scooter blenny
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Moonstream
New member
your tank should be at least 1 yr old, have a fuge if under 30 gallons (fuges are good anyways), tank should be at least 20 gallons but 30 is better , have plenty of pods, have no other pod eating fish (like mandarin or other dragonets, six line wrasse, ect), tank should have plenty of LR and sand for pods to live in.
besides that just the basics. All the while keeping in mind that they are mainly pod eaters. These fish are hard to care for only because of their feeding needs. And dont relay on the scooter to eat frozen foods or even anything besides pods.
besides that just the basics. All the while keeping in mind that they are mainly pod eaters. These fish are hard to care for only because of their feeding needs. And dont relay on the scooter to eat frozen foods or even anything besides pods.
Moonstream
New member
Pods are little almost bug like critters that come on live rock. They are benifial to the tank, and can't be bought frozen. Thats why the tank needs to be set up one year, they breed and by then should have populated enough that a scooter can live off of them. How big is your tank? Do you have a fuge? What other fish/ inverts/ corals do you have? Again these guys are considered by most hard to take care of.
i have a 24g aquapod so i dunno if that thing in the back of the tank counts as a fuge...a have a few coral and a bunch of live rock and sand as substrate.....i have 2 clownfish and a yellow watchman goby and has been up for almost a year now more like 10 months....my question is if these pods never existed in my tank (which im not aware if they are or note) do they just appear from somewhere? or do i need to add a population from elsewhere to get them started
thanks for the help its greatly appreciated
thanks for the help its greatly appreciated
Mare100
New member
Eddified....
Very good advice from Moonstream. Be careful with Scooter's. We were talked into one by a fish store employee that SWORE that he would do GREAT in our 3 month old Fish Only tank. We were very wrong by not checking into this fish first. We got him and within 3 weeks he looked like he was starving to death. We rushed him to another fish store that took him in for us....but he only made it for another 2 months. It was terrible and we learned a hard lesson.
Since then, we have set up a 120 gal. reef that we "seeded" with live copepods that we bought on-line. We gave them time to reproduce and now there are TONS of them all over the tank.
We just recently rescued another scrawny, tiny Scooter from Petco. I am VERY happy to report that he has now doubled in size and his color is so bold and he's looking fantastic!
They are great fish...but like Moonstream said...don't rely on them to eat anything other thann the pods.
M
Very good advice from Moonstream. Be careful with Scooter's. We were talked into one by a fish store employee that SWORE that he would do GREAT in our 3 month old Fish Only tank. We were very wrong by not checking into this fish first. We got him and within 3 weeks he looked like he was starving to death. We rushed him to another fish store that took him in for us....but he only made it for another 2 months. It was terrible and we learned a hard lesson.
Since then, we have set up a 120 gal. reef that we "seeded" with live copepods that we bought on-line. We gave them time to reproduce and now there are TONS of them all over the tank.
We just recently rescued another scrawny, tiny Scooter from Petco. I am VERY happy to report that he has now doubled in size and his color is so bold and he's looking fantastic!
They are great fish...but like Moonstream said...don't rely on them to eat anything other thann the pods.
M
Moonstream
New member
Pods will exist in a tank. they are very small and hard to see. after lights out look for little white hopping dots. They are usually one the front glass. They are in there if you have LR and LS. For the "thing in the back" to count as a fuge it would have to have LS, LR and macro algae, as well as a light to grow them all.
The reason for the fuge is so the pods have a place to live in peace and breed. Every time you disturb the fuge, some pods will go into the main tank area andget eaten. So the fuge is like a back up source.
I would say skip the scooter. 24 gallons is really small, and the pods would be wiped out in a mater of months, if not weeks.
However, if you can find a scooter that will eat frozen foods, and you have proof of that, then that would be fine. If you dont have proof they eat frozen, dont get it.
The reason for the fuge is so the pods have a place to live in peace and breed. Every time you disturb the fuge, some pods will go into the main tank area andget eaten. So the fuge is like a back up source.
I would say skip the scooter. 24 gallons is really small, and the pods would be wiped out in a mater of months, if not weeks.
