Blenny Death
 

I picked up a sweet lawnmower blenny in Wednesday night. I acclimated him, and then set him free in the tank. He found a little indent on a rock to chill on. I left for a day, and when I came home, he was on the floor. I have a partial cover on my tank, so it was some serious effort to get out of the water.

What are the chances that he was just a sad emo fish, or is it more likely that he was chased? I have a large-ish coral beauty (who isn't aggressive), a jerk damsel (likely the culprit), a beat-down damsel, a couple cardinals and two baby clowns (along with a handful of inverts). I'm thinking it's the 4 stripe damsel. He seemed to be being a jerk to the clowns, as well. Sump time out for him?

Blennies will do that. Same thing happened to my really nice starry blennie a couple years ago :(

I haven't had the greatest luck with these cool dudes either. First one got caught in a powerhead, 2nd did the carpet surfing thing & #3 stopped eating for no apparent reason & starved to death on me. Much as I'd like to have another, I think I'm jinxed with these guys, so I haven't tried a 4th. Not to say you shouldn't give it another try, but stuff happens & you lose critters. No sense looking for any culprits in your tank to give a time out in the sump if you did not witness the event. For my carpet surfer, I suspect it was my clownfish that may have startled him, but again, did not witness, so who knows what really caused him to jump.

Ive had a few of these surf.. not getting another till they are captive bred or I have a surf free tank..
One somehow switched tanks on me, though I think it swam up the return instead of jumping.

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Unfortunately most fishes will jump usually if they are startled or being chased I've lost a few to suicide by air the upswing to the story I guess is my cats get the occasional gourmet meal

And to add, many new fish to your tank are gonna be jumpy as they just went through hell to get to your tank after all the shipping/suppliers/shipping/whatever in between/LFS

They are gonna be upset and get ansy (sic)

Cover your tank and keep your critters alive :smile:

I like lawnmower blenny it has quite a character

my powder grey went carpet surfing when my uncle forgot to close the lid on the tank.

my bleny likes to eat algae on the glass. I hardly see him eating prepared food. once in a while is saw him eating from the nori clip. this guy can get really jumpy especially when i make sudden movement near the tank.