Lawnmower Blenny is starving

[BCOrchidGuy]

Delphinus, it is my understanding that the pod population will rise and fall over a period of time. My lawnmower doesn't seem to be interested in the pods, or brine shrimp etc but he does go for hair algae and Nori type things.

[christyf5]

Well its my understanding that pods thrive in algae (its quiet and protected there) so if a lawnmower comes along and mows it down not only do you lose habitat for pods but the pods that were in the algae have been eaten as well. The lawnmower could contribute to your pod depletion indirectly I would think.

Christy

[BCOrchidGuy]

Yeah that makes sense.. although I have a massive pod population in my main tank and just a little algae, my lawnmower blenny just doesn't seem to go after the pods. In my refugium the rocks are moving with pods, amphipods and copepods and a bunch of tiny things and even some big things... snails too... When I put in some brineshrimp bloodworms etc the refugium actually goes nuts with life, I have a healthy growth of calupera in there too.

[Delphinus]

Hi BCOG, I'm no newby... (what I mean is) I've seen population fluctuations, espescially true of new tanks.. but this was not one of those fluctuations. I mean, something decimated them. No, I can't conclusively prove the lawnmower was at cause. It was just interesting timing. I was pointing that out as food for thought.

I don't know the hit and miss ratio with these guys in terms of taking to prepared foods.

I don't know what else to suggest. Like I said, I was just trying to offer food for thought to help Gord out...

[ganowicki]

Thanks for everything guys. Christyf5 is going to give this guy a new home and see if he will eat for her.
Thanks Christyf5

[BCOrchidGuy]

Delphinus, by no means did I mean to suggest that you weren't experienced, that was the furthest thing from my mind when I made that post, it was as much a question as anything.

I've watched my pod population go crazy since there are no fish in the main tank except that lawnmower blenny, my pods though may be coming from my refugium.

Sorry for any offense you took to what I said, I too was trying to help.

[Canadian Man]

Maybe the are omnivorous not just herbrevours(sorry about spelling )

[Delphinus]

BCOG, no worries, it was late, and I'm dumb... What I really meant to say was that, while there are natural spikes in populations, this seemed to me to be more than one of those, as usually you still see some. What I really noticed, was that 1) the lawnmower took a while to adapt to taking prepared foods, during this time if he was eating at all, or not, is unclear to me as I never witnessed any eating on his part. 2) He did manage to grow, and grow subtantially I thought, so I'm thinking he was eating after all {just not sure what he was eating ... perhaps there was enough algae on the rocks}. 3) Now that I see him eat nori, so there's no doubt in my mind he is now eating (and he's huuuuuge), and my pods have come back.

It very likely is coincidence though. There are just so many different things going on it's really hard to keep track, and it's easy to jump to conclusions thinking that something is a cause and effect relationship when in fact it's really something quite different.

On the herbivore/omnivore question .... On very rare occasions I have seen my lawnmower chase down a piece of mysis that happens to float by when I feed. Other times, pieces of mysis will bump him in the face and he'll take no notice. So ... I don't know. Maybe they are only "slightly omniverous" (i.e., if they're hungry enough they'll consider it)??

Ganowicki, I do hope the fish in question starts to eat. How is he looking? Is his stomach pinched in?

[christyf5]

Hi Tony,
I picked up the fish from ganowicki yesterday. Yes his stomach is pinched in. I saw him take a go at some algae on the back glass so I am hopeful but he is rather sluggish and doesn't have much energy it seems after not eating for so long. I'll keep you guys posted on his progress.

Christy

[BCOrchidGuy]

Okay this is going to sound strange but... I read that if you get a fish that is not eating a good way to get its strength back is to add some fuctose to the water, the sugars help the fish to gain strength while it is being treated...... sounds strange I know..

As far as pods go, I have soooo many it is like a circus show in my refugium, oddly enough they are predatory... I watched as a bunch of smaller pods were on a bit of frozen blood worm, a larger pod caught two of the small ones and consumed them.... nasty