What should I feed my tailspot blennies?

[xcross]

Hi,
I just got a pair of tailspot blennies that I chose specifically to have herbivores in my tank. But I don't know if my tank is growing what they need to eat. They're nipping at the live rock a little but they don't even look at the feather caulerpa. My tank is growing almost no algae on the glass now that I'm running a refugium with cheato.

Should I be feeding these guys? If so, what?

Thanks
Chris

 

[Fibinotchi]

Mine eats from the glass but also eats pe mysis, emerald entree, flake food, and just about everything else I put in the tank.

 

[serval]

Yes these are easy to feed. Will eat frozen, spirulina disks, flake, etc. Great little fish.

 

[small alien]

I did a black out for 3-4 days once to combat some hair algae and when the lights went back on, my tailspot was totally emaciated and died shortly thereafter. I didn't realize how dependent it was on the film algae in the tank. Also ate some short turf algae from the power heads. They won't eat Caulerpa or anything like that.

 

[xcross]

I haven't noticed them grazing on the glass but they have been shy, more so now than when they arrived a few days ago. One thing I observed that surprised me: one of them took up in a hole in the top of the rock and he would occasionally poke his head out and spit out a mouthful of something white. I couldn't tell if it was aragonite fines that blow around or calcium precipitate. They don't chew the rock like a trigger fish do they? I did notice it looks like they have the same big front tooth that forms the whole upper jaw...

 

[txbonds]

I haven't noticed them grazing on the glass but they have been shy, more so now than when they arrived a few days ago. One thing I observed that surprised me: one of them took up in a hole in the top of the rock and he would occasionally poke his head out and spit out a mouthful of something white. I couldn't tell if it was aragonite fines that blow around or calcium precipitate. They don't chew the rock like a trigger fish do they? I did notice it looks like they have the same big front tooth that forms the whole upper jaw...

Mine has done that too. I think he is digging out a larger hole in the rock. He has multiple entrances into the top rock in our tank. I just call it his penthouse condo.

Ours spends his day chomping on the rock surface. I wasn't sure if he was picking off algae film or pods, but he never will eat the mysis shrimp my other 3 fish eat nor the pellets my clown fish eat. But he has been in there for a couple of months now, so he is eating something when he chomps on the rock face i guess.

I'm going to have to try some flakes as mentioned above.

 

[Robka]

I have a tail spot blenny in QT with two spot tang. It took the benny 3-4 days before he started eating mysis, emerald entree & spirulina brine shrimp, but now he is eating fine along with scraping tank algae & holding his own against the faster tang

 

[klepto]

My tailspot grazes for the majority of its nutrition. In my experience, they are a pretty low maintenance fish, if you have enough algae (mostly film) for them to graze on.
My fish will consistently eat; cyclopeeze, very small pieces of PE mysis, and small chopped pieces of untoasted Nori. The nori is easily it's favorite. I have the best results with basting the nori (approx 2mm by 5mm pieces) nearby the blenny. My fish shows no interest in larger pieces of nori (or in any pellet food-even Spectrum small fish). Getting the nori sized right is crucial for my situation. I will sometimes soak the nori in Selcon to add some Vitamin C and lipids.

 

[jdwreefer]

I've never seen mine eat anything fed to the tank. Not nori, flake, emerald entree, rods food, mysis, etc. He only sucks algae off the glass and rock. But he's got a lot of that to eat in my nasty tank.