blennies are incorrectly called herbivores

peasofme

Active member
the stomach contents of blennies in the wild is mostly detritus, some meaty items such as tiny inverts, and a small percentage of film algae. blennies in the aquarium will eat algae thinking it will be mixed with detritus and tiny inverts. this is why blennies often starve in our tanks. this is why it is important to get a blenny eating meaty items such as mysis and formula one small 1mm pellets (the red ones). live black worms would probably work here too.
 
I have lawnmower (2), Bicolor, Tailspot (2), Aussie Orange Spot and a Molly miller. My lawnmowers are obese their bellies are so fat.

But they don't take any prepared foods. My large one is about 5 years old and the smaller is a little over a year.

My Bicolor takes some prepared foods but not much. (4 years)

Tail spots don't take prepared foods (2 years)

Molly Miller shows up occassionally for frozen foods but not often.

Orange spot only takes prepared foods.


I have a heavily rocked tank with a heavy pod population. I've never had issue with starving blennies.

Dave B
 
I had a starry blenny that ate anything except algae and plants. That darn thing would go head to head with my triggers for krill, clams, shrimp, or mysis. He went nuts over pellets too.

I had to take him back to the LFS because he became VERY aggressive, and killed a couple of my fish. They are classified as peaceful herbivores. Mine definitely didn't get the memo...
 
There are lots of marine fish that are incorrectly labeled herbivores. I don't know of a single marine fish that is not an omnivore outside of some eels. My triggers would even eat nori and tangs certainly eat more than seaweed.
 
When I had a tailspot blenny he would eat anything that wouldn't bite him back. Flakes, frozen, pellets, seaweed on a clip, & live mysid shrimp. I added mysid shrimp before a holiday weekend & when I came in to feed him on the holiday I thought he was going to explode he had such a fat little belly.
 
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