BTA eating Macro Algae

[kjkaminski]

A friend of mine gave me a large bag of dried seaweed (macro algae) she bought at the Asian grocery. It is from Japan. I tried soaking a piece in tank water a few months ago and placed it in the DT to see if anyone would eat it. Turns out the urchins love it as do some of the snails and conch. Today I watched my large Halloween urchin drop a decent size piece he was carrying around on top of my BTA. The BTA ate the algae which surprised me. I did not realize they would eat algae. Is this normal?

 

[Eagle_Steve]

A friend of mine gave me a large bag of dried seaweed (macro algae) she bought at the Asian grocery. It is from Japan. I tried soaking a piece in tank water a few months ago and placed it in the DT to see if anyone would eat it. Turns out the urchins love it as do some of the snails and conch. Today I watched my large Halloween urchin drop a decent size piece he was carrying around on top of my BTA. The BTA ate the algae which surprised me. I did not realize they would eat algae. Is this normal?

Yup. My clowns feed my btas, haddonis, gigs, mags and mertens Nori that the tangs rip off the clips and don’t get to in time. No ill effects in 8 years of them doing this lol.

Remember if a nem doesn’t want food, it will not pull it in to eat it. It may sting it, close up, but if not wanted, they will open back up and let it float away if it can.