Tailspot Blenny not eating

[tranceFusion]

Hello, I have had a Tailspot Blenny for about 12 days and have not seen him really eat. My tank is pretty clean so there isn't any nuisance algae to feed off. I have seen him pick at the rocks a few times but that's about it. He won't eat anything from the water column, even if it goes right past his face.

 

I have tried Two Little Fishes seaweed sheets rubberbanded to rock, LRS Herbivore Frenzy, San Fran Emerald Entree, and Formula 2 flakes. He isn't very shy and seems interested in the food, but he just lets it float past his face without attempting to take a bite. I have a ocellaris clown, yellow clown goby, emerald crab and skunk cleaner shrimp in the tank and they are all pretty aggressive eaters so it's hard to leave any sort of food just sitting around hoping he would eat it.

 

Is there something else I can try? Algae wafers? Is there some sort of live macroalgae I can buy that they would eat in their natural environment?

[Tired]

Do you have access to live foods? Something wiggly might get his attention, like mosquito larvae or blackworms/whiteworms. 

 

Can you get a rock somewhere that's covered in algae? Consider putting a small rock  from the tank in a jar of water on the windowsill, and adding a pinch of food to decay into nutrients. You might be able to rustle up some hair algae. 

[Clown79]

All the tsb i got did the same thing.

 

Get some nori strips, i like to tie it down with an elastic around a small rock or pvc pipe. Its more natural to them than a clip.

Mine would eat that 

[tranceFusion]

2 hours ago, Tired said:

Do you have access to live foods? Something wiggly might get his attention, like mosquito larvae or blackworms/whiteworms. 

 

Can you get a rock somewhere that's covered in algae? Consider putting a small rock  from the tank in a jar of water on the windowsill, and adding a pinch of food to decay into nutrients. You might be able to rustle up some hair algae. 

blackworms like you would feed freshwater fish? I will try the rock trick but I suspect he will be gone if I don't get some food in him before any meaningful amount of hair algae grew. I was hoping there was some sort of macro algae I could buy that they would eat.

 

15 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

All the tsb i got did the same thing.

 

Get some nori strips, i like to tie it down with an elastic around a small rock or pvc pipe. Its more natural to them than a clip.

Mine would eat that 

Did they survive or just waste away? I did try the nori strips attached to a rock but he didn't seem to go for it yet.

[Tired]

I know that, between blackworms and whiteworms, one lives longer in saltwater. I don't remember which. I know mosquito larvae will last awhile, since they don't have gills- they breathe from the air. Wiggling is good to get the attention of just about any fish, except the ones that are pure biofilm/algae grazers (like freshwater plecos), so it might be worth a try on this guy. If nothing else, your others should enjoy some worms.

 

What size is the tank, does he have lots of good places to hide, and is he being hassled by anything? 

 

Does he look like he's in okay shape right now? Not getting too skinny? He might be able to get a bit of food from the rocks, even if the tank is new. I don't think they'll really eat macroalgae, though maybe he'd chew on ulva? If not, oh well, ulva is good nutrient export anyway. 

 

You could always overfeed the tank slightly or reduce water changes (within reason to keep the parameters decent) to encourage algae growth. With enough algae, he might be able to just graze for most of his diet, which would be pretty cool. 

[FollyFish]

Ive had 2 different TBS (both lived for a number of years before I did something stupid that killed them) and neither ate algae. But both would eat the frozen meat foods. Try frozen mysis or brine shrimp with garlic. Even if it ends up that the TBS wont eat it all the others will love you for it. 

[Clown79]

10 hours ago, tranceFusion said:

blackworms like you would feed freshwater fish? I will try the rock trick but I suspect he will be gone if I don't get some food in him before any meaningful amount of hair algae grew. I was hoping there was some sort of macro algae I could buy that they would eat.

 

Did they survive or just waste away? I did try the nori strips attached to a rock but he didn't seem to go for it yet.

Unfortunately the 2 i got didn't but that was over months of competing for food with faster fish and lack of algae.

[tranceFusion]

I had a bit of a breakthrough! I put my clown in a breeder box during feeding time, turned off the pumps,  and then mixed up formula 2 flakes, cyclops, emerald entree, and some herbivore frenzy and squirted it with a pipette into the clay pot the TSB likes to hang out in, then left the room to watch. So basically he was surrounded in a cloud of food. I also put some nori rubberbanded to another small pot right next to him. He started tasting the food and coming out more and more to grab at the food in the water column, and then he continued picking at the nori which I left in there for a few hours (still not sure if he is eating any of the nori because a lot of bigger pieces just get repeatedly spit back out).