Looking at getting a blenny for some algae control

[Capslock]

I have been reading up on certain types of blennys being good for some algae control. I have a bunch of algae on the glass of my tank, and plenty on the rocks and I want to remove it in the most natural way possible i.e. getting critters to do the job.

Right now I have snails, crabs, and a sand sifting star.

I am now looking into the blenny but I noticed some compatibility charts say to use caution with invertebrates.

Does anyone know which types of invertebrate's these guys do not like? I read some blennys are specific about that.

In addition, does anyone have experiences with specific blennys that you would like to share?

I am looking at getting one of the following:
Probably:
Starry blenny
or
Sailfin/Algae Blenny

Possibly:
Tail Spot Blenny

Maybe:
bicolor


Also: will a blenny eat off of a glass wall or just stick to the live rock? i have more algae on the walls than the rock so I am actually trying to base another critter around that.

Thanks for your input

 

[mr_X]

an algae/lawnmower blenny will not hurt any inhabitants. mine eats off of the rock and glass, and return lines....
they do get to be about 5 inches long though, and they are a bit clumsy- knocking frags off of rocks..things like that.
i don't think any of the others will do the job the lawnmower blenny does. i think the rest of those are more of a ground/uneaten food cleanup crew.

 

[metalac]

+1 for the lawnmover blenny. Mine is going nuts cleanning things. Make sure you have enough rocks so it can have some longterm food, since it might be a bit hard to train to eat anything else, but algae.

 

[shavo]

My algea blenny ate everything i put in there.

the poor little guy had a tumor and recently went to blenny heaven.

 

[Capslock]

metalac and mr_x,

thanks for the info, I was leaning towards the lawnmower since I read so much about the critter.

I have about of 45 to 50 lbs of live rock, all from fiji so very dense.

I am thinking about getting maybe 10 lbs more in the near future and maybe more sand...thats all up in the air though.

As far as the long term algae,

As long as he likes to eat the green algae on the glass that looks like a field of grass he will be fine. There is plenty on there for everyone.

 

[Anonymous]

Lawnmower blenny is the way to go. The will peck at algae all over the place and not harm inverts.

 

[Capslock]

Shavo,

what do you mean he ate everything? do you mean suppliments, critters, corals, anemones?

 

[JimC]

I have a bi-color. Eats everything I feed my fish. Likes picking algae of the powerheads. By far the best pesonality in the tank. The families favorite fish.

 

[shavo]

I mean by he ate everything is that anything i put in there for food he would eat. meaty foods, flakes, pelets. he ate everything. I didn't see him doing too much algea control.

 

[Nemo2007]

Had Bicolor Blenny. Great personality and ate off of glass but mostly an omnivore. Mine ate more fish flake and brine shrimp than algae. I don't think the average specimen will eat enough algae to make you happy.

The safest choice is the lawnmower blenny. With that said. I recently purchased a Starry Blenny that is still in quarantine. I just can't get into the color scheme of the basic lawnmower blenny myself. I was told the starry was essentially a color morph of the lawnmower blenny and represented the same species by one LFS. Another LFS told me that was not true so I'm not sure who to believe. The one I have is behaving like an an almost complete herbivore in quarantine. We'll see what happens in the display tank.

Your tank sounds like my old tank. Overrun with algae. If that's the case, I will evoke the words of Mr. X from previous forums and say maybe it would be better to try and find out what is fueling the underlying algae growth so it may be eliminated as extra fish add extra bioload and waste. Extra waste means more alage.

In my opinion, snails and crabs may help with algae and waste management but sand sifter starfish are counterproductive. I would imagine they are only useful in tanks with large enough sandbeds that would allow microfauna to reproduce quicker than the starfish can capture and consume them.

 

[Capslock]

From my observation, the algae growth on everything is from the lights (which makes sense of course). I reason this since before I got the light the ammonia,nitrite,nitrate levels were all 0 and the water and glass was crystal clear - then I put the light in and within days algae was everywhere.

