Some yellow tang (Zebrasoma flavescens) specimens devour nuisance algae, while others do not.The practice of adding herbivorous fish and/or invertebrate species to marine aquariums for the purpose of nuisance algae control is quite commonplace. Hence the popularity of those herbivore packages known in hobby parlance as “cleanup crews,” or CUCs. But almost as common is the experience of adding a herbivorous species or CUC to eradicate algae only to discover that it doesn’t quite live up to expectation. Why does this sometimes happen? Here are a few possibilities: The alga isn’t on the menuWe like to think that herbivores will feast on any and all algae put in front of them, but most are more discerning than that. For example, many herbivorous fish and inverts may do a great job of grazing diatoms and algal films but then completely ignore the forms of most concern to hobbyists, such as those tough, unsightly strands or clumps of hair-type algae. In fact, my experience with marine herbivores in general is that few will actually outright consume growths of hair algae
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