Shy Tail Spot Blenny

[Neonblack]

Hey all,

I've had a Tail spot Benny for five days now in my ten gallon nano. He happily grazed on all the hair algae in the tank, to a point where it's all gone now. Now he's going to town on the fast-growing green film algae on the tank walls, but I'm worried it's not substantial enough. He ate frozen brine shrimp at the LFS, but won't eat what I've given because he bolts into his burrow every time I approach the tank. I've tried to get him to eat nori on a clip, but he doesn't seem interested. This little guy is so shy...any ideas on making sure he gets enough to eat? Thanks for any help!

 

[RedStangGA]

Hmm, my Tail Spot was really easy to take care of. Little skittish at first but then loved to hang out and people watch. He's probably not eating much because he's getting his food from algae right now. I'd work on getting him acclimated to you being near the tank. My tank was always near my computer desk so I'd just sit there and ignore it. Eventually new fish would come out. Just takes time.

 

[Neonblack]

Thanks! Definitely some good ideas. I'll try to sit near the aquarium a bit more and get him used to me. He's slowly starting to come out more and more, though he seemed to ignore some flake and mysid shrimp morsels that floated by earlier. Perhaps next I'll try some 'greener' foods...maybe he'd be more inclined to go after that...

He's still attacking the film algae like crazy...I'm inclined to let the glass get covered by algae until I can get him to eat prepared foods

 

[Reef Frog]

I was going through the freezer at a LFS and saw some frozen brine shrimp that was a distinct green color. I asked an employee about and he said they were cut loaded. Seemed to make sense.

I was wondering if that wouldn't be a really good food to use for omnivores like a TSB.

I had a TSB for years in a pretty clean tank and never fed it any plant based food. I wonder if that was a mistake. I never saw it hunting for algae except an occasional peck on the glass.

TSB OWNERS: DO YOU INTENTIONALLY FEED PLANT BASED FOODS? Which ones & HOW OFTEN?

 

[Neonblack]

Hmmm that sounds like a good item to try Reef Frog. I'd be interested to know if TSB owners feed veggie-based foods as as well. I'm also curious if they've able to subsist only on algae in the tank...particularity film algae

 

[peasofme]

tailspots and closely related blennies are omnivores. they are small so you should feed it something small like frozen brine. eventually maybe it will take to something like small pieces of mysis. can also try flake food, small pellets, etc. just keep trying in small amounts till something takes. then you won't have to worry about him eating all the algae.

 

[Neonblack]

Good news! Two days ago he started eating little chunks of San Francisco Bay plankton. Today he was attacking giant pieces of frozen mysis like a champ! You're definitely right about the small fish, small mouth thing.