Logan's Daddy

I just watched the strangest thing, both of my SAE's were munching away at a patch of java moss, they cleaned off all of the green part and left behind some wispy stems that look a lot like the "roots" on a java fern. I have never seen them do that before.

Before you ask yes they are true SAE's, they have been in the same tank for over a year and are fully grown (4 inches each). A lot of people have complained that SAE's stop eating algae when they mature, but mine are *always* grazing on whatever little bits they can find, all I can say is that I must really have my algae under control for them to have to resort to java moss...

Anybody else ever seen this type of behavior?

NoSvOrAx

Mine ate all of my xmas moss.

V.PooH

Never seen them eating moss, but they love dwarf hair grass, ate it all in couple weeks.

davemonkey

I've seen mine grazing through my mosses, but I thought they were just eating the algae and other stuff in the moss. I'll have to take a closer look.
I have some spirulina tablets that I only occassionally put in there. I wonder if supplementing their algae consumption with the spirulina would keep them away from the moss. I'll let you know what I discover.

-Dave

Jeff.:P:.

Heres a good article, I had the same experience.
http://www.aquamoss.net/Articles/Sia...uatic-Moss.htm

davemonkey

Thanks for the article link. So much for my 'algae team'. How many Otocinclus do you think it would take to replace 5 SAE's (that are still small...about 2.5")?

Logan'sDaddy, what are your thoughts on this? (SAE's good or bad? Still worth keeping around after they've grown up?)

Logan's Daddy

I plan to keep them in place for now, they have been in the same tank with the same moss for over 1 year, and this is the first time I've noticed anything.

They haven't completely destroyed anything, the moss in this tank is mostly a light amount creeping over the driftwood... matter of fact now that I think about it I almost never have to thin out that moss, and in my other tank it takes over in a heartbeat, maybe they've been keeping it mowed down for me all this time.

I'll have to take a closer look and will try to post some pics later...

davemonkey

I noticed when I took a close look this evening where mine had been eating at the moss, but they haven't destroyed it. I suppose it's just one of the many foods they enjoy along with the hair/beard algae.

I've decided that as long as I can still see some growth on my moss (I'm still at a point where I need it to thicken up in spots) I'll let it slide. But if they start doing some real damage, I'll scoop them out and take them to the LFS for a trade.

Once the moss fills in the way I'd like, I don't think it would bother me too much. Like you said, they may just be keeping it 'mowed'.