lawnmower blemmy help

[Radicaljbr]

I am having trouble keeping lawnmower blemmies.

Do they require anything special that I am missing. I just lost my 4th one last night after a week.

He was out munching on algea last night.

Everytime I get one they last no more than a month. All other fish and inverts are fine.

Water is fine.

Nothing I can think of that would attach it. I have 1 emarld crab and no others. The only other fish I have is a yellow tang and he is fine.

[Cristi]

Do your lawnmower blennys disappear or do you actually find them dead in your tank?

[kactusficus]

Lawnmower blennies are very hard to keep if you don't have enough algae for them. And they can be some big gluttons! Be careful, they do'nt eat any kind of algae... Maybe the kind of algae you have in your tank are not the one the blenny likes to eat... So you'll have the impression you have enough food for the blenny in your tank, but actually you don't. Did you check on their regular diet and specie of algae in some database? If you don't have enough algae for them, you should buy some Nori and spirulina flakes and pellets, that'll be some good food to maintain your blenny.

Please tell us more about the algea you have in your tank, how much you have (picture?) and how did you find your blennies dead, as Cristi asked?

[Radicaljbr]

OK...yesterday, I saw the little guy wedged in between two rocks at the bottom of my tank. I have a deep 27" tank and it was hard to get to, but I seperated the two rocks and he did not move one bit. I watched him for about an hour and he never moved and looked as though he was not breathing. This was at 10:00AM.

Later that night at around 10:00PM, I all the sudden saw him bounce from one rock to another. I jumped up and shouted with glee!!!!!!!

:)

Anyway, I am amazed that he is actually alive.

I have a ton of hair algea and he has been going to town on it along with my sea hare. The sea hair I know I will have to get rid of once the algea is gone (next week), but what about the blemmy?

I thought they ate coraline algea as well.

[Cristi]

Glad to hear your found your blenny alive and well. Hopefully you will be able to get it to eat prepared foods after it is out of hair algae. You can try feeding it now. They do not eat coraline algae, though. My blenny eats just about anything I feed the fish. I give him mostly Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 frozen. He also eats Formula 1 and 2 pellets as well as Formula 1 frozen. And he eats mysis shrimp. Some people have luck with nori or algae sheets.
Good luck!

[Radicaljbr]

Well, since I saw him last night at around 10 for only about second, I have not seen him since.

So I am thinking there must be something wrong with him. He has never hid for a whole day.

[joyski58]

The lawnmower blenny is one of my favorite fish, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I can't keep them. I can't take those unexplained deaths. I tried about 4 before giving up. Some kept longer than others but ended up with swollen bellies before dying, which no one could explain. They would disappear in the rocks for days before dying. I remember one dashing out of the rocks after being gone for a couple of days, and swimming in circles, tail to head. It was pitiful.

[sangraal]

I got one when I had hair algae problem longtime ago(10months or so) thought I will lose him after the hair algae was gone, But he was still kicking even after the algae was gone months before, and getting fat.... Amazed I started to watch him closely, couple of months ago and found him getting his portion of daily servings of nori from the clips that i feed my tang with.
I love this guys....

[rockethead]

I have a lawnmower blenny in my tank and he eats the flake food I put in for my other fish.