Lawnmower blenny fast breathing.

Tempo · Nov 12, 2020

Is this guy ok?

He's been in my tank for 7 days now, initially I was worried about him eating enough, I have definitely seen him chop at various things and yesterday he actually caught some of my liquid food out of the air on it's way down, I have yet to see his belly bulge like some of the photos though.

I thought that he was having a low oxygen issue in my tank because he was tipping on his side and since making the changes to the powerhead he seems to have perked up a little bit but still breathing very fast with his mouth hanging open like in the video.

I'm new and quite stressed about him, does anyone else have some advice?

P-Dub · Nov 13, 2020

He seems fine to me. Frankly, he's breathing slower than my lawnmower does. So long as he's eating, don't stress.

Fink · Nov 13, 2020

lawnmowers and molly millers always look like they're panting... seems fine IMO

Jay Hemdal · Nov 20, 2020

Because it was a 10 second clip, I was able to get a rate on it - 20 gill beats in ten seconds = 120 per minute. That's about 20 BPM higher than I would like to see in a blenny like this, but not up into the "diseased" range. Of course, respiration is tied into water temperature as well. Is your tank below 26 C.? If it is near or above that, I would say 120 BPM is normal. If you tank is running more like 24 C., then it might be a bit fast.

If you don't have a lot of algae in your tank, feeding these guys can be a bit of a challenge. Have you tried attaching strips of dried Nori to the rocks as a supplement?

Jay