Midas blenny behavior

WhitePanther93

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I’ve had my Midas blenny for several months now. I’m not sure why but he’s been a purple color for a while.
5EFE0B74-8B80-4166-B6A3-E523BA8C44F9.jpeg
He doesn’t free swim a whole lot and when he does pop out, he darts back pretty quickly. I haven’t seen him getting into any fights with other fish nor have any other fish shown any aggression towards him.

current fish stocking(60 cube):
2 inch~ inch and a half clown fish
A purple fire fish
A blue mandarin
A yellow watchman goby
A high fin red bar goby
And the Midas blenny itself

my blenny will come out to eat when I drop some food in.

this is gonna be a weird question but can algae annoy a fish. Cuz a little bit ago I saw him seemingly tear a tuft of algae off the rock around his little hole.
And I swear I’ve seen him eyeing up my cleaner shrimp who lives in a cave just to the left of him
75D34BAF-3524-4635-B1DB-1F1E3AFE03B3.jpeg

Anyone have any advice? I would love to see my blenny happy and free swimming.
 

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I’ve had my Midas blenny for several months now. I’m not sure why but he’s been a purple color for a while.
5EFE0B74-8B80-4166-B6A3-E523BA8C44F9.jpeg
He doesn’t free swim a whole lot and when he does pop out, he darts back pretty quickly. I haven’t seen him getting into any fights with other fish nor have any other fish shown any aggression towards him.

current fish stocking(60 cube):
2 inch~ inch and a half clown fish
A purple fire fish
A blue mandarin
A yellow watchman goby
A high fin red bar goby
And the Midas blenny itself

my blenny will come out to eat when I drop some food in.

this is gonna be a weird question but can algae annoy a fish. Cuz a little bit ago I saw him seemingly tear a tuft of algae off the rock around his little hole.
And I swear I’ve seen him eyeing up my cleaner shrimp who lives in a cave just to the left of him
75D34BAF-3524-4635-B1DB-1F1E3AFE03B3.jpeg

Anyone have any advice? I would love to see my blenny happy and free swimming.
Did you buy him as a bright yellow Midas?
 

i cant think

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yeah I did.
Something must be stressing him out, if he wasn’t bright yellow when you bought him then I would have said he could be a blue midas, but because he did get bought as bright yellow it’s stress.
 

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Is there such a thing as too much flow for a Midas blenny?
Not that I know of, they are usually very active but you could maybe try lowering the flow
Also, next time hes out, check for any parasites (Signs of internal or external)
 
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WhitePanther93

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Not that I know of, they are usually very active but you could maybe try lowering the flow
Also, next time hes out, check for any parasites (Signs of internal or external)
Didn’t see anything external. And he’s still eating so I’m pretty sure it’s not internal.
 
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WhitePanther93

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Do Midas blenny camouflage themselves? I’ve noticed his home isn’t so much a hole as it is a little half pipe kinda ridge that he fits into.
 

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Just speaking for my experiences with my Midas blenny, but she was very secretive for quite a while after I got her (months). She chose a little hole on the back side of the rock to live in which didn't help matters. I only really saw her at feeding time.

One thing that seemed to help get her out and more comfortable swimming around was to get her a good place to hang out that was more central in the tank. A large barnacle rock was a perfect blenny house! Once she moved into the barnacle I started to see her a lot more, possibly because she felt safer with several good spots to hide if things are too crazy in the tank.

You asked if the algae might be annoying. I find that my Midas likes to keep her home very tidy. Any sand that gets into her barnacle gets carried out and dumped on the monti cap (always on the monti). She also clears out some of the sand at its base.

As for flow, when she lived on the back side of the rock, she liked to stick her head out directly in line with the MP40, letting her little antennas bounce wildly in the flow so I'd guess they don't mind.
 
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Just speaking for my experiences with my Midas blenny, but she was very secretive for quite a while after I got her (months). She chose a little hole on the back side of the rock to live in which didn't help matters. I only really saw her at feeding time.

One thing that seemed to help get her out and more comfortable swimming around was to get her a good place to hang out that was more central in the tank. A large barnacle rock was a perfect blenny house! Once she moved into the barnacle I started to see her a lot more, possibly because she felt safer with several good spots to hide if things are too crazy in the tank.

You asked if the algae might be annoying. I find that my Midas likes to keep her home very tidy. Any sand that gets into her barnacle gets carried out and dumped on the monti cap (always on the monti). She also clears out some of the sand at its base.

