i have seen Dolabella auricularia at henry's and non of the other types of hares which u had mentioned. Nevertheless, i used to own one and it died on me, without releasing any toxic dye or causing my system to crash. Yes, indeed, it is good to hv a skimmer that will remove all the toxin or whatsoever before it become worst.
Personally, i hv not see the hare "ink" and cant comment on it. Some senior reefers and sponsors here that i know, do keep them and had no problems with it. The hare probably "ink" if there is a predator, otherwise, it should be ok unless u keep disturbing it and poking it here and there.
As for ur comments on "If I am LFS, I sure say OK. Why I want to screw up my sales? " i would like to highlight two issues.
One,
LFS bring in both reef and non-reef safe LS to cater to different genre of clients. Lets give the benefit of doubt to the LFS that sometimes, it is confusing to really classify the LS especially when they really looked alike.
Two,
it depends on the integrity and knowlege of the LFS to share their knowledge.
Also, it is up to the reefer's responsibility to know what LS he/she is getting. Not sure, ask or look up before buying. if u suspect it to be otherwise, then look into the net first.
i was looking for apitasia-eating filefish and would hv been fool by the similarities of the filefish at his place if not for him to inform me that they are not really the one that i'm looking for and he still cannot confirm that they do feed on apitasia and whether are they reef-safe or not. I am grateful for such sharing coz imagine the horror i would get if i introduce a non-reef safe fish.
I cant say the same for other LFS but Henry does share info readily and does recommend his clients not to get the stuff if it is not healthy or not suitable for ur tank. I had on several occasions, pop in to view the shipment but he told me to hold the purchases coz for several reasons like too small, not stable etc... try not to generalise
As for the purchase of the seahare, most reefers use it to control the algae problem. as its main diet is algae, the lack of it will eventually cause its demise.