Tailspot blenny suddenly developed a taste for clam

[xjiang7]

I just noticed from yesterday afternoon that two of my three clams stopped opening. They have been doing great with lots of new growth. They still were very responsive to shadow movement but just refused to open. Meanwhile the third clam at the other side of a rock was just doing fine as normal.

Not knowing what happened I replaced some carbon and tested my water parameters. The numbers were stable. Well later I found out my tail-spot blenny was nipping on them and kept checking on them to see if they opens one by one... I have had that fish even before I got the clams but it never bothered the clams till yesterday.

Lucky for me I have another 10 g tank to rehouse the blenny. About one hour after the renegade fish was removed the larger clam began to open, but I think some damage has already been done to the mantle.

 

[DSC reef]

The mantle can recover as long it's healthy enough, just keep things stable. The mucous can be irresistible to some fish. Good that you caught it early.

 

[xjiang7]

The mantle can recover as long it's healthy enough, just keep things stable. The mucous can be irresistible to some fish. Good that you caught it early.

Thanks! I will keep a close eye on them!

 

[DSC reef]

Thanks! I will keep a close eye on them!

Your very welcome. Post some updated pics, those are nice clams.

 

[rkpetersen]

Blennies can be such jerks.
I've got one that, out of nowhere and after almost a year of peaceful coexistence,
sucker punched both a foxface and a coral beauty, leaving round lip/tooth marks on their sides.
It hasn't taken to picking on clams yet. Better not; it's future in my tanks is already hanging by a thread.

 

[WMR]

Blennies can be such jerks.
I've got one that, out of nowhere and after almost a year of peaceful coexistence,
sucker punched both a foxface and a coral beauty, leaving round lip/tooth marks on their sides.
It hasn't taken to picking on clams yet. Better not; it's future in my tanks is already hanging by a thread.

 

[WMR]

sorry about that, Ecsenius blennies can definitely be jerks. They can be fine one day, aggressive the next.

 

[hart24601]

I hope it recovers! If healthy it should without too many issues. Sadly any fish that like to graze can become clam nippers including tangs, but thankfully it doesn't seem common (although happened to me with several species of tang!)

 

[xjiang7]

I hope it recovers! If healthy it should without too many issues. Sadly any fish that like to graze can become clam nippers including tangs, but thankfully it doesn't seem common (although happened to me with several species of tang!)

Thanks! They looked fine this morning. I will post updates when I get home. Catching tang must be way harder than a blenny lol

 

[xjiang7]

Update: both of them are opening wider today; these are what they looked before the attack

 

[DSC reef]

They are looking good, I believe you'll have a full recovery

 

[xjiang7]

They are looking good, I believe you'll have a full recovery

Fingers crossed lol

 

[DSC reef]

The last pic with the plate and firefish photo bomb is excellent!

 

[Lukas75]

I'm glad everything appears to be making a full recovery

 

[xjiang7]

The last pic with the plate and firefish photo bomb is excellent!

Haha that plate coral is mine favorite coral in tank. It was one of the first corals and came from liveaquaria half dead. It made a full recovery with three extra mouth, one of which has already dropped become a baby plate coral

 

[xjiang7]

I'm glad everything appears to be making a full recovery

Thanks! The smaller one still looks a bit disgruntled. I will keep watching

 

[xjiang7]

update on the two clams, the larger one has fully recovered and the smaller one is also healthy, except where you can see one part of mantle was torn

 

[Phycodurus]

how are the clams doing, @xjiang7?

my flametail blenny (Ecsenius flavipes) not only took a liking to my maxima clams but also finished off a Cycloseris plate coral (one of my first corals). i finally got the blenny out a month ago.

i really like Ecsenius blennys (tailspot, bicolor, linear, bimaculatus, combtooth, etc), but it seems as a group they are just too risky with clams (i guess up to a certain larger size).

like so many other fish, it’s partly just luck, i guess. tail spots are too adorable to hide such little black hearts lol. ;Inpain

 

[xjiang7]

how are the clams doing, @xjiang7?

my flametail blenny (Ecsenius flavipes) not only took a liking to my maxima clams but also finished off a Cycloseris plate coral (one of my first corals). i finally got the blenny out a month ago.

i really like Ecsenius blennys (tailspot, bicolor, linear, bimaculatus, combtooth, etc), but it seems as a group they are just too risky with clams (i guess up to a certain larger size).

like so many other fish, it’s partly just luck, i guess. tail spots are too adorable to hide such little black hearts lol. ;Inpain

Thanks for asking l! They have been doing great since I removed the blennys.

 

[Phycodurus]

awesome!

any other blennies in yr tank besides Ecsenius species??

my only other blenny now is a lawnmower blenny.