seems like my lawnmower blenny is starving...

[flipteg]

i have a lawnmower blenny in a 30 gallon aquarium and i think he might be starving... i do have patches of algae here and there and i see him eat hair algae and peck on the rocks and glass... i just got this fish 2 weeks ago so i don't know him well yet... but this afternoon when the light turned on, i noticed that his stomach is kinda pinched in... i put a sheet of nori in the tank and didn't see him even go near it... it's been 9 hours and it seems like the nori is still untouched but suprisingly, the blenny's stomach seems more round now... i was wondering what i should feed the blenny and if i should continue putting a nori sheet in the aquarium even though he doesn't seem to be interested...

[scotmc]

Mine was never interested in nori. Try mysis shrimp. It sounds like he's not eating, Not a good sign. I could never get enough food him to eat. It's the only fish I have lost, due to hunger. I had him for 3 months..

[Logzor]

Same thing happened to mine. I posted like this and many people responded having the same issues.

Looking back I would have just stuck him in the freezer rather than having him suffer for a month. He would eat a little bit but eventually he just withered away and it was really sad.

I would recommend putting him down.

[scotmc]

If he eat mysis and is getting food, you have a changce. Mine did well, until I introduced other fish.

[Packersfan21]

Lawnmower Blennies do often starve and die.

[raoul]

We got one quite a few months back and had similar issues, but eventually he began to pick at the sand and rocks, and now he eats flakes, mysis, cyclopeeze, seaweed select stuff from the store, and probably other things I don't know about. I think the thing that helped in all of these cases was seeing other fish eat. He started hanging out with the wrasse and then began eating flakes. I offered seaweed in the begining and he didn't touch it until the tang began eating it.
Good luck.

[yoboyjdizz]

They can go for months eating nothing but the algae in your tank. I know it won't look good but i would let your tank walls fill up with algae. If you start to see kiss marks on the walls your in good shape. Personally i think they need bigger tanks then what most websites say do their natural eating habits.

[shooterg22]

I just lost mine two days ago. I had him for 1 1/2 months in my 150 gallon reef tank before he starved to death. My two spot tang would chase him all of the time so I tried puting a grate up for him to hide under. This gave him plenty of substrate to eat in and he could get to the rock and glass to munch and still be able to get back to safety when he got chased. When he was still "shriveling up", I moved my rock and put up a divider net in the tank which gave him about a third of the tank. He would eat algae off of the glass and munch on the sand and rocks but just kept getting thinner. I tried nori, purple seaweed, Formula 2 pellets, flakes, blood worms, brine and mysis shrimp...everything I could think of. The food would float right past his head or land in front of him and he wouldn't touch it. I even got hair algae from the LFS and put in the tank -cringing- trying to feed him. All to no avail. I don't understand because I had 90 gallon FOWLR a few years ago that was a heck of a lot cleaner than this tank and that lawnmower blenny lived for the 3 years that I had the tank and was fat and happy...
:( Don't think I will try this fish again.

[pallidamors]

mine is doing great in a 20 long. he eats algae, flake, and pellets

[sean48183]

This fish is meant for a tank that has a lot of live rock that is has been up and running for more than a year. THEY DO NOT EAT HAIR ALGAE! Mine sat in the hair algae and never touched it. They need the cream colored algae you see when your on the reef. Not green stuff. These fish should be outlawed from the trade.

[mksalt]

Another LM thread...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1285371

[scotmc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11697162#post11697162 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sean48183
This fish is meant for a tank that has a lot of live rock that is has been up and running for more than a year. THEY DO NOT EAT HAIR ALGAE! Mine sat in the hair algae and never touched it. They need the cream colored algae you see when your on the reef. Not green stuff. These fish should be outlawed from the trade.

They really should be outlawed. They are byfar the most interesting fish I have had. Kepping them is an other story. Their are a lot of threads of people losing them. Then, the one thread of some keeping them in a small tank and eating everything. This is not the norm. It's really too bad.

[cobra397]

mine also was looking pretty bad until i got some nori banded to a rock. now i just keep the nori rock full and hes getting fat and healthy.. actually saw him eat some flakes today for the first time. Peeps are right, more info should be given before purchasing these animals. more rock and older tank would of helped me alot of heartache.

[mksalt]

Saw a thread where a guy says his LM loves Hikari algae wafers.

[keef123]

i have had mine for probobly 7 months now.
He eats everything from flake, mysis, brine, formula 2, and seaweed salad.
I bought him to eat some of the algaes out of my tank, i see him pecking around at stuff but he never puts a dent into anything.
I had another one previously to this one, i had him for a couple months until he got to curious and went up a blower, but he also ate everything i fed him.

[pIankton]

This is actually very interesting to me. I've had mine for well over 3 years and is a total glutton. It will eat absolutely anything. I really had no idea that these little guys were considered a difficult fish to keep. I would hear the occasional story of them not eating, but they would eventually come around.

That's too bad... they really are one of the coolest fish I've ever had the experience of owning.