my new reef in the making

[neoginn]

what should i feed a scooter blenny and yellow tail damsel fish?

Ok first we need to know how old your tank is and all the information. Equip, LR, .....


The reason I ask is because one of these fish may be a bad choice and the other is absolutely a bad choice for a new tank.

Damsels can become aggressive although people do keep them. They will eat Mysid Shrimp, meaty foods, and probably flakes/pellets.


The Scooter Blenny is a difficult fish to keep. Many sites have misleading info. Its main food source is pods as with its cousin, the mandarin. It is a dragonet and not a blenny and its chance of not starving to death in a new tank are not too good. A well established refigium or a seperate pod culturing setup is needed. Some and only some will accept prepared foods but most are to big for them. Please return this fish if your tank is new.

You can ask for any fish you are thinking of getting and most people can help.

[roka64]

Mike is correct. See if you can get the blenny to eat, by soaking frozen food in garlic extreme, for 10-30 minutes. The damsel will eat about anything you put in there.

[neoginn]

ok so luckily its Halloween and i have the day of so right now at 9:30am i am going to run out to the fish store and see if it will eat some of the stuff you guys recommend. BRB i will post again very shortly.

I have only had sucess with Dry Cyclopeeze (Powdered kind) I feel it is because it is very very small. I soak it so it sinks to the botton and he picks it off the sand. Most other foods are to big.

Not only that but realize thaat many specimens will not eat anything but pods for a long time and sometimes never.

I think you are going to fight an uphill battle and the poor thing may starve. I had a situation similar to this. It is a long story but I purchased a used, established refigium and alot of used chaeto that was crawling with pods.

If I were you I would return the fish or give to someone that can properly take care of it. If you like the look of this fish, as I do there are Goby's that are similar, great fish, and easier to take care of.

[blazeyreef]

I JUST went through this exact same problem! got a scooter blenny, and found out it was a dragonet, and got a damsel and he became aggressive!

[neoginn]

what a freaking struggle i had today. i went to 3 fish stores to see of a few things, one of course was food and the other to see if i could GIVE the fish to them. ALL SAID NO. the business part of me understands because what if the fish has some kind of disease and infects their other fish, but my other side says "JERKS!!!" Anyways, i tried omega one algae food because one store said they were algae grazers... he ignored it but my hermit crab went to town on it. Red Scooter Dragonet / Blenny, one hard fish to please...

do you think that if i feed my dragonet some zooplankton that he may just stand a chance? i saw this on liveaquaria.com http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...AA&N=2004+6125
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/food/dried_foods.jpg
http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

also my yellow tail damsel does not want any food i give it. i see him picking at stuff thats floating in the tank, but he usually spits it out. can someone give me some ideas for feeding him (please be specific). thanks for you help all.

[roka64]

My damsels eat flakes, have you tried those? They will also eat mysis and brine, but I still soak them in garlic/zoe/selcon. If you damsel is not eating, that might be a problem. Can you post water tests?

[melosu58]

Maybe try some mysis shrimp. Better for them than brine. I agree about soaking in galic as Scott mentioned

[neoginn]

ok, i got my red scooter dragonet/ benny to eat, he likes sinking pellet. in about an hour i am going to do a parameters check... i will chime back in before 7pm.

[roka64]

Cool! That's great news!

[blazeyreef]

what kind of sinking pellets?

[neoginn]

I used the saltwater master liquid test kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and here are the results:
Ammonia NH3: 0
NH4+: 0
pH: 8.3
Nitrite(NO2-): 0
Nitrate(NO3-): 0

i need to get a calcium test, but most are really expensive, so it will need to wait until my next paycheck

it should be known that i do not run a protein skimmer, all i use are live rock and a small power filter. in the small power filter i use cotton (which i get from walmart) and replace the filter everyday to remove any build up (thats how i got the nitrates (NO3-) to read so low.

as for the food for the red scooter dragonet: http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...131+4294966859
its called HBH Super Soft "soft and moist fish food with krill", small pellets. reading the label it seems like its krill/brine shrimp with a mix of veggies all rolled into one pellet.

now for the question. how often should i feed the red scooter dragonet/blenny?