Lawnmower blenny

Posibly one of two things here.

Your live rock could have created a little bit of a spike in the tank in which he did not handle very well. How is everything else in the tank?
or
The Blenny was not getting enough to eat. They eat algaes as their main staple and if you are lacking this in your tank, they wont get enough to eat. They are great at keeping the algae down but when it is gone, you need to supliment with some greens.

I don't have a LMB (one is definitely in my future though!) but from what I understand they will eat nori sheets or flakes, kelp, spirulina, and surplus algae from my refugium.

I've also been considering one of them for my 90 gal reef. Someone at my lfs told me that they have a tendancy to be big bullies is this true?
thanks
Chris

Thank you very much! Will be adding very soon

They can be bullies...

Hi,

LMBs can indeed be bullies. We had one that was a "rescue" from a hobbyist's tank. It was literally the "aggressor" in his tank. This brings up the relative importance of order of introduction. This is often forgotten about as we go along... but it is always important. From my experiences and discussions, the LMBs are usually just fine with most fish in the tank that they are introduced to. The problems most reportedly come when fish are added after the lawnmower. This is when they most tend to bully the newcomers in their now "home" environment. Smaller, defenseless fish can be badgered into oblivion in a tank. That is to say, they might not swallowed ala "shark style," but the real aggression comes at feeding time! They can make it very hard for certain fish to eat, with their constant badgering and "darting" at them when submissive fish try to eat.

Before getting a LMB, I think it is fair advice to suggest that you first have any smaller fish you desire in the tank first. LMBs can be real pains to newcomers.

As for feeding, nothing seems to be so good as Formula II frozen cubes. After thawing, you can quarter a cube and the blenny has no problem devouring as much as 1/2 a cube daily. They'll yank the whole piece off, but if you continue feeding they'll "leave" it there and go on to new pieces. Some fish eat best when food is free-floating in the water column, so this "take and stash" habit of the LMB can be real troublesome.

In short, they can be a real food-hog - as others can attest to. Simply leaving this fish in a tank and thinking it will do fine of "algae" is incorrect. Well, you'd have to have a rather large, established tank with a good ecosystem and algae going on to support their diet "naturally." Again, Formula II cubes should keep these guys supplemented and alive for many years! HTH

thank you very much F.W. and Marvin will follow both of your advise. Also I'd like to thank the whole community for all the information that I've gained off of this forum. You are all a great resource and seem to be a very fine bunch of people! I find myself hitting this site at least 3 times a day. thanks all keep it up
Warmest regards
chris