Carnivorous Blenny

[brandon p]

I have a 29gal SPS tank (and 2 each soft & LPS) with a Pistol Shrimp, Watchman (both juvenile), Purple Urchin and a Starry Blenny (both mature). My tank in general is mature.
I got the Blenny as a pet (as opposed to a CUC member). I feed my pistol shrimp fresh, raw tuna or shrimp. So starting last week my blenny starts taking the meat! Not once but every time now. Today I tried to give him some nori... he shrugged it off but took the meat I was trying to give the shrimp.Then he took a second piece. Is this normal? Is it ok long term? All sources list Starry Blennies as herbivores; not even omnivores. Anyone have any insight?

 

[Idoc]

I have a Midas Blenny and they are supposed to be Omnivores. But, mine will only eat frozen meat foods and will ignore any nori sheets i put in the tank. So, i stopped trying to push it and leave him have his meat.

I understand...i prefer meat over vegetables as well.

 

[Fishurama]

My lawnmower blenny also eats meat. It will get 1/3 or 1/4 size pieces of krill I try feeding my larger fish and it takes it and runs away with it and tries to eat it LOL. It will also eat mysis and LRS reef freenzy. He is fat. Literally fat. All stomach.
No issues, it is fine, IMO adds more vitamins to their diet and probably why they honestly eat it since in the ocean they have much more algae choice which feeds those vitamin needs.

 

[brandon p]

I have a Midas Blenny and they are supposed to be Omnivores. But, mine will only eat frozen meat foods and will ignore any nori sheets i put in the tank. So, i stopped trying to push it and leave him have his meat.

I understand...i prefer meat over vegetables as well.

Who said anything about pushing it on him??? Even if I had a mind to push it on him he’s a fast fish with 50 pounds of live rock in a 29 gallon tank. And when you skimmed over my post you must have missed the part about this being a brand new behavior; he’s been doing this the past week out of the 156 weeks I’ve had him. Thanks though

 

[Idoc]

Who said anything about pushing it on him??? Even if I had a mind to push it on him he’s a fast fish with 50 pounds of live rock in a 29 gallon tank. And when you skimmed over my post you must have missed the part about this being a brand new behavior; he’s been doing this the past week out of the 156 weeks I’ve had him. Thanks though

Hmmmm....maybe you need to re-read my post and think about how it was worded. I was talking about my Blenny as an example. Btw...I didn't skim over your post. If I'm going to take the time to give you a response, you can be sure I read your post.

You asked if it was normal for a blenny to eat and prefer carnivorous foods... and I gave you an example of MY Blenny preferring carnivorous foods as well.

 

[JohnGP]

Who said anything about pushing it on him??? Even if I had a mind to push it on him he’s a fast fish with 50 pounds of live rock in a 29 gallon tank. And when you skimmed over my post you must have missed the part about this being a brand new behavior; he’s been doing this the past week out of the 156 weeks I’ve had him. Thanks though

Wow, a little testy this morning!?

 

[brandon p]

Yeah. Sorry. I thought I had a legitimate question and the one response was a little too...I guess trying to hard to tell me what a silly question it was than noticing that this is very new behavior and needed an answer with a little more.. informative answer. It was almost like dude didn’t even read further than the title. Idk. Yeah. It made me cranky

 

[LeftyReefer]

Yeah. Sorry. I thought I had a legitimate question and the one response was a little too...I guess trying to hard to tell me what a silly question it was than noticing that this is very new behavior and needed an answer with a little more.. informative answer. It was almost like dude didn’t even read further than the title. Idk. Yeah. It made me cranky

I think you are over reacting to the reply in question. All he said was that his blenny also prefers meat.... no where did he, or anybody suggest your question was silly or that you were pushing anything on your fish.
My blenny also prefers meat, so you two are certainly not alone here. When new, I tried repeatedly to get my lawnmower blenny to eat algae wafers or nori, but he wants nothing to do with those. Drop in some frozen meat and he's all over it. He's fat and happy so I let him eat what he wants. He grazes algae all day long in the tank, but when its feeding time, he goes for the meat like all the other omnivores/carnivores.

 

[Aqua Man]

My blenny doesn’t read so he doesn’t know that he’s supposed to be a vegetarian. Loves mysis and brine. Along with munching on the rocks.

 

[brandon p]

My blenny doesn’t read so he doesn’t know that he’s supposed to be a vegetarian. Loves mysis and brine. Along with munching on the rocks.

See. THAT’S funny! The one reply, felt a little attacked. It did give me a palm-to-face moment last night while cooking dinner though! So, I get it. I posted once ‘WHATS EATING MY STYLO?!?’
My Starry is not, by any stretch, exhibiting new behavior. I’ve always dumped jars of pods and/or BB and then the missing polyps... it was just weird though...he went from being a wild-caught agoraphobic to tipping food outta my tweezers. He LOVES fatty tuna and polyps. Now we know! Lol. Thanks you guys.

 

[Waballs]

My lawnmower blenny eats nothing but frozen. A piece of nori could float by and hit him in the face and he’d turn his head. The dude has a huge belly and full of character. One of my favorite fish.

 

[Ef4life]

My starry is the same, he pretty much went full carnivore. He will bite at the rocks with no algae on occasion, but rocks With algae never. I have caught him sampling the nori but it’s very very rare. He’s been in their 3-4 years now and fat as ever.

 

[ichthyogeek]

You'd be surprised by how many animals we think are "herbivores" are actually more omnivores...here, a scishow vid.

When given a choice, I think most herbivores would choose animal (a high energy food) over plants (a low energy food). That's why tangs go bananas for meaty foods. But you still need to provide them with macroalgae since that's what their long digestive tracts are for (too much meat = rotting in the long digestive tracts).

 

[Zionas]

How long do you guys keep your blennies for? I know it’s not too hard for gobies like the Watchmen (Cryptocentrus) to live for 10 or more years. How about blennies?

And yes I agree just feed yours what he likes lol.

 

[stanlalee]

All the algae blennies I've ever had, and I've had several, eventually started eating meat and whatever the other fish ate despite algae sheets always being available. I've kept them for years. Most have died by jumping out not natural causes. I don't think it's necessarily good for them long term but what are you going to do about it, stop feeding your other fish?

 

[Cell]

Ime the bigger blennies like LMB and starry are hogs and will eat almost anything.

 

[Zionas]

If there’s a Blenny to avoid it’s the Leopard Blenny. Obligate corallivore so not Reef safe plus very difficult nearly impossible to wean onto Captive fare.

 

[92Miata]

Hmmmm....maybe you need to re-read my post and think about how it was worded. I was talking about my Blenny as an example. Btw...I didn't skim over your post. If I'm going to take the time to give you a response, you can be sure I read your post.

You asked if it was normal for a blenny to eat and prefer carnivorous foods... and I gave you an example of MY Blenny preferring carnivorous foods as well.

Your midas blenny is in a completely different Genus (escenius vs salarias) than the Starry and Lawnmower - and is a carnivore. Its not relevant to the discussion.

 

[Zionas]

I wonder who’s kept a Blenny for 10 or more years. If so which species was it?

 

[Fezbearer]

Sounds like a fish after my own heart.