Lawnmower Blenny Troubles

[sailfin]

I have now had two lawnmower blennies die on me. They are fat and eating flake food when I get them. After a couple of months in my tank they get paper thin and die. I put nori in the tank and everything. My SPS amd LPS corals are doing fine. I also have a powder brown tang and a six line wrasse, both of which are doing fine as well.
Any thoughts??
:thinking:

 

[sailfin]

No one?? :notsure:

 

[jeremyglen]

Lawnmower blennies are algea eaters. Their main diet is the micro algae that grows on the live rock and the sides of your tank. I have one that got real fat when he was first introduced to the tank and then he got really thin once the algae stopped growing as well in the tank. He took to the frozen food I am feeding the other fish in the tank. Now he is fat all the time because I increased my bioload again so there is micro algae for him to forage. Sorry you lost two so quickly. I would suggest not purchasing one since it seems you don't have enough algae to support them for long. I would go out and get another member of the blenny family for that wonderful personality, but one that doesn't rely on algae as heavily.

 

[beckzilla]

If you want to keep one properly, feed him Sea Veggies which is a sheet form of algae. Put it on a feeder clip preferably with a netting attachment to keep the sheets in place. My Achilles Tang and LMB love it and are growing like crazy. You can get it at ***** and it is labeled as Julian Springs Sea Veggies Green or Purple Seaweed.

 

[sailfin]

Thanks for the posts guys.

 

[loopy]

I agree, I use the Sea Veggies too, he loves it. Also, he will always try to get his share of the mysis shrimp and he loves shrimp pellets. I have a good bit of brown algea, and he cleans that up....then eats the other stuff while he waits for more brown algea. He is fat and healthy. Give it some time, then try again, or like adviced, try something else....but don't get frustrated....I'm sure you'll have better luck, let some algae grow, and make sure you get a nice fat one if you do get another...so he has plenty of time to get used to the clip and see weed, takes them a while to take it, scares them at first I think. Good luck!!!
BTW...did the lfs tell you he ate flake food, or did you actually SEE him eat it, mine never takes flake food. Just wondering, lfs's don't always know, they assume.