Lawnmower blenny attacking nassarius snail

[crankshaft]

Just as the title states my blenny keeps attacking my nassarius snail as of late. Now these guys have been together for about 3 months with no problems until now. I knew the lawnmower blenny can be territorial towards its own kind but a snail? The only thing I can think of is the nassarius has been venturing out more and on the back wall where the blenny does most of it eating, do you think he is just protecting his territory, even though he doesn't bother any one else. Just seems weird and wondering what you guys think.

 

[socalnano24]

do you feed your LMB algae sheets? My nassarius snails go on a feeding frenzy for the algae strips once the lights turn out, I'm sure my LMB takes notice, but the snails are usually sleeping all day, just a thought.

 

[crankshaft]

I haven't started putting in algea sheets in yet. The tank only "matured" about a month ago, so the mass of LHA is gone but there seems to be enough for the blenny to eat off of, and he still has a nice round belly on him. I wonder if they are fighting over food and I need to start adding in the sheets. Normally the nassarius does stay hidden during the day unless I'm feeding the suncorals, then he comes out to clean up the scraps.

 

[ibanez]

Nassarius are great sand sifters and do great at removing uneaten food. They can be a pain though, so I wouldn't worry about it because before long you'll be trying to kick them off your corals when they are trying to rip food out of the corals mouth. Often times, lawnmower blennies will pick algae off the shells of snails, but I doubt your nassarius has any algae on it.

 

[crankshaft]

Alrighty, Just figured I'd ask.