My snails and crabs are doing a good job on the rocks but the sails are kinda bushing over the hairy algae on the glass.

I ideally want the algae go away naturally off the glass but it is starting to get quite thick. I am looking at a protein skimmer before I start adding corals and anemones and a couple other fish but the bio-load and the light are sure to be the reasons all this algae exist.

 

[Mthompson]

Algae definitely needs nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) to grow. It also needs light to photosynthesize. Without either one, the algae does not grow! In your case the readings are zero because of faulty tests or the algae is removing all the nitrates/phosphates immediately (so it appears there is none).

The starry blenny or lawnmower blenny will help out with the algae problem. I added 5 snails and 1 lawnmower last saturday to my 120gal. (and a bunch of macro algae). They have so far cleared most of the glass (with little bits left here and there) and all but two rocks. The lawnmower also like to munch on the helimeda and mermaid's fans that I have, so be careful if you have any in your tank.

I also don't think you definitely need some macro algae. The algae may get eaten, but the animals will excrete NH4 (which turns to nitrates as an end product of the nitrogen cycle), so you need to add something that actually removes the nitrates from the system and holds them. Macro algae can then be pruned and removed from the system when they grow, effectively removing the nitrates (and phosphates) with it.

 

[Capslock]

Mthompson,

Thanks for the info.

I do have probably 30 fan worms that came along with one piece of my live rock; and I definitely wouldn't want their life compromised since I like having them there for aesthetics.

I never looked into macro algae, ill have to do some catch up reading on that.

Faulty testing may be possible since I have only detected nitrates or nitrites rarely since the tanks inception.

I am still waiting on the snails deciding to eat off of the glass instead of the rocks; 4 of them are finally on the glass consistently so we will see what happens but so far based on their habits the algae on the glass is growing faster than they are eating.

At one point I didnt mind the growth since it was natural but it looks like it will get to a point where i will really need to look hard into the tank in order to see everything.

I have also noticed some sponge growth on my rock which was pure in color at the beginning but now is covered in growth.

I figure the snails and the rest will take care of the algae but based on my signature, if there is this much now i cant imagine what it will be like when I begin to increase the bio-load; I guess this is where the protein skimmer comes in?

 

[Mthompson]

Sorry about the confusion. The mermaid's fans are another type of calcareous algae. I have them, as they cam in on some live rock along with the helimeda. So your tube worms will be safe....

I'd definitely get some macro algae. As for the snails, I would try placing them on the glass. You can just pick them up and place the bottom of the shell on the glass and hold it there until the snail grabs on. I did this for my powerheads and they are all clean now.

 

[Capslock]

Mthompson,

Interesting on the placement of the snails; I will look into that and see how it works out. Thanks!

 

[UAE reefer girl]

Hi,

Just a plug for the Bi-Color Blenny. I had one in a previous tank in which I bought LR covered with hair algae. It was all that was available at the time. That cute little blenny devoured that hair algae and was so much fun to watch. I adored him. He was a really tremendous little fish. Loads of personality. He was my favorite! :lol:

 

[JimC]

Update on my Bi-Color blennie people may find interesting.

He's my fav fish by far as stated before.

This week he decided he liked the taste of SPS. Kinda weird. I actually traded the 1 SPS he was attacking. Things were good. Then I brought home 3 more SPS and chomp, chomp, chomp. He attacked this blue tipped acro like he had a grudge against it.

He's now in my fuge awaiting a good home. Don't want to send him to a LFS.

Heads up when buying these guys..

 

[bfield02]

So what do you feed them if they run out of algea to eat? Just curious because i just added a Lawnmower and a Diamond Goby and Yellow Rabbit fish to my tank

 

[mr_X]

like shavo said- algae blennies eat anything. flake, misis, formula b...whatever you toss in there.
i don't know about the diamond goby, but you can feed nori to the rabbit fish.

 

[Blue Tang]

hi mate , just thought i'd tell you i got one of these urchine's to take care of some algae i had , and this guy won't touch any coral either!!!not too sure on his genus? Blue tang :mrgreen: