What fish/animal eats Caulerpa

[brewercm]

I have some grape caulerpa that is starting to get a little wild in my main tank and was wondering if there is a fish/animal that will eat it. Wasn't sure if either a tang or fox-face might do a good job at controlling it.

[prof]

My tangs love it.

[eleyan]

I think a tang will probably go after it. My yellow tang is always hitting his nose against the fuge side trying to get to the grape caulerpa in it. I never tryied to give hiw some though.

[dan]

tangs will go wild after that stuff.

[matt]

Yeah? Someone ought to tell my tangs that. I had a serious caulerpa problem, even brought some of it to aquatic warehouse, and bought the tang that ate it. Once the fish got in my tank, he/she wouldn't touch the stuff. I've also heard diadema urchins, lettuce nudibranchs, and some specialized snails will go after it, but these are all sketchy reports. Hair algae and many types of filamentous algae gets consumed readily by tangs, but grape caulerpa growing in a tank I don't know. According to Ron Shimek, the best predator of this stuff is the aquarist. That was my experience. Maybe if you have existing tangs in a tank, and then add caulerpa to it, they'll go after it, but introducing tangs into a tank with grape caulerpa already growing did nothing IME. Hope yours is more successful!

[brewercm]

OK, Matts outnumbered, my luck though I'll have the same luck you had. :(

I guess I'll try a yellow tang out and see if he likes it or not. I hate trying to get to it how it's wrapped itself around my rocks and now starting to move over to my zoos that I'm having to clear off. :x

[brewercm]

Alright, I just went out and got a powder brown (my favorite tang). Hopefully he has an apetite for caulerpa, if not a good excuse to get the fish I've been wanting for a while anyways.

[MikeP]

Rabbitfish work really well on caulerpa too IME.

[Tim Marvin]

Hmmmmm. Interesting..... I have always had great luck with the ordinary yellow tang.

[brewercm]

I was really told that the yellow would probably eat it better, but I really wanted a powder brown. If he doesn't take to it well I'll just try to yank it out when I need to. I'm constantly having to thin out my xenia anyway, I'll just take care of both at the same time.

[Henry]

My yellow and regal love the grape, but not the sawblade. very strange.

[Tim Marvin]

Not much eats the saw blade that I have found.

[prof]

My yellow tang loves it...as I already said...

But my Naso and 2 rabbit fish also go nuts over anything plant like.

[GaryP]

My yellow and powder blue tangs love it.

Gary