magikarp Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 My Tiger Blenny always enjoys chillin in a upside down shell, but I am a bit concerned, he has been in the same one for 2 days now and refuses to leave. He keeps his body half in, half out all the time. So he can watch what is going on but won't leave. I'm concerned because a hermit crab started messing with the shell and rather than leave it like he normally would, instead he retreated deeper Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Get him a bigger shell! He'll love you for it. Then you put the shell pretty much anywhere and know where he is. Mine was very similar. I could lift the shell out of the water and he'd wait patiently in the teaspoon of water till I put him back in the tank. Link to comment
magikarp Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 Is he eating? He ate a couple mouthfuls of food that passed his shell. He's normally so fat I'm worried he will burst, still a healthy weight for now. He mostly eats film algae from the rocks and glass rather than what I put into the tank, so it's hard to say how much he gets just by watching him at feeding time I'm worried something has spooked him, he's normally such a bold fish Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 He ate a couple mouthfuls of food that passed his shell. He's normally so fat I'm worried he will burst, still a healthy weight for now. He mostly eats film algae from the rocks and glass rather than what I put into the tank, so it's hard to say how much he gets just by watching him at feeding time I'm worried something has spooked him, he's normally such a bold fish Any new tank mates? New cats in the house? Maybe he's a she and it's nesting instinct Link to comment
magikarp Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 No new tank mates, and it's an understocked (7 fish) 115g. I noticed he changed she'll today, but looks pale. I'll try target feed him tonight Link to comment
magikarp Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 i'm really worried now. I have target fed for 2 days and it's a real effort to get him to eat even a small amount of food. And target feeding is incredibly difficult in my tank. Even though there's only another couple fish, my Yellow tang and female occy are impossible to satisfy and such competitive eaters. Should I isolate the blenny to try feed it void of competition? Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Placate the tangs with food on one side of the tank then shoot some his direction. Or you could move his shell into a spot easier to reach. Link to comment
magikarp Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 Yeah, that doesn't work. The tang will only follow where I'm feeding at the time. Then look for whatever it missed later. Even tried 2 people feeding the tank at once, it won't be distracted Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Might have to resort to moving the shell if you can pry it off the rock. Otherwise I'm out of ideas lol Link to comment
magikarp Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 It's a loose shell, I can easily move the blenny Link to comment
magikarp Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 I tried to hand feed again today. It's hard to see exactly how much he is eating. But he finally left the shell for a few minutes and didn't look sucked in, although he is noticeably more pale than before. I'll keep hand feeding best I can. My other fish are loving it, all the extra food, my clowns are spawning like crazy Link to comment
magikarp Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 this is so frustrating and disheartening. I made some progress, got him to eat a good amount of flake from my hand a couple days in a row, and he is spending more time out of the shell. But unfortunately still not grazing. The female clown and yellow tang are making things so hard. Hand feeding started OK because they were afraid of my hand, but not really anymore, I can grab the tang in the water with my hand and it doesnt care. It follows where ever I am feeding. I put a whole cube of mysis shrimp in the water to distract the Tang, but it completely ignored it, preferring to follow around my empty hand. My female clown is more and more aggressively biting my hand when I put it in the tank. It is also marking territory by rubbing it's head in the sand near my Blenny's preferred hideout. And no matter how much they eat, how fat they get, their appetite and baldness only increases. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 You'll have to move the blenny to a spot up high that you can spot feed him. Either that, or get rid of some fish. I'll let you choose which fish you like best. Sometimes nature doesn't follow our plans... actually, usually Mother nature is a bitch like that Link to comment
metrokat Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 take an empty gallon soda bottle, cut off the bottom and place it over the blenny and shell. feed through that, the food will be free from interference by the other fish Link to comment
magikarp Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 thanks Metrokat, that was a really good idea. It briefly worked, but once he realised he was trapped he freaked out big time. I'll try find a bigger container and try again. Link to comment
Tamberav Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 What about a feeding clip for the tangs/other fish? Put roggers food on it or nori. Once they learn the clip = food, they may be more interested in that then your hand. Link to comment
magikarp Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 Like I said, they are dumb. They'd ignore an all you can eat buffet to follow around an empty hand. The other fish in the tank will be distracted by other food, just my Clown and my Tang. I got the Blenny to eat a decent amount of pellets (0.5mm) yesterday. I'll keep feeding these, hopefully get some weight back on him. He is better than a week ago, he leaves the shell. But still not grazing as he was previously. Link to comment
ndrobey Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Get a bigger shell. Make a decent sized hole in the top. Drop the blenny's food into the hole. He can eat it, but the others can't. Link to comment
magikarp Posted November 7, 2015 Author Share Posted November 7, 2015 through lots of effort, I've got him fat again. But his behavior is still way more timid than normal. Link to comment
magikarp Posted November 11, 2015 Author Share Posted November 11, 2015 I'm really happy, yesterday he competed for food, so I didn't hand feed for the first time in 2 weeks. He's also out of the shell during the day. Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Maybe he just had the fish flu.... Link to comment
magikarp Posted November 14, 2015 Author Share Posted November 14, 2015 Started to graze for algae again the last couple days. Massive relief that he is doing OK again. Link to comment
magikarp Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 overweight again at last haha Link to comment
BRN Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 glad this worked out for you Link to comment
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