Green Sea Hare question

I just picked up a 4 inch sea hare from my LFS to help clean up my tank. For 2 days he was going like a lawn mower. Now he has found a back corner to dig down in the gravel and just sits I read a lot of the old posts here about them and some say they do this and others say they may be laying eggs in preparation to return to their maker and others say their taking a rest :-/ Anyone have recent info on their habits?

 

In the last 24 hrs. it has shrunk to about half it's original size. I don't think this is a good sign

 

Well, I got tired of waiting. :-X Wasn't getting any response here so I decided to dig his ass out of the gravel and put him back up front. ;D Turns out he hadn't gotten any smaller but just dug that deep into the gravel. Now he's back to mowing the grass, go figure!

 

Be sure to protect them from overflows/powerheads. IME They do mow down the algae but once its gone they will usually starve.
Let us know how it does.
They do sometimes eat algae wafers and nori.Not sure how much nutrition they receive though as the longest I was able to keep one was about 9 months in a 90 full of hair algae.

 

Thanks Vinny I've worked out a deal with my LFS to bring it back when it's done for credit. Have you ever heard of these guys just burying themselves?

 

Sorry sb I just edited my original post as I got sidetracked.
That's a good idea.Don't remember how big your system is but Matt loves his tuxedo urchin so you may give one a go..:-/
I am considering one for my 25 cube.

 

Yes mine would sometimes bury themselves. They made feed on some form of biofilm/detritus or they like the lights down low for an afternoon delight.:-/
Maybe they have a short lifespan to begin with.

 

yes they always dig into the gravel. They are sleeping.

 

How long should they sleep?

 

Not sure about sleeping habits, I had one for a couple weeks - an attempt to get a handle on my GHA outbreak. He died after about two weeks, not sure why…one problem I noticed was my cleaner shrimp would go after him relentlessly! The Hare could be at the top of the rock work, shrimp would get on him and start picking at his but (usually) and the hare would stiffen up like a board and fall to the bottom of the tank.

I think its possible the stress got to him. Tried anything I could think of to separate them but it was pretty much impossible. It was a sad day, we really liked him. RIP Cecil.