Well about 2 days ago I pick up a lawnmower blenny from my local lfs. It's about 3 inches long and I got it because I have hair algae growing everywhere and the lfs said that it would eat it. Well I started reading on then and I've heard so many bad reviews about them like they kill other fish and they just make a bigger waste load and don't eat hair algae. Is any of this true? If it is what things will eat hair algae?
New Lawnmower blenny.
- Thread starter Anemone12
- Start date
Yeah it's a risk about them inking. Mine hasn't ever yet including when they picked him up at the LFS. He also was never picked on in my tank so it's never happened to me. I have a friend who it did happen to and ran the skimmer and never saw anything go wrong, but knowing my luck... It would crash my tank. Lol just my 2 cents.
Btw, he says hi, he is sleeping on my algae scraper, which is a good excuse to not get up and bother him
Btw, he says hi, he is sleeping on my algae scraper, which is a good excuse to not get up and bother him
SecretiveFish
Member
IME absolutely yes. I will not own one of these again. ETA: Mine does not knock things over, but generally he is a worthless fish in regards to managing algae. I would get rid of him in a hot minute if I could catch him.
Again IME, the only way to get rid of hair algae is manually. Although I have never tried it, many sources have stated that sea hares will eat it, but I did not want to risk what might happen when the sea hare passed.
Yeah, manually removing it sucks (I say this having had to do it in a 65 and a 150), but it works. I tore off as much as I could and then used a toothbrush with small siphon tube to scrub off what I could not get. Although I had to do this multiple times, in my 65 I have not had hair algae for close to 3 years and have not had hair algae in the 150 for over a year.
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reefgoddess808
New member
The sailfin blenny I have will pick at the rocks some but mostly eats film algae.
SaltyWenStirred
Member
My lawnmower blenny is one of my favorite fish. I love his expressive eyes. Looks like an old man.
I introduced some star polyps, which had hair algae on them. Started to grow and spread. It's hard to remove hair algae from in between the polyps. I've never seen my lawnmower blenny go for any of the hair algae. Crabs were good about getting in between the polyps.
Ultimately, I did get rid of it. I was removing what I could. I was having a hard time getting my protein skimmer adjusted just right. Finally got that down. And I added a phosphate reactor and started running PhosGuard. I never changed my lighting time, but I did cut back on feeding, but not by much.
I introduced some star polyps, which had hair algae on them. Started to grow and spread. It's hard to remove hair algae from in between the polyps. I've never seen my lawnmower blenny go for any of the hair algae. Crabs were good about getting in between the polyps.
Ultimately, I did get rid of it. I was removing what I could. I was having a hard time getting my protein skimmer adjusted just right. Finally got that down. And I added a phosphate reactor and started running PhosGuard. I never changed my lighting time, but I did cut back on feeding, but not by much.
I agree. He was by far the most interesting fish to watch in my tank. Although I knew what I was buying, and wasn't looking at him as equipment when purchasing.
Mine did scrape the rocks where new algae was forming, but would not eat anything grown.
Triggerfish
Active member
yup,,mine never touched the ton of hair algea in the tank.. great fish.
sea hare will devour the stuff. i have one now for couple weeks. it seems to have slowed down on how it moves and seems to have shrunken in size.. the algea has grown back some but the hare doesnt seem to get after it so much.. im going to be passing the hare off to someone else that has the same algae issue. thats what yoiu would need to do is pass it off to someone else other wise it will die.
sea hare will devour the stuff. i have one now for couple weeks. it seems to have slowed down on how it moves and seems to have shrunken in size.. the algea has grown back some but the hare doesnt seem to get after it so much.. im going to be passing the hare off to someone else that has the same algae issue. thats what yoiu would need to do is pass it off to someone else other wise it will die.
