I have been called many things lately, but Aquaculture Advocate and Aquaculture Junkie are my two favorites. My store and I have gotten quite a name in the industry for being the LFS who is Aquaculture obsessed; I am always looking for more captive bred fish to add to our product line. I was talking to another like-minded person a few months ago and she suggested I get some aquacultured Molly Miller Blennies. She continued to tell me that they were great for algae control, cyano bacteria, and even aiptasia control. That seemed like a big list for any fish, and it was hard to believe that I didn’t know about a captive bred fish. I put the name in the back of my mind and life went on. A while later I came across the name on a stock list and it came back to me. I ordered six of them to try out, along with some other aquacultured fish, and went on with my day.
They came in and we put them in a tank with some hair algae. It seemed like they mowed it down in just a few days. That was a big achievement in itself. They didn’t stay long, we were excited about their accomplishments in our aquarium and told people about them. Soon we got in another order of them, 18 this time. They were soooo cool sitting in this 4 ft tank together. We decided to test this aiptasia theory. They blew us away with the hair algae so we tried aiptasia. We tried to find all the aiptasia we could and threw it in there. It took a little while longer than the hair algae but they cleaned it up perfectly.
These guys are blennies so you know they have personality. If they lack anything, it’s color. That’s ok though because they are so functional, reef safe, and small. What more can you ask for in a fish that takes the job of snails, hermit crabs, and probably most other inverts that you may need? They can be together or single and thrive in almost any aquarium environment, including reef or FOWLR (fish only with live rock).
I have not had a huge amount of time to watch these guys but whenever I have a chance to watch the tank I smile at their antics. Sometimes they sit there and stare right back at you, other times they swim around and chase each other. They do love to eat; whenever we feed them and all the other captive bred fish they are not shy.
I am so impressed that these amazing little fish are captive bred. They are not expensive and stay small.
As you can tell I am not only aquaculture obsessed but Molly Miller Blenny obsessed as well.
Please comment below with your own Molly Miller Blenny stories!
If you would like to read some more technical and in depth articles on these great fish, here are some links:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/9/fish
https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2016/08/03/molly-miller-blennies-for-aiptasia-control/
I recently added a Molly Miller to my Aquarium. Though I never see it eat,
it looks very hardy and thick. I had a huge Byrophyta Bloom which I brought under control with some Lettuce Nudibranchs. Since Molly Millers allegedly eat Algae, I’m assuming that’s what it was feeding on.
Happy to say, more Water Changes and Lettuce Nudibranchs took care of The Byrophyta.
As insurance I took some Algae out of my scrubber and placed it behind my Live Rocks. I don’t want my Molly Miller or Lettuce Nudibranchs to starve.
I enjoy the antics of this Fish…A True Character.