Sea hares....how big do these suckers get before they die?

[TrishK]

We got our guy 2 months ago (he was maybe the size of a 50 cent piece) The first picture is a month later (he looks like a dill pickle with a pig head)
Saw him tonight a month later (pic 2) and omg he’s almost the size of a baseball. Soon he’ll be too big to hide during the day. Is it normal for them to get so big in such a short amount of time??

 

[andrewey]

Yup! The largest I had in a tank was about 8" long. They last a really long time, assuming they have enough food. That being said, they almost always die of starvation in most reef tanks- that's why I've never kept one in one of my tanks for more than 3 weeks. Even in a friends 300 gallon with tons of hair algae, it grew steadily then died in about 4 months. That's why I probably will never own one to keep- I have simply borrowed the resident seahare from my local club/LFS.