|
Reef Fish Guide designation and why
Take it home
The Lawnmower blenny acts as a very useful fish in the home aquarium spending lots of time clearing tanks of algae. This species' high minimum population doubling time (less than 15 months) and resilient nature makes it a good fish choice for survivability. Once your tank has established a good amount of algae on the rocks and substrate, the Lawnmower blenny is likely to be one of your most hardy fish.
Distribution
Indo Pacific, Red Sea and East Africa to Samoa, north to Ryukyu Islands, south to Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia. These blennies are generally associated with seaward reefs, shallow lagoons, and reef flats so they like a bottom that allows them to skip about. Sometimes they inhabit estuarine areas with algae-rich rubble, but usually found in areas with mixed coral, sand, and rubble, which is easily replicated in the home aquarium.
Maximum Size
5.1 inches (13 cm)
Care Requirements
Minimum aquarium size is 55 gallons. The Lawnmower blenny is sought by many aquarists to help keep their tanks clean. This fish eats the filamentous and film algae that often grows on the walls of aquaria. In fact the blenny will often leave full-lipped “kiss-marks” on the walls where it rasps away algae. In fact the fish may actually starve in tanks that are not well established or don't have significant algal growth.
Food: Blennies are big eaters. If they refuse food in captivity you can be sure that something is wrong. They eat vegetable matter, including frozen and dried foods containing marine algae and the blue-green alga spirulina. As stated before, this fish will survive best if a crop of microalgae is present in its environment, meaning that the aquarium must be moderately well established when adding this fish to your collection.
Compatibility: Like many other fish, these blennies may tend to nip at stony corals and clam mantles so one must take care when deciding housing certain types of invertebrates; however they are non-predatory. It is recommended that you don't add these fish to any tank with large carnivorous fish that naturally eat smaller fish.
|
