Algae Blennies Breeding

[Absolutely Fish]

We recently discovered a pair of our resident algae blennies have begun laying eggs in a PVC tube in one of our reef systems! Although we have quite a bit of experience with clownfish, this will be our first crack at culturing blennies.
Day one they are beginning to hatch, and they are attacking the gut-loaded rotifers we are offering, we plan on offering phytoplankton once most of the clutch finishes hatching.

Pretty cute for an egg huh?

Anyone here have any experience rearing blennies in captivity? Would love to hear anything you have learned in the process! Or any thing you have learned breeding marine fish for that matter!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Just double checking here - when you say algae blenny you mean Salarias fasciatus, correct?

 

[Absolutely Fish]

Just double checking here - when you say algae blenny you mean Salarias fasciatus, correct?

Yep!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Cool!

Well, if they’re eating the rotifers, then you’re off to a good start. Generally the main thing to watch for at this stage is a bottleneck where the young start dying off - these usually happen after a few days (day three post hatch seems to be one of the most common bottleneck days for fish that hatch with a yolk they can feed off of - if the rots and phyto don’t provide the proper nutrition for these guys, you might see a die off sometime around here). Some fish run into multiple bottlenecks, including some that happen around/after 2-3 weeks post hatch, so you really need to keep an eye on how things are going. Bottlenecks typically occur because the food the fry is eating isn’t nutritious enough for them, or they’re not interested in eating the food offered, or the food isn’t the proper size for them to eat.

Offering phyto in addition to the rots is a good idea - you may need to be prepared with pods or some Artemia to offer them too as they grow, and you may need to try a couple different phytos (to my knowledge, no one has successfully raised these guys or other members if their genus yet, so I don’t know for sure what all they’ll need - exciting stuff!)

Above all, if you do run into a bottleneck and lose this batch, don’t get too disappointed by it - this happens frequently in trying to breed a new species (even to the professionals), and every attempt gets one step closer to success.

Now, on a sidenote: what are you feeding the broodstock (parents)? Did you have any difficulties pairing them? Was the spawning triggered by something (such as an uptick in temperature)? - you’re right in the middle of their natural breeding season, so I’m wondering if it is tank related or internal clock related, etc. Also, what phyto are you planning to offer the young? Is it the same phyto you’re enriching the rots with?

On a final note, as far as experiences raising blennies goes, I can’t find much about people trying to breed these specific guys, but here’s a thread about an attempt at raising Starry Blennies (Salarias rasmosus):

Starry Blenny (Salarias ramosus)

I have a pair of Salarias ramosus that spawn regularly in my display tank. They lay in a 1” PVC tube with a 45° elbow on one side and a 90° elbow on the other. Their clutches are huge, upwards of a few thousand. I feed LRS reef frenzy, a DIY soft pellet food, and live copepods 5x daily. Just...

www.reef2reef.com

And this is the only info I can find on Algae Blennies specifically (I have no idea if it’s accurate or not- I couldn’t find any journals of anyone attempting to breed them):

Lawnmower Blenny: Effortless Care Tips for the Algae-eater

A Lawnmower Blenny is an excellent algae-eater. But is that all there to know about this species? Read our care guide to discover pertinent facts and tips.

badmanstropicalfish.com

“

– Post Breeding Care​

It’s best to remove the adult fish from the breeding tank once the eggs hatch, as they’re likely to eat them. As herbivores, the fry will feed on algae and biofilm. You can ensure they receive enough nutrition by turning to commercially sold algae formulas.”

Good luck!

 

[Absolutely Fish]

Now, on a sidenote: what are you feeding the broodstock (parents)? Did you have any difficulties pairing them? Was the spawning triggered by something (such as an uptick in temperature)? - you’re right in the middle of their natural breeding season, so I’m wondering if it is tank related or internal clock related, etc. Also, what phyto are you planning to offer the young? Is it the same phyto you’re enriching the rots with?

Thanks for the insight!

Yes as far as we could tell, no one has had success with this genus yet. Fingers crossed!

To be honest this wasn’t something that we were actively pursuing. We aqua-culture coral and clownfish primarily, so the pairing was really a happy accident. The blennies have been living in a 340 gallon vat for about a year, we started with 6 or so and after losing a few jumpers there are 3 remaining. Discovered the eggs in a pvc tube we use to offer our tangs nori! They eat a wide variety of foods including HUFA soaked algae pellets, dried nori, and many different types of frozen (we tend to rotate on a daily basis).

There has been an slight increase in temperature of about 2 degrees over the last 2 months in our facility.

As this was a “happy accident” we only currently have phytofeast available although can’t help but wonder if a live algae would be best. The current plan is to keep them in a green water solution with rotifers enriched with N-Rich PL plus until they are large enough to eat freshly hatched Artemia.

Wish us luck!

 

[1epauletteshark]

Its been a while, have you had any success?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Its been a while, have you had any success?

I don't know if they had success, but someone did last year:

Long Overdue: Captive-Bred Lawnmower Blennies! - CORAL Magazine

They're so commonplace that one might have assumed that it had already been done, but we had to wait until 2023 for someone to successfully breed the Lawnmower Blenny, Salarias fasicatus, and actually publish the news! You can get them directly from The Biota Group!

www.coralmagazine.com