Lawnmower Blenny running out of algae to eat

J

Jrod4

New member
My LB Blenny was doing great for the first few months I had him, when I had some short GHA type stuff growing on the back glass. Well slowly over time he grazed on it until now its all gone. And the only algae I can seem to get is the typical brown stuff on the glass, which he does eat but the stuff is so microscopic that I dont think he is getting a good diet.

He was a healthy size but now he is starting to get really skinny. He wont eat Nori or meaty foods either. Just eats stuff off rocks and glass.

Any suggestions?

I turned off my fuge light for a couple days and my brown algae growth spiked in the DT, but waiting to see if any of the green stuff will start growing as I dont think he will make it long term on only the brown stuff.

I think if it keeps up I will attempt to catch him and put him in my fuge where I have GHA growing and see if he can fatten up. Is this a terrible idea? I've tried throwing chunks of the GHA in the DT but it wont grow on anything or if I attach it to something he wont eat it and the crabs end up taking it.

Should I keep attempting to get him to eat nori? My other fish eat it for some reason so maybe he can learn. I just dont want the little guy to starve to death.
 
he doesn't eat anything else?

mine will eat nori, pellets, any kind of frozen, fresh macro, live baby brine shrimp, and just about anything else he can get his mouth around.

have you tried tempting him with anything else?
 
MondoBongo said:
he doesn't eat anything else?

mine will eat nori, pellets, any kind of frozen, fresh macro, live baby brine shrimp, and just about anything else he can get his mouth around.

have you tried tempting him with anything else?
Click to expand...

He's never gone after anything floating in the water. Not sure how to tempt him, he seems only interested in stuff stuck to rocks and glass
 
I'm having the same problem. mine will not eat anything I put in the tank. I still have a little algae on the rocks but it's not going to last much longer. maybe an algae waffer but I'm afraid my pig of a foxface will devour it before the blenny has a chance.
 
Jrod4 said:
My LB Blenny was doing great for the first few months I had him, when I had some short GHA type stuff growing on the back glass. Well slowly over time he grazed on it until now its all gone. And the only algae I can seem to get is the typical brown stuff on the glass, which he does eat but the stuff is so microscopic that I dont think he is getting a good diet.

He was a healthy size but now he is starting to get really skinny. He wont eat Nori or meaty foods either. Just eats stuff off rocks and glass.

Any suggestions?

I turned off my fuge light for a couple days and my brown algae growth spiked in the DT, but waiting to see if any of the green stuff will start growing as I dont think he will make it long term on only the brown stuff.

I think if it keeps up I will attempt to catch him and put him in my fuge where I have GHA growing and see if he can fatten up. Is this a terrible idea? I've tried throwing chunks of the GHA in the DT but it wont grow on anything or if I attach it to something he wont eat it and the crabs end up taking it.

Should I keep attempting to get him to eat nori? My other fish eat it for some reason so maybe he can learn. I just dont want the little guy to starve to death.
Click to expand...

Mine eats Nori like there is no tomorrow... He sits on the clip and waits for it to be replaced.
 
I have the same problem. Mine won't touch anything. I've watched nori, frozen food, and spirulina all hit him in the face with no reaction. He is starving to death for sure. My previous blenny would eat anything and survived for years.

I made the mistake of not seeing him eat at the LFS before buying this one.
 
mine eats frozen brine shrimp and reef frenzy. Once he got a taste of that stuff he is almost useless as an algae eater.
 
Mine started out eating only algae, then he went through a period where he only ate mysis and brine shrimp or flakes. He had been doing fine and one day he disappeared. I haven't seen him in a week. I know my Kole Tang didn't like him, but he was always the one gobbling up the food first when I fed. Do you have a sump with algae growing in it? Maybe try to put him in there for a while.
 
My yellow eye kole tang harassed my blenny as well. Seemed to stop after a few weeks, but the blenny seemed to always avoid the kole tang.

I doubt I'll try another blenny while I still have the kole even though the blenny is one of my favorite fish.
 
risin said:
My yellow eye kole tang harassed my blenny as well. Seemed to stop after a few weeks, but the blenny seemed to always avoid the kole tang.

I doubt I'll try another blenny while I still have the kole even though the blenny is one of my favorite fish.
Click to expand...

Yeah, mine would do a great job of avoiding the crazy Kole, which is why I was so surprised he just vanished. Still haven't seen mine in a week, so who knows. I won't get another while I have the Kole. I knew there might be potential issues since they technically compete in the same ecological niche.
 
If your doesn't go for other food source, it will die definitely. It happened to mine. The one I'm having right now eats just about anything.
 
Try getting him to eat nori like others have suggested, if he doesn't I would get him out of there. My buddy just lost one this week after dosing biopellets, algae was cut down and he starved.
 
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