Added a disco (Smith's) fang blenny to my tank yesterday to be the probable last addition. There's a yellowtail blue damsel in there, and he's a bit of a bully. This is a FANG blenny, though, so you'd think it would defend itself. All my research says they'll do that.
At first, the blenny essentially ignored all the efforts to bully it. Today, I think the damsel has been wearing it down. The blenny darts away when the damsel lunges at it, it definitely wants to stay away from the damsel. However, it's not outright afraid. If it's afraid, it sticks itself to the wall and turns yellow-grey-green.
The damsel won't let the blenny come over to the back half of the tank, which is where all the rockwork is. Every hole in the rockwork is connected, so the damsel can chase the blenny away no matter where it goes. Plus, if it happens to see the blenny, it lunges. I put a net in there to give the blenny somewhere to swim where the cowardly damsel won't go.
So why isn't the blenny retaliating? It's not that I want the damsel to be bitten, I just want the blenny to stand up for itself a bit and stop letting itself be chased around.
Theories:
Blenny doesn't realize it has fangs. This seems unlikely, the blenny was confident yesterday and apparently knows he's venomous. Plus, he's swimming around the net and being unafraid... he's still fairly bold.
Blenny doesn't mind staying in midwater and sleeping on the sticks. He does try to go over towards the rock now and then, but fangblennies are open-water fish. Maybe he's okay with this? He's not faded out or anything.
Damsel did something and terrified the blenny too much to retaliate. I don't know what this would have been, though. The blenny doesn't have any marks on him, and I've been keeping an eye on the tank. The blenny was sleeping all night, I think, and so was the damsel. The damsel dives into the rockwork when it's dark and doesn't come out.
Any theories on why Mr Fang isn't using his fangs?
At first, the blenny essentially ignored all the efforts to bully it. Today, I think the damsel has been wearing it down. The blenny darts away when the damsel lunges at it, it definitely wants to stay away from the damsel. However, it's not outright afraid. If it's afraid, it sticks itself to the wall and turns yellow-grey-green.
The damsel won't let the blenny come over to the back half of the tank, which is where all the rockwork is. Every hole in the rockwork is connected, so the damsel can chase the blenny away no matter where it goes. Plus, if it happens to see the blenny, it lunges. I put a net in there to give the blenny somewhere to swim where the cowardly damsel won't go.
So why isn't the blenny retaliating? It's not that I want the damsel to be bitten, I just want the blenny to stand up for itself a bit and stop letting itself be chased around.
Theories:
Blenny doesn't realize it has fangs. This seems unlikely, the blenny was confident yesterday and apparently knows he's venomous. Plus, he's swimming around the net and being unafraid... he's still fairly bold.
Blenny doesn't mind staying in midwater and sleeping on the sticks. He does try to go over towards the rock now and then, but fangblennies are open-water fish. Maybe he's okay with this? He's not faded out or anything.
Damsel did something and terrified the blenny too much to retaliate. I don't know what this would have been, though. The blenny doesn't have any marks on him, and I've been keeping an eye on the tank. The blenny was sleeping all night, I think, and so was the damsel. The damsel dives into the rockwork when it's dark and doesn't come out.
Any theories on why Mr Fang isn't using his fangs?
