Do lawmower blennies and tuxedo urchins compete for food?

[LeanneP]

I've had a lawnmower blenny for about 3 months and he has always been really fat by the end of the day from eating. I bought a tuxedo urchin about a month ago and I've noticed that the blenny is getting skinny now. Is the urchin eating all his food? I have lots of coraline algae on the rocks and there is algae on the glass but I am worried he isn't getting enough food now. I've tried feeding him algae sheets but he not interested. Do they normally eat coraline algae?

Leanne P

[Enigma]

Tuxedo urchins eat almost all algae: not just coralline algae. Mine seems to prefer green hair algae over everything else (though it does eat the other stuff). I would expect that your urchin is depleting your blenny's supply of food.

[MKLKT]

Depends on how big your tank is, the blenny wouldn't be eating the coralline so far as I know but they will compete on softer algae. The urchin has tough teeth and can chew through quite a bit.

[FitoPharmer]

Do you feed nori to your tank?

When I fed nori to my tangs the lawnmower blenny quickly caught on, and was always plump after that discovery.

[LeanneP]

Yes, I feed red and green nori sheets to my tang and rabbit fish and have tried putting sheets under rocks where the blenny goes but he is not interested. I haven't been having the lights on as much as I usually do as my chiller is having issues so I am hoping that once I get things sorted out he will have enough to eat again. There was a bunch of algae o nthe power head so I turned it off and he had a good feast on it.

Leanne