Red scooter blenny health

[reeferab]

Hi - I’m concerned about my red scooter blenny I bought from my local LFS yesterday. Unfortunately I bought it on an impulse - I know they’re from the dragonet family and can be picky eaters. I asked and they said he (she?) was accepting frozen food.

I’ve added him to my Fluval evo 13.5G tank. He’s basically picked a spot in the front left corner of the tank (thanks fully so I can keep on eye on him) and doesn’t move.

He’s shown some interest in forzen food but hard to tell if he’s actually eating.

I was concerned enough that I scooped him out and put him in a jug of water (photo) with copepods. After calming down, he was starting to move around a bit more and appearing to be hunting for pods. But minimal movement overall - eg moving a few cms every few mins.

In the tank there is a clown, jester goby, cleaner shrimp, 2 turbos, nassarius snail, bumblebee snail. Tank is 2.5months old. I can see a bunch of pods in the tank.
Also have a bucket of copepods which I’m culturing which I’m starting to add to the tank.

Are these normal behaviour whilst he’s settling in? Does he look very skinny?

What can I do to make sure he survives / thrives in the tank?

Any advice more than welcome.

 

[Rocks reef]

I would leave it be in the tank and just make sure you have plenty of pods for it to hunt. It will settle down in a day or two. Let it get used to it's new environment.

 

[Cheese Griller]

a 2.5 m/o 13 gallon tank that's already overstocked will make keeping this fish very difficult. It's good that you have a pod culture going, but I would still be concerned with long-term sustainability of the pod population. Is there any way you could return it to the store?

 

[reeferab]

a 2.5 m/o 13 gallon tank that's already overstocked will make keeping this fish very difficult. It's good that you have a pod culture going, but I would still be concerned with long-term sustainability of the pod population. Is there any way you could return it to the store?

Yes that’s my concern as well - especially if he doesn’t take to frozen / pellet etc foods. I’ve come across “Melev’s Mandarin Diner” as an idea so I may give that a go to see if it works for the blenny. He did say his mandarin was accepting prepared foods already so I’m not overlay optimistic.
Also exploring the return option - for the sake of the fish and the tank.

 

[reeferab]

I would leave it be in the tank and just make sure you have plenty of pods for it to hunt. It will settle down in a day or two. Let it get used to it's new environment.

Thank you - I’ll see how his behaviour is over the few days and decide what to do.

 

[Cheese Griller]

Yes that’s my concern as well - especially if he doesn’t take to frozen / pellet etc foods. I’ve come across “Melev’s Mandarin Diner” as an idea so I may give that a go to see if it works for the blenny. He did say his mandarin was accepting prepared foods already so I’m not overlay optimistic.
Also exploring the return option - for the sake of the fish and the tank.

Even if it does accept prepared foods I'd still be concerned about pod population- unless you're feeding it dozens of times a day it will still need a healthy pod population, they're like hummingbirds in that they need constant nutrients. Personally, I'd return it. A 13.5 gallon tank just doesn't have the volume to sustain such a population IMO.

 

[reeferab]

Even if it does accept prepared foods I'd still be concerned about pod population- unless you're feeding it dozens of times a day it will still need a healthy pod population, they're like hummingbirds in that they need constant nutrients. Personally, I'd return it. A 13.5 gallon tank just doesn't have the volume to sustain such a population IMO.

Thanks. That was my plan but now he’s moved from his usual spot to somewhere in the rock work and haven’t spotted him since. He’s become Schrödinger’s blenny. I’m feeding frozen rotifers to the tank in case still alive.

Not really sure what to do now, apart from letting it be, hoping for the best, and keeping an eye on parameters and corals for spikes. Any advice welcome.

 

[Cheese Griller]

Thanks. That was my plan but now he’s moved from his usual spot to somewhere in the rock work and haven’t spotted him since. He’s become Schrödinger’s blenny. I’m feeding frozen rotifers to the tank in case still alive.

Not really sure what to do now, apart from letting it be, hoping for the best, and keeping an eye on parameters and corals for spikes. Any advice welcome.

At this point you should just keep adding pods and hope he turns back up! Once you get another visual on him you can go from there