catching a lawnmower blenny??

[mayjong]

so, this dude won't/doesn't eat anything besides what he finds on the rocks/glass.:hammer:
i've never seen him eat any flake/mysis/nori/anything.
he will, however eat on the mantles of my clams :mad2:
he's gotta go, clams have been covered for over a month and i'm sick of it :fun2:
ironic that if i could catch him, he could pig out in my sump , there is a buch of algea there.
i am currently using a homemade (cut top bottle) trap, with chaeto in it, no dice. it has only been in the tank for a week of so, though. i've tried netting it at night, when he's "slower" but he's not THAT slow...
i'm getting to the point of trying to "off" him...

any suggestions at all?

 

[lhm nole]

Gl they are not fun to catch had to tear my 240 apart to catch mine swore I would never own another one

 

[travis32]

Good luck. I rubberbanded some nori to the top of my middle tank rim. He swims out into the open water column and hovers around it as he pecks off it. Definately very skiddish though. I would think you could hang a fish trap with nori in it or something to simply trap him.

Also, could simply try placing nori clips in the tank. He might leave the clam alone then. don't know though. Never realized lawnmowers were harmful to clams.

 

[Yogre]

Mine has taken a liking to my purple sea fan. He's denuded the top third of it.

He also won't touch hair algae , which is what I got him for.

I think I'd have to use a depth charge to get him, though. He won't eat anything I could bait with, and he's way too quick for me to net.

Hope you have better luck catching yours.

 

[velvetelvis]

I almost got one of these beasts to control algae, until I read about people having similar problems. Good luck!

 

[ser_renely]

you gotta get lucky. patience and a trap you can close would help.

 

[krustyart]

Turns out Lawnmower blennies don't really eat algae at all.

I have had several. I opened the gut of one that I killed for that purpose and as I suspected under the microscope was copious amounts of copepods that they comb out of the algae with there micro-comb-like teeth. Oh, sure, an occasional chunk of algae does accidently get swallowed when they are aggressively sifting animals and bacteria off of the algae and rocks but most of what was in the stomach was animal proteins.

And yea, they are fast little shits when they see a net anywhere nearby but I can actually pet mine with my fingers. I will try strangulation next if it lets me pet it long enough!!!

ART

 

[jgalen0025]

I got mine out with a size 25 fly fishing hook with a piece of mysis. Took 1 min.
I would get him eating only what you would use for bait and then wait a few days untill he hasnt had any to try. Remove the barb!

 

[cyclenut]

Turns out Lawnmower blennies don't really eat algae at all.

I have had several. I opened the gut of one that I killed for that purpose and as I suspected under the microscope was copious amounts of copepods that they comb out of the algae with there micro-comb-like teeth. Oh, sure, an occasional chunk of algae does accidently get swallowed when they are aggressively sifting animals and bacteria off of the algae and rocks but most of what was in the stomach was animal proteins.

And yea, they are fast little shits when they see a net anywhere nearby but I can actually pet mine with my fingers. I will try strangulation next if it lets me pet it long enough!!!

ART

I find this post a little disturbing.

Anyway, I love my lawnmower. He cleaned up a lot of algae in my tank. I have to supplement nori on a small rock every day for him to eat. He also eats meaty foods that I feed the tank. Never bothers any of my corals, but will peck on the snail shells. Pretty funny to watch and has a great personality.

 

[Triggerfish]

yeah i'm not sure the LMB will eat hair algea none of mine ever did. but they do suck the life out of any film algea that gets on the glass.