Blenny Aggression

NeiDan · May 5, 2016

I have a Midas Blenny in my 100g mixed reef. I know blennies have issues with other blennies and fish with similar body shapes, and I had a couple of questions regarding that.

First, I am definitely planning to get a mated pair of jawfish in the near future. Do you think they'll be any aggression between them? Jawfish and Midas blennies have very similar body shapes.

Second, is my tank large enough to house 2 blennies? I was thinking of getting an algae eating blenny like a bicolor blenny. I figure that since the Midas hangs up near the top and in the water column and the algae eaters tend to hang out on the rock there probably wouldn't be much aggression...

Maritimer · May 5, 2016

I've got a midas and a starry who've been living together in QT for a month or so. Their lifestyles are so different that they rarely interact, though the midas will sometimes bang at algae, and the starry will certainly chow down on mysis! I've heard of midas being rough on fire-gobies and dartfish, whose lifestyles are similar to their own - and my fire-goby does have a chunk missing from his tail...

~Bruce

michellejy · May 5, 2016

I had a Midas Blenny and a Jawfish in my 120 gallon. They never bothered each other. I haven't had a bicolor though, so I don't have an answer to that.

Anthony123 · May 5, 2016

I have a blue dot jawfish with a Midas blenny. They don't even look at each other...

eatbreakfast · May 6, 2016

Midas blennies and jawfish completely ignore each other and occupy different niches. A midas blenny and an algae eating blenny may 'bicker', but nothing serious, as again, they occupy different niches. However, I maight go with a different species oher than bicolor, as it a nd the midas are both in the henus Ecsenius, and aggression between congenerics is usually worse than aggression between species of different genera.

hatrix11 · May 6, 2016

I have a Midas and a Starry blenny. No issues I assume because they are very different visually. They even live in the same rock, different holes. I wouldn't recommend a bi-color with a Midas.