Aggressive Saddled Blenny

[bneal]

I've had my Saddled Blenny in my 90 reef for about a month now and for some reason once I added the Midas Blenny it's been pretty aggressive towards my Carpenter's Wrasse. It mainly goes after the Wrasse when food comes out, and it chases back into the rockwork. It's still eating but I'm concerned it may not be getting enough and its sucks not getting to see it in the open tank like it was in the beginning.

My question is should I try to catch it and rehome it, or do you think it will calm down some once I add more fish in the tank. I plan to get 3 Lyretail Anthias here soon which I hope would add a buffer, but I wanted everyone's opinion.

I currently have the following in the tank:
-Midas Blenny
-Saddled Blenny
-2 x Ocellaris Clowns
-Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse

 

[Gumbies R Us]

#reefsquad

 

[Uncle99]

I would add the Lyretails first and see if the problem persists, changes, or stops.

Lyretails are a great resilient colouful and super fast open water swimmers.

 

[tbrown]

Blennies can be jerks. One thing I'd add is to make sure you're feeding enough. Sometimes eliminating the feeling of a need to defend the food makes aggression levels decrease.

The biggest issue there would be the increased feed also increases nutrients in the tank so some extra export may be necessary for phosphates and nitrates if levels start rising too much.

 

[bneal]

Blennies can be jerks. One thing I'd add is to make sure you're feeding enough. Sometimes eliminating the feeling of a need to defend the food makes aggression levels decrease.

The biggest issue there would be the increased feed also increases nutrients in the tank so some extra export may be necessary for phosphates and nitrates if levels start rising too much.

That was one of my thoughts as well, but it will eat until you can see a bulge in his stomach from all the food. It's a massive pig so I'm not sure if it will ever be satisfied lol.

 

[Hinatasan]

That was one of my thoughts as well, but it will eat until you can see a bulge in his stomach from all the food. It's a massive pig so I'm not sure if it will ever be satisfied lol.

I'd try the Lyretails first and see if things settle down. Since the aggression mainly happens during feeding, spreading food across different areas might help too. Some blennies are just territorial little pigs though

 

[Rocks reef]

Totally agree on the territorial aggression. Sometimes it just happens and one may need to be rehomed if injury or stress is observed.

 

[bneal]

Man I hope I don’t have to rehome it. It’s such a pain to try to catch a fish like that.

 

[tbrown]

My Blennies were always the first fish in a bottle trap.

 

[tbrown]

One of the perks of them being greedy, hungry jerks I guess.