However, if you can find a scooter that will eat frozen foods, and you have proof of that, then that would be fine. If you dont have proof they eat frozen, dont get it.
wow no wonder it is a 7 dollar fish....seems like petco will sell you anything or the employee didnt have his facts straight...either way shame on me for not starthing this thread prior to buying the fish which i already have....but its good to hear someones scooter from petco is thriving 
....so i'd like to give it a try and hope he'll do ok so heres a few questions....if i decide i needed to seed my tank...what else would i need to add to the fuge? right now i do have live rock rubble, a sponge and live sand can be easily added....is the algae and light also a must have for these pods to thrive? oh yes and my fish always look hungry and im unable to ever tell if they are starving...are there any clues to what to look for on the scooter blenny to know its starving? it just seems like all my fish are always looking for something to eat
....so i'd like to give it a try and hope he'll do ok so heres a few questions....if i decide i needed to seed my tank...what else would i need to add to the fuge? right now i do have live rock rubble, a sponge and live sand can be easily added....is the algae and light also a must have for these pods to thrive? oh yes and my fish always look hungry and im unable to ever tell if they are starving...are there any clues to what to look for on the scooter blenny to know its starving? it just seems like all my fish are always looking for something to eat
Mare100
New member
I don't have a refugium, so I just bought a bottle of live copepods from (I think) Saltwaterfish.com and poured it right into the tank. But then again, it's a fairly large tank with a good amount of LR and no other pod eaters in there, so they multiplied quickly. My Scooter is always picking at food throughout the day...we keep a close eye on that. You can tell if the fish looks really scrawny (sides sunken in) and faded in color.
In the meantime...until your pod population takes off....you might try using some mini-mysis (frozen). I took a little syringe and "squirted" some right down in front of him at least 4 or 5 times a day. (While he was in the little QT). They like to "graze" and need to eat more often than you feed your other fish. Maybe try some bloodworms? Whatever you do...I found that he ate better when the food was put right in front of him.
Maybe check out Melev's Reef. He has a GREAT section on the Mandarin Diner.
Good Luck!
In the meantime...until your pod population takes off....you might try using some mini-mysis (frozen). I took a little syringe and "squirted" some right down in front of him at least 4 or 5 times a day. (While he was in the little QT). They like to "graze" and need to eat more often than you feed your other fish. Maybe try some bloodworms? Whatever you do...I found that he ate better when the food was put right in front of him.
Maybe check out Melev's Reef. He has a GREAT section on the Mandarin Diner.
Good Luck!
They are the same as a mandarin: both are dragonets. The scooter is a little more likely than a mandarin to take to pellet food or frozen mysis. The fact he's survived Petco indicates he has a will to live. Try with him, but if you don't see him making a hit every few seconds, or eating prepared food, hunt down a reefer with a refugium who's willing to take him. If he goes back to Petco, I fear he's a goner.
I got my scooter to eat frozen. I turned off powerheads and return pump. Then left about 5 frozen blood worms on the sand. Eventually 20 minutes later he found them and ate them. He now eats them when ever I put them in.
I consider myself lucky, I thought I had enough pods but he picked at the rocks and sand all day, everyday. I started out with pods everywhere even the water column. The only place I saw pods after a week was in my fuge. My tank is a 38 Gal with 20 gallon sump/refuge.
Just my experience.
I consider myself lucky, I thought I had enough pods but he picked at the rocks and sand all day, everyday. I started out with pods everywhere even the water column. The only place I saw pods after a week was in my fuge. My tank is a 38 Gal with 20 gallon sump/refuge.
Just my experience.
thanks guys...one more question...so if i see the little guy scooting around and picking at something on the rock or sand and chewing...does this mean its eating or is this just a way it looks for its food like some gobies sift the sand for food but not necessarily is getting any food from it....does it need to taste whatever its putting in its mouth to know its food? or does it only put what it can eat in its mouth?
Moonstream
New member
I THINK he is just looking for food. Most fish dont know whats food and whats not. I have a male betta that will put everything in his mouth. Even his poop! He's real smart
Pretty well their eyes are filtering anything that's not looking like food: they make hits, and I think they're getting something.
Hint: if you want to set up for him real fast, get: a cheap plastic tank of about 10g---30 if you could possibly manage it; buy a footwide ball of cheato and put it AND its water into said plastic box, with salt water, and connect it to your tank either by a U tube or the occasional spurt of a small pump. Cheato harbors pods bigtime, and if you could light such a chamber with something like high intensity lights on a 22 hour light cycle, and connect it either to your sump or main tank, you'd have plenty of pods. It's futzy, but it's great for your tank and for dragonets.
Hint: if you want to set up for him real fast, get: a cheap plastic tank of about 10g---30 if you could possibly manage it; buy a footwide ball of cheato and put it AND its water into said plastic box, with salt water, and connect it to your tank either by a U tube or the occasional spurt of a small pump. Cheato harbors pods bigtime, and if you could light such a chamber with something like high intensity lights on a 22 hour light cycle, and connect it either to your sump or main tank, you'd have plenty of pods. It's futzy, but it's great for your tank and for dragonets.
demonsp
In Memoriam
Nice addition to my 75 gal. I added him a few weeks before fuge was going and at 6 months. Well 6 months later hes alive and thriving. I admit he was a little skinny first month but seemed fine after that.
I suggest doing the opposit, adding few weeks after fuge. Or longer if you can .GL
I suggest doing the opposit, adding few weeks after fuge. Or longer if you can .GL
