Lawnmower Blenny is starving

[Delphinus]

Nori, spirulina flakes and pellets, and mysis, over here .... nori is probably his #1 favourite. I keep my nori rolled around a piece of PVC attached to a length of fishing line (nori held fast by an elastic). Between the tang and lawnmower, a half sheet of nori is devoured within a few hours, tops.

Good luck!

[justaguy]

Originally Posted by rcipema

That's great. Bloodworms are a far better source of protein than Nori. So he would not have to eat as much, and poop less too.

this is not great realy.. when you think about it the digestive system of this cute little fish is based on high volume low proteen food, you could actualy be doing more harm than good by feeding it to much high proteen food.

Jeff

[christyf5]

Jeff has a point here guys. Lawnmowers are herbivores, they probably don't have a digestive system set up for meat protein. You ever fed meat to a cow? It just comes out the other end pretty much undigested, they don't have the enzymes required as they are herbivores. Ever seen a cat eat grass? There is a reason they barf it up. They can't digest it, wrong enzymes because they are carnivores. Any protein found in nori would have a different chemical makeup than animal based proteins. I for one would think that plant based proteins would be a lot better and easier to digest for the fish. He may go nuts for bloodworms, but I would imagine he has quite the gut ache after eating it.

JMO,
Christy

[ganowicki]

well, I have tried Nori, Spirulina algae disks and freshly hatched brine shrimp. he doesn't seem to be eating any of it. I guess we will see in the next few days if he survives or not. Thanks for all the advice. Wish me luck.[/quote]

[Michael]

My blennie likes capulara. I also try to feed him bloodworms...but he never seems to find them (even if I bury them in the sand...peppermint shrimp get to them first).

I will try Nori also...


Michael

[ganowicki]

Well my blennie still is not eating!!!!! I have tried everything suggested to me and he still won't eat anything. He is skin and bones so I don't think he will last very long. man this sucks, I hate watching him die slowly. If anybody wants a challenge of trying to get him to eat, he is all yours.

[christyf5]

How long has it been since you last saw him eat??

[Delphinus]

I don't know if this will help or not, but here goes.

When I purchased my lawnmower blenny, almost a year ago, he was a tiny little guy (about 1.5" long). I never saw him eat for ... I don't remember exactly, but it was easily 4-5 months before I ever saw him accept any offered, prepared foods. I would easily have beleived that he was not eating, except for the fact that he grew from 1.5" to 3" and then to 4" and then to 5" in very short order during this time.

Now, and here is the part that might seem to defy the claim that they are herbivores only .... during this 4-5 month period, my pod population in the tank crashed. I mean there were literally no copepods, decapods, isopods, .... none. Whereas usually when you shine a flashlight into the tank after lights out, and you see the rockwork is just crawling/swimming with bugs ... my tank had none.

I'm speculating that there was a time he only ate the bugs. I can't conclusively pinpoint the lawnmower as the cause behind the copepod population falling, but ... further food for thought is that the lawnmower blenny can now be seen eating nori on a daily basis, he is considerably larger and extremely fat. And my pods have returned. Thus, it kind of suggests to me that there might be a period of time where these fish need to adapt to offered foods. Thus .... if this is true, you need to ensure you have enough pods to be able to sustain the fish during that phase which may last several months. If not .... you may need to consider letting the fish go into a tank where this is a stronger possibility.

As they are herbivores, you probably need to be continuing to offer nori.

I found I needed to roll up my nori over a piece of PVC before he would take to it; he seemed to have no interest in a flat sheet of nori swaying in the breeze held fast by clip. He seems to need to be able to have a hard surface under the nori to be able to take any. Mine will sometimes go after free-floating foods, but I have to admit I very rarely ever see this. I have to ensure that there is a constant supply of nori in the tank.

I found mine also took several months to get used to the idea of a human walking next to the tank. Thus, perhaps if he is not taking to your nori, perhaps there is too much activity in the room that is spooking him from staying away from the nori. If this is the case, consider backing off and standing very still when feeding. Or perhaps there is too much tank activity .... are there aggressive or very active tankmakes in the tank? Perhaps he simply is too nervous to approach the nori, because it is in a spot that is too exposed.

I should mention I still only rarely see mine eating. But at least I know that he is, because he is an amazingly fat little fish. I have to sit back and watch the tank for a long period before I see him come out of hiding and start mowing down the offered nori.

These are only my opinions and speculations but maybe there is something in here that will give you something to go on.

PS. I really must reiterate the need for rolling up the nori over a piece of PVC or tubing or something, much like rolling up toilet paper over a toilet paper tube. A piece of nori floating around is not really going to work for this fish (IMHO). They are grazers of short fuzzy type algae, not really grazers of leafy algaes.

[christyf5]

Gord, if its doing that badly PM me and I'll come get it and give it a try.

Christy

[ganowicki]

I have seen him graze on the rocks here and there. he will not touch the film algae, hair algae or anything prepared. I think because my tank is a 33 gal. it probably isn't big enough for him.