Lawnmower Blenny

[Tau2301]

Hi, I am think about adding a Lawnmower Blenny to my tank. Does any one have any experiance with one of these?

I have Scooter Blenny - any forseeable conflicts?

Other fish include; Yellow Tang, 2-Percula Clowns, Six Line Wrasse

For corals I have; Biege Leather, Colt, Pipe Organ, & and the ever present Xenia.

Bubble Tip Anemone

No clams.

Seem to have a good supply of microalgae lately - must be the good Calgary water.

TIA

[Troy F]

Make sure it's accepting prepared foods before you bring him home. My experience is that they eat the filamentous algae (like the stuff growing on your glass) rather than the hair alga and others. I think they're an awesome addition with lots of character. Supplement his feeding with nori.

[Delphinus]

I picked up a lawnmower blenny a few months ago.

SHy little guy, he sure doesn't like to be looked at. Whenever he sees me, he flies off and disappears. As such I have yet to see him eat prepared foods although my wife says she saw him "clean" some of the mysis and other food off the powerhead strainers.

At any rate, he was barely 1.5" when I got him, now he is an almost astounding 4.5". And he has a large potbelly. (Looks just like StirCrazy's fish in the picture forum ... thread titled something like "30% of people are obese ... so is my fish" from about a month or two ago.) So he is getting something to eat.

If I let the fuzz grow on my front glass then the glass will be marked with the tell tale "kiss marks" from him munching off the glass.

All in all, he is a very entertaining fish.

If you opt to get one, he (she?) will need a lot of hidey holes in the rock. They seem to really enjoy darting in and out of caves and such.

When I asked about this fish, somone (I think it was Troy) warned me that this is a potential jumper. After having one myself, I totally beleive it. This fish is easily spooked. So be wary, if you have an open top this could be a concern. Mine hasn't jumped (or if he has, he fell back in because I have an enclosed canopy). But I do have to approach my tank slowly if I want to get a look at him. He's usually in a cave or whatnot and he blends in very well. They do seem to chameleon their colours somewhat so man do they ever blend in.

I named mine "Rygel" because he looks exactly like "Rygel" on "Farscape." I'm probably the only person who watches this show, nobody ever gets the joke when I tell them "and there's Rygel!" .. Oh well.

I haven't noticed mine go after the nori I put in the tank for him. However the nori is usually gone within a day or two. Whether that's because someone is eating it, or, it's just disintegrating, I'm not sure.

With my limited experience with scooter blennies, I can't imagine any fish not getting along with scooters. Scooters seem to evade notice by other fish. With that said, if your scooter is eating only live food, I have noticed a definite decrease in my 'pod population since the addition of my lawnmower .... I never see him eat so I can't be 100% certain that he's eating pods .... but where did they go? So I don't know what to make of that. It could be that my tank had an unusually high pod population to begin with and since then it has settled into a more sustainable number. There are too many variables at play to really know what's happened there.

Note that if you want a lawnmower to take care of algae ... I don't know if they eat hair algae. From what I understand they go for the "fuzzy" stuff.

[Tau2301]

Tony, I am worried by the fact that the pod population in your tank has decreased since adding the LM Blenny. As I also have a six-line wrasse I don't wish to put to much of a burden on my pod population.

All my fish eat perpared foods and especially like the greasy mysis. Maybe that is part of my alage bloom problem.

My marine fish manual tells me that they are vegans. Hanging out at the LFS to see if they eat prepared foods is OK, but I don't have all day to do so.

Maybe I should get my LMB from Tails & Scales, if they have one, as all the fish that I have gotten from them have always taken prepared foods.

I'm rambling, thanks for the help all.

Did I just talk myself out of a fish?

[StirCrazy]

Tony, I am worried by the fact that the pod population in your tank has decreased since adding the LM Blenny. As I also have a six-line wrasse I don't wish to put to much of a burden on my pod population.



My pod population has increased sence I got mine. he will eat dryed foods and frozen plankton that I feed as well as Nori like a pig, when he is munching between meals he strictly eats film algae.. I usaly leave one side of the tank glass for a few days and when I come home there are "Kiss marks" all over the glass.

Steve

[FishGeek]

I have one and mine isn't as shy as Tony's. He just perches on my cabbage coral and looks out the aquarium right back at me. I have never seen him eat prepared foods before but is always picking off the rocks and glass. He sort of looks like he is banging his head against the glass when he eats. I have to say he is the most entertaining fish to watch in my tank. As for pod population, it seem squite low but I think that is because of my 6 line wrasse rather than my lawn mower blenny. And for him getting along with other fish, Nobody bothers him and he bothers nobody. And as for algae, he seems to eat only the slime or very short algea and not the longer varieties. If you want a very good algea eater, get a team of emerald crabs. they've done wonders for my 72 gal.

Simon

[Tau2301]

Well I went and bought the LMB. Couldn't resist. He's huge, about 4" end to end. Look like a grizzled old man. Wonderful fish.

My yellow tang wasn't too impressed as the LMB went and tried out his hiding spot first. Must be OK now as the LMB has moved on. Feed the tank some flake food and the LMB took what landed on the rocks.

So far, so good.

I also picked up a porcelain crab. Pretty dull as it just hides.

The best part of the purchase is that I ran into Tony and Linda at the LFS. We talked so long that the CSAs (Coustomer Service Assistants) must of asked us 4 times if they could help us. I think we should have our next meeting at a LFS and then go for coffee or something.

The selection at Big Al's is nothing less than spectacular this time around.

I am tempted to go back anf purchase a Potters (Rusty) Angel. Any thoughts on that idea.

[Delphinus]

Apparently there is such thing as a "rusty angelfish" as well as a "potters angelfish".

This is what I could find on the rusty:
http://www.exotictropicals.com/encyclo/marine/angels/rusty.htm

I'd sure like to know more about them too. Very tempting..

[Tau2301]

Tony, you are right as usual. The Potters is from Hawai and the Rusty is from the Indo-Pacific.

The distructive behaviour is probably their tendancy to nip at corals.

I would think if they are well fed they may not nip.

According to Scott Michael's Marine Fish the Potters is ranked as a green/yellow, whereas the Rusty is ranked as a yellow for aquarium suitability.

Yellow = these species are moderately hardy, with most individuals acclimating to the home aquarium if special care is provided.

Green/Yellow = these species are generally durable and hardy, with most individuals acclimating to the home aquarium.

[chicki]

So hows yours doing Kim? Probably still pretty shy? Did you go to Big Al's in Calgary (not Edmonton) right.

[Tau2301]

I got mine at Big Al's in Calgary. Very impressed with the quality of their fish.

My LMB isn't to shy. Glides around the tank perching on various rocks and corals to have a look see. Comes to the front of the tank when I am in the room. Very interesting behaviours.

So how is your LMB doing?

[chicki]

So far so good, I wish that you could keep two together. I've been told that they will kill each other? how the heck do they reproduce then?? :D