Coral Beauty and Hair Algae

[miskairal]

My Coral Beauty loves hair algae. Yay! He's really helping me get it
under control - he looks after the rockwork I do the sand. Several times
now I've seen him with humungous big poops hanging out the same colour
as the hair algae and today I think he was trying to get the Coral
Banded Shrimp to remove the poop that was about 2-3cm long and still
attached. He also tried helping me with the sand but the algae he picked
up had a few grains attached and it took him quite a while to get rid of
it. The fascinating part is he hangs out with my algae picker - a long
plastic thing with pincers on the end that I use. Whenever I'm picking
out algae he stays close to it. I'm not sure if he's jealous of all the
food the pincers are getting or wondering whether it is a good mating
proposition :)

I've had freshwater fish for quite a while but this sal****er hobby!
Boy! Talk about finding ways to waste your days away while you stare in
at the tank and then when you're not doing that you're reading on the net.

Oh and the shrimp which I only got 6 days ago moulted/shed it's skeleton
last night. How often do they do this? She seems fine and is eating.

[Fish2Keep]

miskairal wrote:
> My Coral Beauty loves hair algae. Yay! He's really helping me get it
> under control - he looks after the rockwork I do the sand. Several
> times now I've seen him with humungous big poops hanging out the same
> colour as the hair algae and today I think he was trying to get the Coral
> Banded Shrimp to remove the poop that was about 2-3cm long and still
> attached. He also tried helping me with the sand but the algae he
> picked up had a few grains attached and it took him quite a while to
> get rid of it. The fascinating part is he hangs out with my algae
> picker - a long plastic thing with pincers on the end that I use.
> Whenever I'm picking out algae he stays close to it. I'm not sure if
> he's jealous of all the food the pincers are getting or wondering
> whether it is a good mating proposition :)
>
> I've had freshwater fish for quite a while but this sal****er hobby!
> Boy! Talk about finding ways to waste your days away while you stare
> in at the tank and then when you're not doing that you're reading on
> the net.
> Oh and the shrimp which I only got 6 days ago moulted/shed it's
> skeleton last night. How often do they do this? She seems fine and is
> eating.


Sounds like your enjoying yourself and it sounds cool too
--
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Share your fish keeping skills!!!

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On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:08:44 GMT, "Fish2Keep"
> wrote:

>miskairal wrote:
>> My Coral Beauty loves hair algae. Yay! He's really helping me get it
>> under control - he looks after the rockwork I do the sand. Several
>> times now I've seen him with humungous big poops hanging out the same
>> colour as the hair algae and today I think he was trying to get the Coral
>> Banded Shrimp to remove the poop that was about 2-3cm long and still
>> attached. He also tried helping me with the sand but the algae he
>> picked up had a few grains attached and it took him quite a while to
>> get rid of it. The fascinating part is he hangs out with my algae
>> picker - a long plastic thing with pincers on the end that I use.
>> Whenever I'm picking out algae he stays close to it. I'm not sure if
>> he's jealous of all the food the pincers are getting or wondering
>> whether it is a good mating proposition :)
>>
Hello Miskairal,

Amphipods and other "livestock" are often buried at the base of the
hair algae, so it ready to dive in if it sees anything to eat.

>> I've had freshwater fish for quite a while but this sal****er hobby!
>> Boy! Talk about finding ways to waste your days away while you stare
>> in at the tank and then when you're not doing that you're reading on
>> the net.
>> Oh and the shrimp which I only got 6 days ago moulted/shed it's
>> skeleton last night. How often do they do this? She seems fine and is
>> eating.

They will moult fairly often when you first get them, as they get
accustomed to the change to your water conditions. After they get used
to the conditions, they probably moult monthly or less often. My
lemonpeel waits patiently for the soft skin after moulting, then
pounces for its dinner (Cleaner Shrimps). Possibly a coral-banded
shrimp may be able to fight it off ?

Regards, Fishnut.
>>
>Sounds like your enjoying yourself and it sounds cool too

[Wayne Sallee]

Shrimp molt more often when they are small because they
are growing faster.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



wrote on 12/12/2005 3:29 PM:
> On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:08:44 GMT, "Fish2Keep"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>miskairal wrote:
>>
>>>My Coral Beauty loves hair algae. Yay! He's really helping me get it
>>>under control - he looks after the rockwork I do the sand. Several
>>>times now I've seen him with humungous big poops hanging out the same
>>>colour as the hair algae and today I think he was trying to get the Coral
>>>Banded Shrimp to remove the poop that was about 2-3cm long and still
>>>attached. He also tried helping me with the sand but the algae he
>>>picked up had a few grains attached and it took him quite a while to
>>>get rid of it. The fascinating part is he hangs out with my algae
>>>picker - a long plastic thing with pincers on the end that I use.
>>>Whenever I'm picking out algae he stays close to it. I'm not sure if
>>>he's jealous of all the food the pincers are getting or wondering
>>>whether it is a good mating proposition :)
>>>
>
> Hello Miskairal,
>
> Amphipods and other "livestock" are often buried at the base of the
> hair algae, so it ready to dive in if it sees anything to eat.
>
>
>>>I've had freshwater fish for quite a while but this sal****er hobby!
>>>Boy! Talk about finding ways to waste your days away while you stare
>>>in at the tank and then when you're not doing that you're reading on
>>>the net.
>>>Oh and the shrimp which I only got 6 days ago moulted/shed it's
>>>skeleton last night. How often do they do this? She seems fine and is
>>>eating.
>
>
> They will moult fairly often when you first get them, as they get
> accustomed to the change to your water conditions. After they get used
> to the conditions, they probably moult monthly or less often. My
> lemonpeel waits patiently for the soft skin after moulting, then
> pounces for its dinner (Cleaner Shrimps). Possibly a coral-banded
> shrimp may be able to fight it off ?
>
> Regards, Fishnut.
>
>>Sounds like your enjoying yourself and it sounds cool too
>
>