Blenny Death

[Kait]

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?

[Ron99]

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

[mike31154]

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.

[blacknife]

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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[Dearth]

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

[gregzz4]

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

[milou]

I like lawnmower blenny it has quite a character

[monocus]

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