Bubble algae

[ZANYMASTER]

I'm sure everyone gets this from time to time in your system.Emerald crabs are thought to get rid of this but I hear they can eat certain corals and small fish.My LFS said they do not eat bubble algae so what experiences does anyone have with these bad boys?No links please just first hand experience.Thanks.

 

[Alex]

I've got four of them in my 120 and I've seen them eat the bubbles and nothing else.In addition I also have a naso and he also eats it, however don't expect them to be gone over night.

 

[Deanos]

No links please just first hand experience.

:grumpy:

Fine!

I've had emerald crabs that ate nothing but Valonia and others that ate no Valonia, but ate softies.

 

[noodleman]

i had emeralds that didnt eat any of it, but it munch on certain sps like birdnests and cat's paws :irked:

 

[juiceguy]

i have 3 emeralds in my tank and they haven't gone near any bubble algae, i find them sometimes near my sps but no apparent damage to the corals

 

[DontXtripNfall]

i bought a fairly large sized emerald crab from WWOF and thought that it was bigger than most that i've seen in other lfs so it would be more aggressive but on the plus hand eat bubble algae faster (bigger appetite) but its a gentle giant... wen fish comes to close it will raise its claw but thats about it.. i expected to eat the bubble algae on the first night since there werent to many but it took about a week or 2 for everything to be gone, he has tried to eat my blue clove polyps so i had to move them to the frag rack.. all in all im happy with what i bought..

 

[marrone]

I've had some emerald crab eat them and others not. Even when I had one that ate them I still have bubble algae in the tank.

What also happened was the emerald crab would knocking over rocks and corals, which happened almost every night. Every morning I had to put coral and rocks back into place.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

So it's a tough choice,or maybe not so because I have SPS and can't afford for it to eat my Birdsnest and other ones as well.The Naso can't be an option being I have two tangs in there already in my 90g.

 

[robert0419]

MY Fox face love to eat bubble algae as well my 3 tangs
good luck!

Robert

 

[ZANYMASTER]

I remember having one,he was so aggressive towards my Other tangs.

 

[ming]

I had a ton of bubble algae before I added emeralds. Now theres down to a few large bubbles which I can't get to. I only pickout the large ones easy to get to, the emeralds do the rest. I think they may pick at your corals if they're getting big and too hungry though.
All my stuff are large rocks or glued down so no worries about them moving stuff

 

[saltyweeds]

It is a hit or miss with these. I had one for a year it would eat some bubble algae but only the ones it can fit in it's mouth even then it doesn't get them all. Be ready to supplement feedings to the lil guy to keep him alive as he likes shredded raw shrimp. I had issues with mine pinching coral and shredding fins of my fish if they got a little too close.

 

[REEF MANIA]

I found its easier to remove them with tweezers just make sure not to pop the bubble.

 

[emmanuel]

my emeralds never touched it so the emeralds became octopus food that was years ago I got rid of the bubble algae by siphoning it out and it never came back

 

[chazertis]

my old emerald crab ate all my bubble algae and kept it clean. never noticed anymore coming back after a few weeks after adding the guy