sailfin blennies

[sir_dudeguy]

hey, what do you all think about sailfin blennies? What all do they need? (tank size and everything)

I'v just seen that reeftopia.com has them for like 12 bucks and at the lfs by me they're like 24 or something, and all the locals by me are thinking about doing another group buy from reeftopia so i'm thinkin of getting one. Would it be fine in a 40 breeder?

[edwing206]

here are some links http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=80&N=0 colored

http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=69&N=0 black

http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=94&N=0 and lawnmower

[pactrop]

They are really nice! their main diet is coral.

so they would do great in a nice 55 gal reef tank.

[a4twenty]

they have loads of personality and eat short GHA, what more can i say. i love mine, he's such a character

[sjm817]

I had one from Reeftopia. Cool little fish, lots of personality. I had to take him out and gave him to the LFS. The fish constantly turned my tank into "Operation Desert Storm". It was amazing how much digging and how much of a mess that little fish could make of a 90G tank.

[sir_dudeguy]

so they eat coral...and yet why do all those things say they're reef safe?

I'm thinking of getting the black one

[sjm817]

No, mine did not eat coral. It dug in the sand and made a mess of the tank.

[jiggly75]

I have never seen one eats coral! They love algae and mysis though.

[sir_dudeguy]

They are really nice! their main diet is coral

No, mine did not eat coral.
I have never seen one eats coral!

lol, so i'm gonna guess that they dont eat corals. I've never seen any other blenny eat corals anyways..
Also, i dont really go by liveaquaria's recommendations on most of their stuff, mostly cuz i dont agree with it...but it says that the black sailfin is "moderate" difficulty to keep, where the others are all easy...is that true, or are they all easy? And whats making the black one "moderate"?

[SuperNerd]

Eat coral? Not those ones. The ones that eat coral polyps are the leopard blennies. Don't get them confused yo. :lmao:
Here are three links with pics of the coral eating one. The third link has a bunch of pics of blennies including the coral eating one (scroll down to "The Coral Eater: Exallias (one species, thank goodness)" ).
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/ebrevis.htm

http://www.metridium.com/palau/blenny.html

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/trublennies.htm

[SuperNerd]

To answer your question sir dudeguy...they just need a constant supply of micro and macroalgae to eat. They will go after flakes as well but you should be able to provide the vast majority of their food by growing it in your tank. :)

[sir_dudeguy]

thanks nerd ;) I didnt think they ate corals. And i've never had any problems growing algae in my tanks lol (i'd like to see someone who CANT grow algae haha), but on the off chance that it eats all the hair algae...is there like an algae pellet/leaf/whatever that i can just feed it?

[pactrop]

Sorry must be some kind of mix up. I guess that is why we have scientific names. In Hawaii we call the Exallias brevis the sailfin blenny (aka. shortbodied, spotted coral, leopard blenny). they are beautiful, one of the most interesting blennies out there but feed exclusivly on coral.

[pactrop]

The lawnmower blennies are great and they will eat algae. If that is what you were talking about then you are totally safe. no way they are going to eat coral. just make sure you arent getting a Exallias brevis.

[a4twenty]

they have been know to nip at clams and SPS but i think that's more to get at the micro algae growing on them. They do not eat coral , i thought that was a joke from above ?!?!?

they don't like long hair algae, but rather very short new algae growth. mine also eats the Hikari tropical algae wafers ( actually everyone in the tank likes those )and some frozen algae cubes. but i'm with you there is loads of micro for him to graze on.

[sir_dudeguy]

ok thanks all :) next fish is gonna be a black sailfin blenny (lol..my fish theme color seems to be black now :) i already got a pair of black percs in there and now i'm gonna get a black sailfin).

Couple quick questions before i jump guns and order one...do they dig/burrow in the sand much? I've got a pretty deep sand bed..about 4 or so inches. Hate for him to make a rock slide....

But so if i run out of algae (real live algae) then those hikary algae wafers would be perfectly fine?

pactrop...its all good. I'm with you..i hate common names...blue tangs for example. It seems that most people just call them blue tangs, but it seems more and more are calling them hippo tangs, blue hippo tangs, blue surgeonfish, hippo seargeon fish, etc...i've got no problem with it cuz i know they're the same, but i'm sure that newbies probably get quite confused from stuff like that (as i still do sometimes)
The only problem is....i'm terrible w/scientific names and i can never remember them lol.

[a4twenty]

i can't say for sure about the black ones but my sailfin doesn't dig at all. they may look like a goby, but they like hoping around on the rock work rather than sand.

yeah the wafers work ( i break them into smaller chips ), if he can get to them before the crabs do. others say to use crushed nori but i haven't tried yet. guess i'm just lucky to have so much micro algae :rolleye1:

[sir_dudeguy]

ok thanks! :) I'll more than likely order one from reeftopia if they do that group buy again.
I'm not getting any crabs in this tank so i wont even worry about that...i may get an emerald or 2 later on, but i doubt it...will cleaner shrimp take those too?

And is it just me, or do those little antennas that the black ones have look funny? lol.

thanks

[SuperNerd]

I have the black one in your second link, sir_dudeguy. Mine doesn't have any antennas on its head though. :)

[sir_dudeguy]

hm..maybe they dont all have it? or maybe its like a male/female thing???
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.scubadivingbelize.com/grc/ss/sb10.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.scubadivingbelize.com/ss/sb10.html&h=259&w=400&sz=21&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=OuSrwNG50biTJM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsailfin%2Bblenny%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

thats the one i'm talkin about.
or maybe they're just different kinds, and more than one is black(ish)?
http://www.seasaba.com/news/MichaelSailFinMOWWeb.jpg

[SuperNerd]

lol :lmao: As far as I know the ones you just posted are not the algae eating kind. :) The ones in edwing206's post eat algae.

[sir_dudeguy]

lol. Who knows. I guess i'll get what i get and like it either way ;)

[pactrop]

a4twenty, they shouldnt dig in the sand bed. the algae eating blennies, like the zebra blenny are found in tidepools. they dont really hang around sand. all they do in the wild is sit on the rocks eat algae and jump from pool to pool.

A little FYI, They have a reputation for having an amazing ability to jump from one pool to another and not hit dry rock. I have collected some and had them jump out of the bucket and land 2 feet away into another bucket of water. I don't believe any studies have been done on how they know there is another body of water there but they are pretty amazing. maybe the antennas (cirri) have something to do with it. but make sure you keep a lid on your tank.

[sir_dudeguy]

wow thats crazy! i'll rmember to not keep any water by the tank lol.

[SuperNerd]

Never seen my blenny jump, but flasher wrasses jump too. Mine leaped about two feet into my left eye from a bucket of water less than 6 inches deep.

[sir_dudeguy]

lol crazy. I'm gonna be rigging up some fishing line to cover my tank so jumpers dont get out. I like the benefits of running open top (and i hate the negatives of having a glass/plastic cover)