As for flow, when she lived on the back side of the rock, she liked to stick her head out directly in line with the MP40, letting her little antennas bounce wildly in the flow so I'd guess they don't mind.
Hmmm not sure I can do something mor centralized. My rock work is a semi circle with a small amount of open space/sand in the center:
878BB4D8-7B51-4BA1-A767-642BABCCDAD7.jpeg
 
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WhitePanther93

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Just speaking for my experiences with my Midas blenny, but she was very secretive for quite a while after I got her (months). She chose a little hole on the back side of the rock to live in which didn't help matters. I only really saw her at feeding time.

One thing that seemed to help get her out and more comfortable swimming around was to get her a good place to hang out that was more central in the tank. A large barnacle rock was a perfect blenny house! Once she moved into the barnacle I started to see her a lot more, possibly because she felt safer with several good spots to hide if things are too crazy in the tank.

You asked if the algae might be annoying. I find that my Midas likes to keep her home very tidy. Any sand that gets into her barnacle gets carried out and dumped on the monti cap (always on the monti). She also clears out some of the sand at its base.

As for flow, when she lived on the back side of the rock, she liked to stick her head out directly in line with the MP40, letting her little antennas bounce wildly in the flow so I'd guess they don't mind.
I just noticed something today. My blenny doesn’t seem to care for my snails being around his home. He just went after one who was crushing along next to it.
 

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Here's my blenny in her barnacle house. I think having multiple convenient hiding spots in the tank helped her confidence. She still sleeps in the hole on the backside of the big rock structure though, probably because it gets fewer uninvited guests.

blenny.jpg
 
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Here's my blenny in her barnacle house. I think having multiple convenient hiding spots in the tank helped her confidence. She still sleeps in the hole on the backside of the big rock structure though, probably because it gets fewer uninvited guests.

blenny.jpg
Oh my rock work has plenty of nooks and crannies for my blenny to hide in. Just a moment ago he actually went and found a new hole for a few seconds. I also saw him swimming about for more then a second before darting back. Still has the darkish purple color though. As long as he doesn’t agro my blue mandarin as he’s cruising past his home I’ll be fine.
 

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I’ve had my Midas blenny for several months now. I’m not sure why but he’s been a purple color for a while.
5EFE0B74-8B80-4166-B6A3-E523BA8C44F9.jpeg
He doesn’t free swim a whole lot and when he does pop out, he darts back pretty quickly. I haven’t seen him getting into any fights with other fish nor have any other fish shown any aggression towards him.

current fish stocking(60 cube):
2 inch~ inch and a half clown fish
A purple fire fish
A blue mandarin
A yellow watchman goby
A high fin red bar goby
And the Midas blenny itself

my blenny will come out to eat when I drop some food in.

this is gonna be a weird question but can algae annoy a fish. Cuz a little bit ago I saw him seemingly tear a tuft of algae off the rock around his little hole.
And I swear I’ve seen him eyeing up my cleaner shrimp who lives in a cave just to the left of him
75D34BAF-3524-4635-B1DB-1F1E3AFE03B3.jpeg

Anyone have any advice? I would love to see my blenny happy and free swimming.

They are territorial to anything that comes by their cave. Will pull of snails and spit them and such. They can change colors dramatically depending how they are feeling. Yellow to brown to bluish and so on.
 

mike89t

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Whenever my Midas gets scared he turns brownish/blue and hides in his little cave. Once he realizes it's just me he quickly turns back yellow and comes out begging for food.
 

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My midas blenny was the first fish in my 500. He only came out a few inches to feed. Color change based on fear, stress, and need to hide. It wasnt until I added my anthias and tangs that he decided to come out and free swim. Its probably the fact you only have small fish that tend not to be out in the open, but up amongst the rock rubble zones. Get some fish out in the open, anthias, chromis, angelfish, small tangs or such an see if gis behavior doesnt change
 
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WhitePanther93

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My midas blenny was the first fish in my 500. He only came out a few inches to feed. Color change based on fear, stress, and need to hide. It wasnt until I added my anthias and tangs that he decided to come out and free swim. Its probably the fact you only have small fish that tend not to be out in the open, but up amongst the rock rubble zones. Get some fish out in the open, anthias, chromis, angelfish, small tangs or such an see if gis behavior doesnt change
You’re actually very correct. I recently got a mccoskers flasher wrasse. All of a sudden everyone is front and center. Even my Midas blenny is out and about for longer periods of time. He’s still purple, but I see the yellow underneath.
 

Jubei2006

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If you look at the attached he's in the center with the anthias. Everybody gives him a wide berth because he's an a#$hole (took the tail fin off my Naoko wrasse).
 

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My Midas stayed in his hole when it was just him and clowns, when I added Wrasses he ventures out a lot more.

Give him time and get some active, peaceful fish friends.
 
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