Midas blenny biting our tangs. Will it stop?

[Reef_At_Camp]

We've had a midas blenny for about 3.5 months now, and had no problems with it at all. Super active, interesting fish that didn't seem to care about its tank-mates. Then, about 3 weeks ago we got a blue hippo tang, and more recently a kole tang. Midas blenny keeps biting them, especially the blue tang. Blue has bite marks all over its side, and we've seen blenny go after it out in the open, for no apparent reason. We expected some initial territory disputes here and there, but this is going on much longer than we thought, especially since we have a large tank with only a few small fish and feed very often.

Will this sort of behavior from midas blenny eventually pass? Or do we need to think about giving one of the two up? Is there anything we can do to reduce this issue from blenny? Blenny is currently in 'time out' in our acclimation box.

 

[i cant think]

We've had a midas blenny for about 3.5 months now, and had no problems with it at all. Super active, interesting fish that didn't seem to care about its tank-mates. Then, about 3 weeks ago we got a blue hippo tang, and more recently a kole tang. Midas blenny keeps biting them, especially the blue tang. Blue has bite marks all over its side, and we've seen blenny go after it out in the open, for no apparent reason. We expected some initial territory disputes here and there, but this is going on much longer than we thought, especially since we have a large tank with only a few small fish and feed very often.

Will this sort of behavior from midas blenny eventually pass? Or do we need to think about giving one of the two up? Is there anything we can do to reduce this issue from blenny? Blenny is currently in 'time out' in our acclimation box.

How large is the tank?

Escenius are aggressive, this isn’t the first (and most likely not the last) encounter someone has had with an Escenius species nipping and showing territorial disputes. Chances are it’s something to do with the algae as it seems yours is only going for the other algae eaters in the tank.
What coral is in the tank (or in planning)?

 

[Dave1993]

always see people complain about how midas blennys are aggressive never seen any aggression from mine what so ever

 

[i cant think]

always see people complain about how midas blennys are aggressive never seen any aggression from mine what so ever

Every fish is different, it’s like powder blues. Yours is peaceful but someone else’s may be extremely aggressive and hyperactive.
I’ve also experienced peaceful but the majority I’ve seen are aggressive Midas blennies (The Escenius genus is aggressive IME).

 

[tweeter]

I had one that would always bite my chocolate tang as soon as he turned his back. He never stopped. My sister had a starry blend that would bite several of her fish. We said that we would never get another blend of any kind. In our experience, they are nippers! (of other fish!)

 

[WVNed]

My starry bites. I have watched him spit a mouthful of scales several times.

 

[ilikefish69]

I am sorry to hear this Midas Blenny is my newest member of my tank. I have a kole tang and a few wrasse and clowns in there as well. The Midas is actually the lowest on the totem pole... it sounds like you got a fish that is a bully. Things to try

1) add/move rocks around in your aquarium. This was what helped me the most. A 'change of scenery' if you will

2) if this does not help, tape a hand mirror in the bottom corner of your tank and the midas blenny will fight its reflection instead of your new fish. When feeding, remove the mirror, and when done feeding, tape it back. This helped me but not as much as the new rocks did

 

[vetteguy53081]

We've had a midas blenny for about 3.5 months now, and had no problems with it at all. Super active, interesting fish that didn't seem to care about its tank-mates. Then, about 3 weeks ago we got a blue hippo tang, and more recently a kole tang. Midas blenny keeps biting them, especially the blue tang. Blue has bite marks all over its side, and we've seen blenny go after it out in the open, for no apparent reason. We expected some initial territory disputes here and there, but this is going on much longer than we thought, especially since we have a large tank with only a few small fish and feed very often.

Will this sort of behavior from midas blenny eventually pass? Or do we need to think about giving one of the two up? Is there anything we can do to reduce this issue from blenny? Blenny is currently in 'time out' in our acclimation box.

These fish are generally peaceful but rarely do they stop once habit has begun

 

[Reef_At_Camp]

How large is the tank?

Escenius are aggressive, this isn’t the first (and most likely not the last) encounter someone has had with an Escenius species nipping and showing territorial disputes. Chances are it’s something to do with the algae as it seems yours is only going for the other algae eaters in the tank.
What coral is in the tank (or in planning)?

The display is 132 gallons. It's newish (got it in June), so we have a pretty small population of fish for a tank of its size, and they are all still pretty small too. What's weird about midas's behavior is that its aggression only seems to be directed at the two tangs we got in the last month. We already had other algae-eaters -- a yellow tang, and a starry blenny -- that midas pays no attention to whatsoever.

On top of that, our midas itself doesn't eat algae. Never seen it eat off the rocks, never goes for the nori we put in, etc. Only goes for mysis, pellets, flakes, etc.

We've gone all in on corals while taking it slow on fish. Have a euphyllia garden, a zoa garden, mushrooms, trumpets, toadstool, lobos, a trachy, a few montis, and more. Just getting started on acros too. Curious why you ask? I can provide a pic if its helpful.

 

[Reef_At_Camp]

I am sorry to hear this Midas Blenny is my newest member of my tank. I have a kole tang and a few wrasse and clowns in there as well. The Midas is actually the lowest on the totem pole... it sounds like you got a fish that is a bully. Things to try

1) add/move rocks around in your aquarium. This was what helped me the most. A 'change of scenery' if you will

2) if this does not help, tape a hand mirror in the bottom corner of your tank and the midas blenny will fight its reflection instead of your new fish. When feeding, remove the mirror, and when done feeding, tape it back. This helped me but not as much as the new rocks did

It's sad to us because our midas had been perfectly peaceful towards everyone until just this month. No idea why it changed. Our rocks are pretty immovable as we have a large, cemented aquascape. But I'll think a bit about if there is anything we can do still.

Interesting idea on the hand mirror. For how long did you leave it up? Is it something you regularly do when you introduce new fish?

 

[i cant think]

The display is 132 gallons. It's newish (got it in June), so we have a pretty small population of fish for a tank of its size, and they are all still pretty small too. What's weird about midas's behavior is that its aggression only seems to be directed at the two tangs we got in the last month. We already had other algae-eaters -- a yellow tang, and a starry blenny -- that midas pays no attention to whatsoever.

On top of that, our midas itself doesn't eat algae. Never seen it eat off the rocks, never goes for the nori we put in, etc. Only goes for mysis, pellets, flakes, etc.

We've gone all in on corals while taking it slow on fish. Have a euphyllia garden, a zoa garden, mushrooms, trumpets, toadstool, lobos, a trachy, a few montis, and more. Just getting started on acros too. Curious why you ask? I can provide a pic if its helpful.

Some specimens of Escenius are likely to go for corals. I’ve had several turn on the fluffier SPS such as Millepora (My most recent one was an E. lineatus, now residing in my 4’ tank). And shockingly I find the closer relatives of E. Midas are more likely to take after coral nipping. This includes E. bicolor and I believe E. lineatus is a close relative to those two as well.