Discussion: What has your experience been with Blennies?

[taylormaximus]

After cruising the internet looking for solutions to hair algae, I came across the seemingly magic solution known as blennies, and then realized there's dozens of varieties that all seem to be their own fish. As with everything in the hobby, there's no perfect fish, so I imagine there's pros and cons to each different species, so I'd love to hear your experience in keeping them and if you'd recommend them!

Some specific things I'm curious about is obviously the species you had, how they did with eating different types of algae, their aggression to specific tankmates, and whether or not they nipped at coral (and if so, which types of coral). I've heard that certain types have some issues in some of those areas, although I've definitely heard conflicting reports.

I'm so far leaning towards either a Midas, tailspot, bicolor, lawnmower or forktail blenny, although I'm absolutely open to other ones. I have a 32 gallon system that's already quite well stocked, but I have room for one more fish. So I'd love to hear recommendations, but also just general experiences with these guys that can hopefully be useful to everyone!

 

[shakacuz]

my midas blenny is the sass-king of my tank. it has to inspect what everyone is doing then it'll scurry into its barnacle hide, or one of its many little nooks.

i'd suggest having plenty of little nooks for it. they tend to just swim for a few seconds then perch up. for a 32g, i'd recommend tailspot or bi-color.

 

[taylormaximus]

my midas blenny is the sass-king of my tank. it has to inspect what everyone is doing then it'll scurry into its barnacle hide, or one of its many little nooks.

i'd suggest having plenty of little nooks for it. they tend to just swim for a few seconds then perch up. for a 32g, i'd recommend tailspot or bi-color.

Does your midas inspect aggressively or just with curiosity? I'm definitely most interested in either a midas, tailspot or forktail. I'm more hesitant about a bicolor just because I have a very feisty royal gramma who has a burning hatred for any fish who looks remotely like him (which is none of my fish right now so he's settled on taking it out on my azure damsel who just wants to be friends).

 

[jhadaway]

Tailspot blenny-Awesome personality and funny to watch. Pecked at algae on the rocks but nothing significant. One of my all-time favorites.
Ladder and Lawnmower. Hyper Spastic fish. Both lasted a few weeks then disappeared. Probably beat themselves to death. If I did it again they would be captive bred.
Canary Blenny (ORA)-Never touched algae, very peaceful but developed a swim bladder issue and died after a battling for a little over a month. Tweety was well over a year old.
Molly Miller- Hyperspeed fish with tons of personality. Stays perched unless it's feeding time. Hasn't touched algea that I've seen. I'm hoping it starts hitting my aiptasia (AKA the DEVIL)

I'll get the Midas sooner or later just for it's looks.

 

[DirectCherry]

I don't have experience with blennies (yet) but my understanding is that blennies, even lawnmower blennies, generally will not eat hair algae. They may help keep the algae from getting out of hand and establishing itself, but you'll have to manually remove most of the hair algae.

A quick search of R2R threads seems to support my understanding.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[jkcoral]

All of my Midas blennies were beautiful, but were usually jerks. They almost always ended up in the big tank (also due to how large they can get) with the other mean fish.

Tailspot blenny are awesome, and can’t say enough good things about them. They pick at algae, but their real contribution is they are the funniest fish in the tank, and the best price to laugh ratio in the hobby. This would be a perfect fish for a 30g.

 

[DirectCherry]

Some people who keep Rainford Gobies (ie. Court Jester Gobies) or Hector Gobies claim they will pick at some types of hair algae, although others claim they are just eating copepods in the algae and not the algae itself.

They are also known to eat cyano and occasionally sift the sand (in small amounts) if the sand grain size is small enough.

 

[DirectCherry]

I'd look into trochus or turbo snails and hermit crabs. I've heard they will eat hair algae. A tixedo urchin is also an option.

Remember that algae eaters alone aren't necessarily a solution to algae problems. They may help, but you will need to adjust the nutrients in the tank either through less feeding, more filtration, or more water changes (or a combination of these techniques). Adjusting your lighting may also prove useful.

I'm no expert on hair algae but there are a lot of threads on R2R related to resolving hair algae issues. I'd do a quick search on Google for "hair algae site:reef2reef.com" (I prefer Google search over R2R's built-in search).

 

[The Dude Abides]

My Midas blenny is a model citizen. When I added a few bimac anthias to the tank, he took on a beautiful pink/gold color. He‘s very chill, just minds his own business.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

If you want the blenny to eat hair algae, you have to pluck the long strands off first. Almost nothing eats the long strands.
After plucking the strands, I would suggest a starry blenny. It's a close relative to the lawnmower, however it won't starve itself when you run out of algae like the lawnmowers do. I've had a midas in the past and it never touched my algae, can't speak for other species though. If you really want to eliminate algae, urchins and snails are the most effective. They never stop eating.

 

[blaxsun]

Our Midas blenny has been a great addition to the tank. As has been mentioned above, they love barnacles to reside in (barnacles = happy blenny!)

Ours up and changed color from a bright orange-yellow to blue-purple (and has remained that way since).

 

[Spare time]

I love them. They are by far my favorite fish. The lawnmower has the best temperament and personality. I will never have fish in a tank and not have one

 

[shakacuz]

Does your midas inspect aggressively or just with curiosity? I'm definitely most interested in either a midas, tailspot or forktail. I'm more hesitant about a bicolor just because I have a very feisty royal gramma who has a burning hatred for any fish who looks remotely like him (which is none of my fish right now so he's settled on taking it out on my azure damsel who just wants to be friends).

more with curiosity than aggressiveness. the gramma may stress any new addition you add to the tank.