Sailfin blenny - anybody got one?

zachfishman

Active member
I see these guys (Emblemaria pandionis) all over the place in the rubble at one of our regular survey locations. I figured I could nab one while diving one day (after getting a fishing license of course). Does anyone have any experience keeping them?

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Yeah they pop up and waive they're little fin hands around; really entertaining! I'm guessing they'll be easy to keep, so long as enough food gets swept past their little shelter (as far as I've observed, they stay very close to it at all times).
 
Yeah they pop up and waive they're little fin hands around; really entertaining! I'm guessing they'll be easy to keep, so long as enough food gets swept past their little shelter (as far as I've observed, they stay very close to it at all times).

They are very common here in the water in Fort Lauderdale. If you ask any local store they can get them for you either from the wholesalers in Miami or from local divers. usually cost around 10-12$
 
If you get one, let me know, I have been thinking about picking one up when I order my royal grammas.
 
I had one years ago. Really cool tiny fish, mine was about 1 to 1-1/2". Mine would sit on the rocks and eat food that come close by. It ate everything I fed.
 
There's several other neat fish swimming about our nursery location that I might nab too. Mostly blennies with some neat head gear like the one below. I'll probably only get one though, not interested in them fighting.

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I have collected and kept them lots of times, they are not easy to get out of their burrows, and you should keep more then one, if you want them to display in the tank you should have at least 2 or 3 males, they do not display if there are no other males around. That isn't entirely true, sometimes freshly caught males will display, maybe to their reflection in the glass, but within a short time they stop if you don't have several. Females are very plain, do not have big dorsals and usually found in the rubble rather then in a burrow, they almost look like a different species. You don't need a female to have your males display, but I usually try to collect a female for every few males I catch.

It is an easy fish to keep, just needs some holes in the live rock to live in, they eat just about everything, I feed mine mysis, baby brine and cyclopeze. They have no special needs, but only live a couple of years, so if you get an adult and they survive a year or more that is normal, some scientific studies say adults only live a year in the ocean, and I notice while diving that at certian times of the year they are very hard to find.
 
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