Has anyone had any experiences w/algae blennys killing inverts or small fish? I would've never considered that he was the culprit to my dead cleaner shrimp, 2 missing green chromis', and broken urchin spines 'til today. I caught this rather large blenny behaving strangely toward my black urchin today. He was, what appeared to be, pecking at the urchin's spines. I've been noticing broken spines scattered throughout the tank and just blamed it on some unknown hitchhiker living in the tank. All these things started happening since I added this fish a few months ago. It may be just a coincidence, but that's why I wanted to post. Has anyone else ever experienced any aggressive behavior from these guys toward their tank mates?
Killer Algae Blenny?!
- Thread starter mnewsome
- Start date
NbMaxx13
New member
Only issue I had w/ Blennies is early on i tried to keep a bi-color w/ a lawnmower and found out the hard way that you cany keep them w/ like shaped fish ..... other than that havent had any issues w/ any of the tanks were I keep them seperately .... Good luck and hope you find out what is going on ....
pisces5296
New member
Get rid of him asap ,I had one just like yours ,kill my two year old yellowwatchman goby and one of my cleaner shrimp after 1 wk in the tank ,and then started picking on snails until they couldnt move any more maybe i didnt have enough algae in the tank.
Kahuna Tuna
Active member
I had a LM that was a monster. I got him from a friend after he had killed several passive fish in her tank and I took him in because most of my fish were pretty rough and tumble. All was fine for a year or so until he started attacking all of my deep bodied fish (asfur angel, foxface, sailfin tang). He would bite them on their sides and leave this circular scrape mark which in the case of the angel developed into a very nasty bacterial infection that eventually killed the fish. I tried everything to get the LM out of the tank but I ended up having to tear the tank down. I have since read several other stories of LM's getting very aggressive as they get large.
Maybe because you have no other aggressive fish to keep him in line? I had an Algae blenny for almost a year...and he is ridiculously peaceful. He doesn't attack other fish or anything in the tank for that matter. Indeed even my kole tang gives him a nip if he becomes too open or daring. Maybe it's because you just got one that was aggressive naturally?
Kahuna Tuna
Active member
My asfur and my sailfin were both fairly aggressive but the blenny would launch these sneak attacks on them and then dart into the rockwork. He ignored most of my other fish like my clowns and chromis but really went after all the deep bodied herbavores in the tank. I have heard that most LM's are model citizens and maybe this one was just a bad seed but he killed at least three fish that I know of.
I was wondering where my Foxface got what looked like a circular bite on it's side. I never ever would have suspected my LM. They have been in the tank together for almost 6 months. I will have to keep a close eye on them. It is strange because my LM is only about 2 1/2 inches and the Foxface is an easy 5 inches....
My LM blenny was rather large when I got him back in November. Now, I believe he is bigger, I know his stomach is anyway, He looks like he's about to "pop" all the time. Does anyone think he devoured my 2 chromis'? I wouldn't think so, but now I really am not sure. I just bought a powder brown tang yesterday. I hope he doesn't see him as competition (for algae) and start attacking. I just have no idea how I'm going to get him out.
tkeracer619
New member
my lawnmower is a model citizen. He sits there propped up on a rock trying to get his picture taken. I have seen my yellow tang and the blenny rub up on each other and pay no mind to it. They just swim around in one happy family.
pisces5296
New member
Well, i brought one of those fish traps from marine depot. Put a big sheet of nori in it, BAM got him less then a few mins,I didnt feed the tank for a few days until the trap came tho.
Cutiewitbooty
New member
wow thats crazy lol, i never heard of LMB getting psyco like that. They are one of my fav fish, but now i'm rethinking that. I used to have one in my old 46 gal and i had a cleaner shrimp mysterously die along with several green chromis....hmmmm
