How do you know if a sea hare is getting enough to eat?

[chaostactics]

TLR I have a large sea hare that I'm not sure is actually eating my nuisance algae. How can I tell if hes getting enough to eat/not going to die?
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I picked up a sea hare about a week ago that had finished cleaning someones tank and was being supplemented on spinach.

I have a tank that was nearly algae free until cheato reactor failed causing a large die off of cheato and consequently a nutrient spike accompanied by an algal bloom.

I have a couple of different types of nuisance algae on my rock that I've been doing some manual removal along with water changes.

I'm not seeing any appreciable decline in algae as far as I can tell (but there arent any "fields" of algae where I'd see a strip missing). The hare is BIG 4.5" at least. I dont want him to starve for moral reasons and for not nuking 90 gallons of water volume.

So how do I know if hes healthy or if I need to pass him on to someone else with a heavier algaefied tank? I have no intentions of keeping him once the bloom is sorted out as I have no other vegetarian or algavore animals in my tank to feed nori/veggie pellets to.

 

[Tahoe61]

Why not feed it spinach as well just to be sure.

 

[chaostactics]

Why not feed it spinach as well just to be sure.

My thoughts, that may be incorrect are: 1. The spinach, even organic, could release pesticides into my tank. 2. The spinach is going to break up as the gate eats it leading to even more free nutrients in the tank. 3. If the hare has easy access to spinach (or nori or anything else) then will it bother eating the algae I want it to munch on?

 

[Magellan]

@sfin52 any thoughts

 

[Jimbo662]

Same with me, GHA started taking off so I got one that's about 4". Not really seeing any decline in the algae. He's always buried under something.

 

[JBKReef]

I would assume you could supplement with a piece of nori? Just to make sure.

 

[MatsReef]

My wife has two now very large sea hares in our reef. They get fed a combo of sliced nori and Ulva each day. This has kept them not only alive long term but thriving. The food gets put into clips and placed directly in front of them.