scooter blennys

susane quinn · Jul 10, 2015

could anyone tell me why my male scooter blenny is biting the females tail. he is trying to mate with her but she isn't having any of it, the other day he got her by the end of her tail and wasn't letting go,he is always chasing her around tank, is this part of them trying to pair up they are defo male and female. any help would be much appreciated thanx sue,

KJ · Jul 11, 2015

Pic help.

eatbreakfast · Jul 11, 2015

She is rebuffing his advances, he is trying to show how spawning worthy and vigorous he is.

The other possibility is that the female has been misidentified and is a male.

KJ · Jul 11, 2015

eatbreakfast said:
She is rebuffing his advances, he is trying to show how spawning worthy and vigorous he is.

The other possibility is that the female has been misidentified and is a male.

Yes look like.

susane quinn · Jul 14, 2015

Thankyou for replying, they are definitely male,female I think it may be a case off them being very young, what do you think. Sue

eatbreakfast · Jul 14, 2015

It doesn't sound like they are too young. Sexually immature scooter blennies are not aggressive toward conspecifics.

How are you so certain that they are definitely a male and a female?

susane quinn · Jul 14, 2015

The male has a big fan like dorsel fin, that is very long when flat, the female has a small dorsel fin, square like, if I can get a pic of them both with there dorsel fins up I will forward it to you, many thanks sue

eatbreakfast · Jul 14, 2015

susane quinn said:
The male has a big fan like dorsel fin, that is very long when flat, the female has a small dorsel fin, square like, if I can get a pic of them both with there dorsel fins up I will forward it to you, many thanks sue

In that case it is that the male is ready to spawn and the female isn't, and if she is not going to be a spawning partner she is just competition for resources.

susane quinn · Jul 14, 2015

Pics of male, female, shud I get another female, and wud it be ok putting another female in tank will the other female attack her

eatbreakfast · Jul 14, 2015

susane quinn said:
Pics of male, female, shud I get another female, and wud it be ok putting another female in tank will the other female attack her

Definitely do not add another female, consexuals do not tolerate each other, but of more importance, she is very skinny, which would be a big reason she is not interested in spawning. Hopefully the male is not too aggressive to prevent her from eating. Also, how big is the tank? And how long has it been setup?

susane quinn · Jul 15, 2015

Tank is 3months old, and I'm adding copepods 1+2wkly plus they eat frozen mysis what else cud I give them worried now as was told by LFS that it wud be ok to add them to my tank many thanks sue

eatbreakfast · Jul 15, 2015

What size is the tank?

Scooter blennies have an extremely short digestive tract. Because of that, they need to eat almost constantly, so although they are eating food that is only a tiny percentage of their dietary needs. Even with adding copepods 2 scooter blennies could quickly deplete a population of copepods in a closed system.

There are a number of theories and guidlnes regarding tank size and tank maturity for keeping scooter blennies and mandarins. I recommend a minimum of 50g per dragonet set up a minimum of 6 months, o thers have even more stringent guidelines.

susane quinn · Jul 15, 2015

Tank is 300 litre,s I've been LFS today and bought more cpoecod, and red plankton and brine shrimp quintet, to feed them, which the loved and are scooting around everywhere now, but will keep close eye on them as they are by far my favourite fish, many thanks for answering my post's so promptly
. As I am new to saltwater setups having had cold water fish for years I value all your help sue