train a fish to eat something that isn't in its diet."

I don't know what is in the diets of the Foxface and Scopas. But if GHA isn't in their diet, I don't believe you can train them to eat it.
 

Looking for the spotlight: Do your fish notice the lighting in your reef tank?

  • My fish seem to regularly respond to the lighting in my reef tank.

    Votes: 58 75.3%
  • My fish seem to occasionally respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 8 10.4%
  • My fish seem to rarely respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 6 7.8%
  • My fish seem to never respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I don’t pay enough attention to my fish to notice if they respond to the lighting.

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • I don’t have any fish in my tank.

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 1.3%
Back
Top