Bad Blenny

Tbabcock · Apr 17, 2016

Ok so i got this awesome black Blenny and he has been in the tank for a week now. Today was water change day and after im sitting there admiring the tank. With out warning he starts to bite the crap out of one of my eagle eye zoa colonies taking out about four of them before i could stop him. Is this normal behaviour for this fish as i was told by my LFS this was a reef friendly fish!

JackDE · Apr 17, 2016

Do you feed him seaweed? I was told to feed seaweed daily to keep mine away from coral. I don't have coral yet though.

Naiad · Apr 17, 2016

Black blenny? Do you have a species name? Ecsenius spp. Have been known to nip coral when hungry.

saltyhog · Apr 17, 2016

I had a Tribal Blenny that went rogue and started eating acans, montis, a pavona and several acros! I had an awful time trying to catch the dang thing.

Tbabcock · Apr 17, 2016

Ok so i do feed him seaweed but not every day so i will start that to see if that will help if not i guess he's gonna go back.

Tbabcock · Apr 17, 2016

Naiad · Apr 17, 2016

That does look like a tribal

Tbabcock · Apr 17, 2016

Sorry i sent a bad pic but this is what i have.

Naiad · Apr 17, 2016

Ohh yea. That's a tribal. I've known at least 3 that have takena liking to coral

Tbabcock · Apr 17, 2016

Great!!!

Tbabcock · Apr 17, 2016

I hope leaving sea weed in the tank will keep his little lips off of my coral

Naiad · Apr 17, 2016

Errr. Good luck!

Tbabcock · Apr 17, 2016

Thanks for the help and encouragement.. lol

Naiad · Apr 17, 2016

I would be really interested to see if you can reform a coral nipper.

saltyhog · Apr 17, 2016

Tbabcock said:
Sorry i sent a bad pic but this is what i have.

Thanks for awakening the worst nightmare of my time in reefing!

Watching your prized corals literally eaten in front of your eyes and not being able to do anything. Thank heaven he made the mistake of going to bed in a hole in a piece of live rock I could get out!

Tbabcock · Apr 17, 2016

Its a shame cause he is a fun fish to watch.. im going to try the seaweed thing daily and see if he will behave. I have had him for just over a week and at most he just brushed up on the rocks now and then or he would flip around in the sand but never did any thing with the coral until now. Im hoping the good beating i gave him with the tank scrubber made it clear that there not his food.