Lawnmower Blennies - yes or no??

[lanman]

I could use something to clear some green hair algae out of my frag tank. So the question - do Lawn Mower Blennies actually eat the stuff - more often than not?

 

Do they have any bad habits I should be aware of? Coral nipping??

 

It would be all by itself in there. My 6-line went carpet surfing a month or so ago.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

bob

[jason the filter freak]

they can possibly nip corals, in my opinion they eat the stuff more often than not.

[epleeds]

i have one in my 75 for almost 2 years....never seen him nipping at anything other than the rock, but he does like to sit on my corals though...

[amos]

I had a lawnmower for about 3 years and he was ideal reef inhabitant. He never seemed to go for large, thick algae, but more preferred slime algae and just going over rocks that weren't covered yet. No issues with corals at all. I have had a starry blenny now for about 2 years and he's had the exact same behavior.

 

Jon

[GaryL]

the only bad habits i can think of is that they are a little territorial meaning that if a coral is near its hole(home whatever) it may knock it off or out of the territory. other than than they do leave lip marks on the glass if you are lacking on your glass scraping AND blennies are cool to watch.

[Sharkey18]

I have a lawnmower in QT right now who is a voracious hair algae eater.. I am putting algae covered powerheads from the display into the QT and he seriously strips them clean in a few hours.

 

I got him from Pristine Aquariums in Alexandria and as of last week they still had some from the same batch. I can wait to get him in the DT. I am running out of algae covered things to give him!!!

 

Laura

[Jan]

I've had mine for 2 weeks now. He's a character. Very fun to watch. He's got attitude. He eats long hair as well as the flat algae. He likes to hang around and scope out the place until he's hungry then he'll start to graze. He goes at it until he's had enough. Then he perches on a rock and watches everything. I've not seen him bother anything else. He and my very agressive possesive maroon clown fish (Joker) have stand off's every now but it's only when he gets too close to Jokers den. I haven't found any teeth/bite marks on Joker, yet. He has teeth and that's how he scrapes the algae off the rocks. He also likes coralline algae when there isn't enough green. But he much prefers the green stuff. Between him, my emerald crab, hermits and snails my tanks algae is definately in check.

[st9z]

I had one in my 90 gallon and boy that fish was fat! He ate everything algae, pellets, and frozen food. We called him Godzilla because he had a face only a mother could love

[Jan]

I've had mine for 2 weeks now. He's a character. Very fun to watch. He's got attitude. He eats long hair as well as the flat algae. He likes to hang around and scope out the place until he's hungry then he'll start to graze. He goes at it until he's had enough. Then he perches on a rock and watches everything. I've not seen him bother anything else. He and my very agressive possesive maroon clown fish (Joker) have stand off's every now but it's only when he gets too close to Jokers den. I haven't found any teeth/bite marks on Joker, yet. He has teeth and that's how he scrapes the algae off the rocks. He also likes coralline algae when there isn't enough green. But he much prefers the green stuff. Between him, my emerald crab, hermits and snails my tanks algae is definately in check.

Yikes, I've only had him 1 week.....seems longer, but it's only 1 week.

[droyal1110]

I have a Sea Hare we could trade for a frag or something. He seems happy in my tank, ate all my GHA but that was about a month ago, I thought he would starve but BRK said he would be so long as there was some algae in the tank. Maybe it could become the community Sea Hare frag swapping promoter =D

[zygote2k]

Instead of a drab looking Lawnmower Blenny, why not get a Dusky Blenny?. They come from the same family and are either black (adult) or yellow (juvenile). They never harm corals unless you have one of those corals covered in nuisance algae... If you go the route of the yellow one, be aware that some retailers will mis-label them as "Golden Tonga Blenny" and try to sell them for $80 plus. I bought mine at Marine Scene for $22.

Don't go the way of the Sea Hare- they will eat all the nuisance algae, then slowly starve to death.

[lanman]

Instead of a drab looking Lawnmower Blenny, why not get a Dusky Blenny?. They come from the same family and are either black (adult) or yellow (juvenile). They never harm corals unless you have one of those corals covered in nuisance algae... If you go the route of the yellow one, be aware that some retailers will mis-label them as "Golden Tonga Blenny" and try to sell them for $80 plus. I bought mine at Marine Scene for $22.

Don't go the way of the Sea Hare- they will eat all the nuisance algae, then slowly starve to death.

 

"The Highfin Blenny is also known as the Dusky Blenny, Brown Coral Blenny, Black Blenny, Black Sailfin Blenny, or Brown Combtooth Blenny. It can be found in a variety of colors including yellow, orange, brown, or black. Males are generally larger than females and experience a succession of color changes when breeding.

 

It requires a well-established tank of at least 50 gallons or larger with plenty of scattered rocks for perching and hiding, and live rock with microalgae growth on which to feed. The Highfin may nip at or eat some small-polyped stony corals and clam mantles. Only one Highfin Blenny per tank is recommended unless it is a breeding pair."

 

That one???

 

bob

[zygote2k]

"The Highfin Blenny is also known as the Dusky Blenny, Brown Coral Blenny, Black Blenny, Black Sailfin Blenny, or Brown Combtooth Blenny. It can be found in a variety of colors including yellow, orange, brown, or black. Males are generally larger than females and experience a succession of color changes when breeding.

 

It requires a well-established tank of at least 50 gallons or larger with plenty of scattered rocks for perching and hiding, and live rock with microalgae growth on which to feed. The Highfin may nip at or eat some small-polyped stony corals and clam mantles. Only one Highfin Blenny per tank is recommended unless it is a breeding pair."

 

That one???

 

bob

Don't know where that reference came from- it is obviously old. There is a distinct difference between Combtooth, Highfin, and Dusky blennies. There is only 1 type of Dusky Blenny- Atrosalarius fuscus. It is absolutely coral safe. If you buy one and it eats your coral, I'll buy the coral and the blenny from you. I suspect that you'll never have to sell it to me.

[lanman]

Don't know where that reference came from- it is obviously old. There is a distinct difference between Combtooth, Highfin, and Dusky blennies. There is only 1 type of Dusky Blenny- Atrosalarius fuscus. It is absolutely coral safe. If you buy one and it eats your coral, I'll buy the coral and the blenny from you. I suspect that you'll never have to sell it to me.

 

I might do better searching on the Latin name...

 

bob

[capsfan]

My lawnmower blenny never did his job. My tank looked like a mass of green.