Lawnmower Blenny is starving

[ganowicki]

I am having a heck of a time feeding my lawnmower blenny. I see him grazing but he is getting skinner by the day. Do they eat hair algae? or just film algae. What can I give him as a suppliment to his grazing.

[Bob I]

I know the one owned by Tony here in Calgary eats Nori.

[Nullig]

We feed ours Nori... he loves it. He also goes crazy for bloodworms. Don't know why, but he does.

Noel

[Troy F]

Good tip Bob. Salarius fasciatus doesn't have the best survival rate in captivity due mostly to starvation. Another thing you could try would be live brine shrimp to get the feeding response started.

This is one of those species that you have to ensure is feeding prepared foods at the store before you bring it home.

[Bob I]

We feed ours Nori... he loves it. He also goes crazy for bloodworms. Don't know why, but he does.

Noel

Just a question. Is that fozen bloodworms??

[BCOrchidGuy]

Nori saves the day again..

Have you tried any of the prepared algae/seaweed strips?

[christyf5]

I used to have a ton of algae growing for mine, after I got a kole tang to help out with the algae I didn't have alot of food for them. I started supplementing with spirulina tablets. They are round tablets that you can stick onto the glass and then the fish just come to feed on them (I used Nutrafin but OSI makes them too). They work great. Make sure you feed them often. Lawnmower blennies are like cows, they eat all day and well, ahem, they poop all day too ;) However, they will starve if they don't have enough to eat.

Christy :)

[Nullig]

Yeah, frozen bloodworms... he loves 'em. He goes absolutely berzerk within seconds of it hitting the water.

Noel

[Bob I]

Yeah, frozen bloodworms... he loves 'em. He goes absolutely berzerk within seconds of it hitting the water.

Noel

That's great. Bloodworms are a far better source of protein than Nori. So he would not have to eat as much, and poop less too. :D :D

[Tau2301]

Nori and spirulina flakes, disks, and pellets - eats them all.

[Delphinus]

Nori, spirulina flakes and pellets, and mysis, over here .... nori is probably his #1 favourite. I keep my nori rolled around a piece of PVC attached to a length of fishing line (nori held fast by an elastic). Between the tang and lawnmower, a half sheet of nori is devoured within a few hours, tops.

Good luck!

[justaguy]

That's great. Bloodworms are a far better source of protein than Nori. So he would not have to eat as much, and poop less too. :D :D

this is not great realy.. when you think about it the digestive system of this cute little fish is based on high volume low proteen food, you could actualy be doing more harm than good by feeding it to much high proteen food.

Jeff

[christyf5]

Jeff has a point here guys. Lawnmowers are herbivores, they probably don't have a digestive system set up for meat protein. You ever fed meat to a cow? It just comes out the other end pretty much undigested, they don't have the enzymes required as they are herbivores. Ever seen a cat eat grass? There is a reason they barf it up. They can't digest it, wrong enzymes because they are carnivores. Any protein found in nori would have a different chemical makeup than animal based proteins. I for one would think that plant based proteins would be a lot better and easier to digest for the fish. He may go nuts for bloodworms, but I would imagine he has quite the gut ache after eating it.

JMO,
Christy :)

[ganowicki]

well, I have tried Nori, Spirulina algae disks and freshly hatched brine shrimp. he doesn't seem to be eating any of it. I guess we will see in the next few days if he survives or not. Thanks for all the advice. Wish me luck.[/quote]

[Michael]

My blennie likes capulara. I also try to feed him bloodworms...but he never seems to find them (even if I bury them in the sand...peppermint shrimp get to them first).

I will try Nori also...


Michael

[ganowicki]

Well my blennie still is not eating!!!!! :sad: :sad: I have tried everything suggested to me and he still won't eat anything. He is skin and bones so I don't think he will last very long. man this sucks, I hate watching him die slowly. If anybody wants a challenge of trying to get him to eat, he is all yours.

[christyf5]

How long has it been since you last saw him eat??

[Delphinus]

I don't know if this will help or not, but here goes.

When I purchased my lawnmower blenny, almost a year ago, he was a tiny little guy (about 1.5" long). I never saw him eat for ... I don't remember exactly, but it was easily 4-5 months before I ever saw him accept any offered, prepared foods. I would easily have beleived that he was not eating, except for the fact that he grew from 1.5" to 3" and then to 4" and then to 5" in very short order during this time.

Now, and here is the part that might seem to defy the claim that they are herbivores only .... during this 4-5 month period, my pod population in the tank crashed. I mean there were literally no copepods, decapods, isopods, .... none. Whereas usually when you shine a flashlight into the tank after lights out, and you see the rockwork is just crawling/swimming with bugs ... my tank had none.

I'm speculating that there was a time he only ate the bugs. I can't conclusively pinpoint the lawnmower as the cause behind the copepod population falling, but ... further food for thought is that the lawnmower blenny can now be seen eating nori on a daily basis, he is considerably larger and extremely fat. And my pods have returned. Thus, it kind of suggests to me that there might be a period of time where these fish need to adapt to offered foods. Thus .... if this is true, you need to ensure you have enough pods to be able to sustain the fish during that phase which may last several months. If not .... you may need to consider letting the fish go into a tank where this is a stronger possibility.

As they are herbivores, you probably need to be continuing to offer nori.

