Weirdo Midas Blenny

[Boxelder]

About four, going on five, days ago I bought a Midas Blenny from a great new LFS. He has splendid color, is very active, and shows lots of personality. Last night he went to sleep with my clownfish for a few hours. he eats like a horse and begs for food every time I go anywhere near the tank.

That's the good news. The bad news is that he swims with the top of his head poking out of the water 90% of the time. I got him because I spent a lot of time aquascaping, made lots of caves and swim-throughs, with this type of fish in mind. Now I have one and he appears to be terrified of all the rocks in my tank. he sits on the powerhead and swims around with his eyes poking out of the water, as far from rocks as possible. He will chase food about half way down the tank and he sits underwater just fine (on the powerhead near the top, not the rocks, god forbid), I made sure he's not gasping for air....I dont know.

It's a new tank and my clowns won't swim around below the half way down mark yet either, unless they are in the corner, away from scary rocks. :furious:

 

[gweston]

I also have an African Midas. He also swims near the top a great deal poking his eyes above the water. I think this is why they are known to be jumpers. Probably looking for a place to jump to. My tank is either covered with a glass top (colder weather) or egg-crate (warmer weather) for safety. I did have the tank uncovered for a while, he didn't jump though I was concerned he might.

Odd that yours has homed to the power head. My midas has his own little cave and goes there to rest and avoid danger. He also perches just outside when he feels like hanging out or just watching me. He won't go too near the powerheads. Otherwise, he is always out and about swimming. They are PIGS when it comes to food and love to swim about. He eats more than my clowns for sure. Faster to strike on his food bits.

All I can think is to relocate the powerhead temporarily. Or even remove it if you have adequate flow just to see what he does. Hopefully he then re-homes to a cave. I have heard of clowns hosting powerheads. So I guess some fish just aren't quite as sharp as others.

My 2xclowns (mated pair) mostly swim around the top, but they've taken to sleeping in the bottom back corner, vertically (facing downward) against the glass. Meanwhile.. nice caves to park in, a frogspawn and also a RBTA they could host in. All ignored. But, then again they are relatively new to the tank.

 

[Boxelder]

heh, yeah, i think I'm going to block it with a mag scraper in a few days. Problem is, he also like sitting on the other powerhead. Actually, not on it, he wedges himself between the glass and the cord and just hangs there looking down at everything. Weird fish. Thanks for the heads up about the heads up swimming.

 

[C0rp]

My midas does the same thing. Sits on the powerheads and peeks up out of the water. Been in my DT for 2 weeks now and has not been on the bottom of the tank yet. I've seen him sit on the highest peak of live rock about three times. Other than that, he sits on powerheads. When I feed the tank, he just sits on the powerhead and waits for food to float by and he darts out to snag it then back to the powerhead lol. He's the only fish in the tank atm...was my first. I got a carpenter wrasse in QT. Maybe when the wrasse gets put in the tank the midas will be more inclined to explore the tank.

 

[Amazon4]

mine lounges on the magnetic mag scraper. We leave it about 2" below the water surface. It's his "couch". lol

 

[C0rp]

Lol..I'm trying to get mine to do that w my magnavore magnet too...its a pefect couch haha

 

[tubntxawg]

Midas Blenny are known for being great jumpers, I have personally seen one jump out of the tank and land on the coffee table about 5 feet away... (survive) so be sure to place a mesh or some type of cover on top to insure that he will not jump... Good luck!

 

[C0rp]

Midas Blenny are known for being great jumpers, I have personally seen one jump out of the tank and land on the coffee table about 5 feet away... (survive) so be sure to place a mesh or some type of cover on top to insure that he will not jump... Good luck!

Indeed! I have the screen topper that Bulk Reef Supply showcases no carpet for my blenny hehe

 

[nivram]

Mine does that during feeding time. One of my fav fish. I've had mine for at least 3 years now. I guess i've been lucky it has never jumped out of the tank.

 

[Squared]

Midas blennys are cool. mine skims the surface if I turn off the pumps and during feeding time.