lawnmower blenny?

[mitch303]

alright so i got a lawnmower blenny a couple days ago and have noticed he doesnt eat anything i try to feed him. he does pick at the rocks quite a bit but i really dont have algae in my tank from what i can see. my tank is about 3 months old and the fish store i bought the blenny from says he eats a variety of food. i tried some veggie flakes soaked in garlic he would grab it then spit it out. I have also tried algae sheet on a clip and tied to a rock and he hasnt touched it yet.

i also wanted to know why my tank hasnt gotten any hair algae yet? i did get a diatom bloom for a good couple weeks and that went away but no hair algae after. isnt there supposed to be a hair algae stage while your tank matures like the diatom bloom?

[Lorenz725]

I have never had hair algae in my 2 tanks and one has been set up for 2 years the other a year. I have a scooter blenny in my tank and he only eats pods. I am not sure if the lawnmower blennys eat pods too or just algae.

[disc1]

The different algae blooms that new tanks see differ from tank to tank. Some never see any hair algae, some get covered in it. Some get cyano blooms, some don't.

Lawnmowers are sometimes kinda hard to feed. I don't have much advise there.

[briankmarsh1980]

He may still be adjusting to the move.
When I started my first tank I had every bad algae known to man.
The tank I have running now (7 months old) and after learning all about nutrients and medias I have never had any bad algae, I haven't even needed to clean my glass in months

[mitch303]

alright i have heard these guys can be picky any advise on what else i should try feeding him? he has been picking at the rocks for like the last 2 hours constantly but i still dont think hes getting anything off of them.

[dwd5813]

there is probably film algae on the rocks that he's scraping off. i had a starry blenny (very similar fish) that would graze on rocks that i couldn't see anything on and he did well for days at a time just doing that. i bought some algae sheets and would take a small pinch and break it up and feed like flake food and he'd happily gobble it down. another thing i had success with was rod's food. i'd take a pinch of that and hold it in the current and slowly release it and after a few tries he would come and take it from my hand.

my advise at this point is to try very small feedings a couple times a day and see what happens for a few days. it's entirely possible that he's just getting used to the new home and will settle in soon.

[mitch303]

alright thanks and what is rods food?

[helitaiwan963]

i love watching my lawnmower blenny move around and clean rocks. It's what they like to do. they are mostly veggie eaters. although recently it's been swimming up to the surface and stealing a few food flakes from my other fish. haha. i think i was advised not to introduce a lawnmower blenny unless i had a good amount of algae in my tank. even though my tank doesn't have any kinda algae outbreak, it still gets its food

[dwd5813]

Originally Posted by mitch303

alright thanks and what is rods food?

http://www.rodsfood.com/about.html

[Dvara78]

I had a lawnmower blenny and unfortunately it didn't do too well....I didn't see it each much either.

[leadsinker]

i have had my lawnmower for about 2 1/2 month's now. for about the first 3 to 4 weeks it was algea only for him. then he started in on any and every thing that i feed the rest of the fish. he still chow's down on algea

spirulina 20 flake
formula two flake
frozen mysis shrimp
frozen blood worms

[mike5051]

My lawnmowers a few months old now. He hid in the beginning, and then I would see him picking at the sides and rocks even where I didn't see any algae. He didn't seem to be starving, no detectable weight loss, and in the last two weeks, he's been challenging the yellow tang for nori strips! Now it seems that that is his food of choice, and he's been doing a lot less picking at the algae. I want him controlling the algae, so I think the seaweed will be utilized more as a treat than a primary food source.

[mitch303]

alright i did try a little bit of this stuff called emerald entree and he grabbed a few pieces and spit them out maybe he will get used to it after a few days and start eating whatever i put in the tank.

[mitch303]

i think i will give the rods food a try to should i get the herbivore or the original?

[rich850]

my lawnmower blenny is 7 in long now he eats mysis shrimp or regular flakes might want to try the small cups of seaweed as well mysis is overkill but i have a copperband so...have to feed it to keep him happy

[funkejj]

My blenny will eat anything I put in the tank, just wouldn't eat the GHA when I had it.