I found I needed to roll up my nori over a piece of PVC before he would take to it; he seemed to have no interest in a flat sheet of nori swaying in the breeze held fast by clip. He seems to need to be able to have a hard surface under the nori to be able to take any. Mine will sometimes go after free-floating foods, but I have to admit I very rarely ever see this. I have to ensure that there is a constant supply of nori in the tank.

I found mine also took several months to get used to the idea of a human walking next to the tank. Thus, perhaps if he is not taking to your nori, perhaps there is too much activity in the room that is spooking him from staying away from the nori. If this is the case, consider backing off and standing very still when feeding. Or perhaps there is too much tank activity .... are there aggressive or very active tankmakes in the tank? Perhaps he simply is too nervous to approach the nori, because it is in a spot that is too exposed.

I should mention I still only rarely see mine eating. But at least I know that he is, because he is an amazingly fat little fish. I have to sit back and watch the tank for a long period before I see him come out of hiding and start mowing down the offered nori.

These are only my opinions and speculations but maybe there is something in here that will give you something to go on.

PS. I really must reiterate the need for rolling up the nori over a piece of PVC or tubing or something, much like rolling up toilet paper over a toilet paper tube. A piece of nori floating around is not really going to work for this fish (IMHO). They are grazers of short fuzzy type algae, not really grazers of leafy algaes.

[christyf5]

Gord, if its doing that badly PM me and I'll come get it and give it a try.

Christy :)

[ganowicki]

I have seen him graze on the rocks here and there. he will not touch the film algae, hair algae or anything prepared. I think because my tank is a 33 gal. it probably isn't big enough for him.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Delphinus, it is my understanding that the pod population will rise and fall over a period of time. My lawnmower doesn't seem to be interested in the pods, or brine shrimp etc but he does go for hair algae and Nori type things.

[christyf5]

Well its my understanding that pods thrive in algae (its quiet and protected there) so if a lawnmower comes along and mows it down not only do you lose habitat for pods but the pods that were in the algae have been eaten as well. The lawnmower could contribute to your pod depletion indirectly I would think.

Christy :)

[BCOrchidGuy]

Yeah that makes sense.. although I have a massive pod population in my main tank and just a little algae, my lawnmower blenny just doesn't seem to go after the pods. In my refugium the rocks are moving with pods, amphipods and copepods and a bunch of tiny things and even some big things... snails too... When I put in some brineshrimp bloodworms etc the refugium actually goes nuts with life, I have a healthy growth of calupera in there too.

[Delphinus]

Hi BCOG, I'm no newby... (what I mean is) I've seen population fluctuations, espescially true of new tanks.. but this was not one of those fluctuations. I mean, something decimated them. No, I can't conclusively prove the lawnmower was at cause. It was just interesting timing. I was pointing that out as food for thought.

I don't know the hit and miss ratio with these guys in terms of taking to prepared foods.

I don't know what else to suggest. Like I said, I was just trying to offer food for thought to help Gord out...

[ganowicki]

Thanks for everything guys. Christyf5 is going to give this guy a new home and see if he will eat for her.
Thanks Christyf5

[BCOrchidGuy]

Delphinus, by no means did I mean to suggest that you weren't experienced, that was the furthest thing from my mind when I made that post, it was as much a question as anything.

I've watched my pod population go crazy since there are no fish in the main tank except that lawnmower blenny, my pods though may be coming from my refugium.

Sorry for any offense you took to what I said, I too was trying to help.

[Canadian Man]

Maybe the are omnivorous not just herbrevours(sorry about spelling :confused: )

[Delphinus]

BCOG, no worries, it was late, and I'm dumb... What I really meant to say was that, while there are natural spikes in populations, this seemed to me to be more than one of those, as usually you still see some. What I really noticed, was that 1) the lawnmower took a while to adapt to taking prepared foods, during this time if he was eating at all, or not, is unclear to me as I never witnessed any eating on his part. 2) He did manage to grow, and grow subtantially I thought, so I'm thinking he was eating after all {just not sure what he was eating ... perhaps there was enough algae on the rocks}. 3) Now that I see him eat nori, so there's no doubt in my mind he is now eating (and he's huuuuuge), and my pods have come back.

It very likely is coincidence though. There are just so many different things going on it's really hard to keep track, and it's easy to jump to conclusions thinking that something is a cause and effect relationship when in fact it's really something quite different.

On the herbivore/omnivore question .... On very rare occasions I have seen my lawnmower chase down a piece of mysis that happens to float by when I feed. Other times, pieces of mysis will bump him in the face and he'll take no notice. So ... I don't know. Maybe they are only "slightly omniverous" (i.e., if they're hungry enough they'll consider it)??

Ganowicki, I do hope the fish in question starts to eat. How is he looking? Is his stomach pinched in?

[christyf5]

Hi Tony,
I picked up the fish from ganowicki yesterday. Yes his stomach is pinched in. I saw him take a go at some algae on the back glass so I am hopeful but he is rather sluggish and doesn't have much energy it seems after not eating for so long. I'll keep you guys posted on his progress.

Christy :)

[BCOrchidGuy]

Okay this is going to sound strange but... I read that if you get a fish that is not eating a good way to get its strength back is to add some fuctose to the water, the sugars help the fish to gain strength while it is being treated...... sounds strange I know..

As far as pods go, I have soooo many it is like a circus show in my refugium, oddly enough they are predatory... I watched as a bunch of smaller pods were on a bit of frozen blood worm, a larger pod caught two of the small ones and consumed them.... nasty