Bluestriped Fangblenny advice

[Moort82]

Hi, i know theres probably not going to be many people who have had these after they found out what they are but does anyone have any practical or ideas in general about this species in terms of care.
It's Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos i'm really needing help with as i know their natural diet and therefore problems but i now have one on its own (well apart from a pistol shrimp) in my display refugium. It came on an import to my lfs by accident and they know i'd try and give it a good home.

The thing i'm struggling to find, which isn't a surprise is alternative foods. Scott Michael says it may take live brine but given it natural predatory diet, i've been thinking that fish flesh would be a better idea as they are supposed to be invertebrate safe. So any ideas

TIA

 

[Moort82]

Found in another book by Michael Scott that there is a chance these will take mysis and brine. Tried both of these today and there was no interest at all.
Going to try fish flesh tomorrow as i picked up some small dillies today. Possibly going to go down the root of mimicking a live fish like you would with a predatory species such as a lionfish.
It is active enough and not thin by any means. Shame its such an unwanted species as it is a stunner.

 

[rssjsb]

I have no information to share, but commend you for trying to do right by the fish. Maybe try small silversides?

I was curious and googled the name of the fish. It is quite striking. Then I saw this picture:

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Plag...138&start=0&ndsp=57&ved=1t:429,r:45,s:0,i:168 Yikes!

 

[Moort82]

Thanks, i spotted this pic when searching for info http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=bl...=147&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0,i:88 and must admit that a little while after it yawned and scared me a little. It has a set of these teeth top and bottom and i've recently read they sometimes go for divers:lmao:
Tried krill today as well as a mix of brine and mysis. Still got tonights feeding so will add some cyclopeeze, red plankton and lobster eggs into the mix. Want to try the easy stuff first but i think its silversides tomorrow. It isn't thin at all so hopefully i have plenty of time to wean it.

 

[rssjsb]

It may be that he's still adjusting to your tank. Does he have something to hide in?

Good luck with him.

 

[Moort82]

Yeah there are pleny of hidey holes in there. It's not the ideal setup as its more a refugium display tank with lots of algaes and mangroves but a base of live rock and plenty of swimming space. I was planning on a couple of blennies in the future but obviously not these, so its very blenny friendly.
It's acting more like a midas blenny at the moment which i guess is how it would in the wild so it appears well settled just not interested in food yet.

 

[Moort82]

Still no luck with this little guy. So far foods its uninterested in are brine, mysis, krill, sandeels, dillies, calanus, cyclopeeze, red plankton, lobster eggs, musle, prawn, newly hatched baby brine and copepods. So i;m kinda running out of ideas.
Hopefully by continued feeding of the above it will start to sample them but i'm not overly optimistic anymore.

 

[Moort82]

I just don't know how this little guy is still going strong. I'm still at a loss with feeding. Tried everything i can get my hands on and no interest whatsoever. Amazingly it hasn't noticably lost any weight but its only been in there for 9 days now plus a few while it was still at the shop. Still hoping it will just start feeding but frustrated so far.

 

[rssjsb]

Sorry to hear this.

I don't know what dillies are. Are they like silversides? If not, maybe you could find some small ones or some other type of bait fish. They eat scales from other fish, right?

 

[Moort82]

Hi Robin, thanks

I'm not 100% sure what dillies are either tbh. They are a small fish species which are available over here for feeding predatory fish so could just be another name for silversides.
I think its the fact the fish are dead thats the problem. I've tried attaching fishing line and making them swim in the current as well as waggling them like you would when training a lionfish.
I've even tried a couple of dead anthias which didn't make it on an import and were saved for me, as i've read they naturally hang out with this species in the wild and therefore they would likely be a main food source. I froze one and the other was fresh so still had the body mucus on it but didn't fool the blenny.

I'll keep trying though so keep your fingers crossed.

 

[rssjsb]

Good luck. This may sound crazy, but have you tried shaving off pieces of larger fish like salmon or cod or something with the skin on? Maybe these guys pester bigger fish.

 

[Moort82]

That is crazy but i like crazy:lmao: I'll give it a go and see what happends. Thanks for the idea.