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Re: SAEs eating hair algae

On Feb 20,  3:39pm, Aquatic-Plants-Owner at ActWin_com wrote:
> From: "Ted Fidder, AT&T - Bell Labs, Denver" <fidder at drmail_dr.att.com>
> Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 09:32:05 -0700
> Subject: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #264
>
> 	I have 5 3"+ SAE's in my 180gal and although they are always
> working on the algae on the plant leaves I have never seen them
> work on hair algae (which I still have plenty of). Has anyone
> actually seen an SAE eat hair algae or thread algae.  Of course

	I've seen mine tug on a bit of brush algae after starving my tank
	for 10 days.  It was an exciting moment!!!  They nibble around the
	thread algae, too, but there's so much of it I can't tell whether
	they're actually eating it.  At least the thread algae is easy to
	remove by hand.
>
> my SAE's seem really fat, maybe they are simply getting over fed
> on all the rest of the algae and don't get to the hair algae :-)

	From what I've seen they won't touch hair (brush?) algae until
	they're really hungry!  Unfortunately my SAEs learned to eat regular
	fish food from the water surface almost immediately.

	My hair algae does seem to like the dimmer portions of the tank.
	It turns red and fades away where I've cleared away the plants and
	let the light blast it.

	It's hideous stuff, though. I still haven't gotten rid of it
	completely, but at least it's been stable with reduced feedings
	and a tank full of hungry fish.

	John