lawnmower blennie not mowing

[pohtr]

Aren't lawnmower blennies supposed to eat a whole lot of algae? I've never seen mine eat any. I've only had him for a week or so and he eats the fish food with gusto. However, he is not mowing any algae. Is this normal? I have a large quantity of hair? algae. Long green-brown looking & not pretty.

 

[boozzbro]

ive heard of them finding some other types of food and only eating those new types. This may have happened to yours.
try and avoid letting the fish food get down to him ont eh bottom of the tank. If hes not getting the fish food he will most likely go after the algae... or starve so give it a shot for a day or 2 but if that doesnt get him to get after tha algae you might want to look inot another method of getting rid of it.

 

[seannmelly]

My lawnmower only eats algae, won't even eat algae sheets off a clip!! Once in a while I'll see him pick at the hair algae, but he mostly only eats it off the glass and the rocks. And he's huge I want to say atleast 5" and very fat too...

 

[reefkprz]

he'll eat the algae slowly if better foods are available, hair algae is not a great source of nutrition. if you feed less he will probably eat more. Or (i had a similar problem with mine) add another grazer like a yellow tang and the blennie will go nuts for the algae after he sees the tang after his food. competition what a kicker.

 

[nigerbang]

Dang....He is fat..

 

[beadmaker]

mine used to eat a lot of algae and was as fat as the pic. But both him and my yellow tang seem to be on strike. They prefer flakes or brine shrimp. My lawn is getting really long.

 

[pohtr]

Wow he IS fat! Mine goes right up to the top & middle and just about snitches the food from even my clown who is about 3-4 " already. He's not sitting at the bottom waiting for leftovers! The blennie is big, around 3" maybe.
Maybe he was raised in a tank with no algae and has a learned eating habit of fish food?
I missed yesterday's feeding and today when I got home he was sitting front and center at the glass staring at me. when I fed them he swam right up and competed with all the other fish. He sure does have a lot of personality, even if he doesn't eat the algae.

 

[beadmaker]

mine begs for food too. He always shows up and gets the shrimp pellets that I try to send down for the dusky jawfish. (AKA pocket gopher fish) Talk about a sand stirring monster.

 

[seannmelly]

LOL, he definately is fat. But I rather see him big then too thin!! lol. Believe it or not, my mandarin is fat just like him, but only a tiny big smaller. I've never seen my lawnmower go after regular fish food. Maybe like someone above said, that he was in a tank for a while w/ no algae and just learned to survive off regular fish food. I don't know how good regular fish food is for them, when their diet is suppose to be algae.

 

[1journeyman]

Mine goes through phases... there are times when he swims through the water going after Mysis faster than my clowns.