Scooter Blenny

[Ndmartin0120]

I think I messed up today....bought a Red Scooter Blenny before I did any research on it "impulse buy." My tank is only about three months old and don't know if I have any pods for him to eat. Now I know they are hard to keep so what are my options...should I see if I should return him to LFS or see how he does?

[carey]

In such a new tank I would return him. I got caught the same way when I got my scooter. i was told he was a regular ole blenny. lol It took about a month for me to get him on prepared foods but in the meantime he ate my tank clean of pods. I have a fuge attached to the back of my tank as well. I had tried to return him but petco wouldnt take him back. i even called several fish stores to see if anyone would take him but they all said no. Thats how I ended up with my scooter.

[melosu58]

I would try to feed him some mysis shrimp or some vitamin fortified brine. If he does not eat any you might need to return him as he will probably starve.

[Ndmartin0120]

The only food I have so far is frozen Marine Cuisine Carnivore which does have brine and mysis shrimp in it..do u think that it would be okay to use? Thank you both for the advice and help. I am new to SW and I guess learning the hard way.

[carey]

Like i said i did the exact same thing. lol It happens. I now keep a reference book on fish and corals in my car so I am prepared. If I had known about their dietary needs i would never have gotten him. But now that he's healthy I'm glad.

Good luck, try anything and everything you have as far as food. You may get lucky.

[joy13]

Even with books in the car if a lfs mislabels a fish you could be getting something you didn't bargain for. A lot of wrasses come in as just assorted wrasses and are juvenile so when the grow up they will look totally different. My lfs has one labeled a purple wrasse and it actually is a chiseltooth wrasse.

[carey]

thats why I bring the book with me. lol I caught two distinct times that when I looked up what the lfs told me it was it was so not even close. Guy tryed to tell me once a sand perch was a blenny that was a herbivore. I looked it up in my handy book and showed the guy.

[Ndmartin0120]

Thank you for the help i'm gonna try to see if he will eat some of the frozen food I have and go from there.

[Ndmartin0120]

Looking at tank this morning and the blenny has stirred up the sand and now there is tons of fine sand floating in the entire water column don't know how to fix that thinking maybe should have went with a bigger grain type of sand

[carey]

My scooter makes a mess too sometimes. I think they disturb the sand like that to find food.

[Ndmartin0120]

Is there anything I can do to get the sand out of the column or just live with it? Not having clear water bothers the heck out of me!!!

[carey]

Mine only does it once in awhile now, yours may decide to stop or not. lol

Has he taken any food yet?

[Ndmartin0120]

Lights just turned on an hour ago so was gonna try to feed here in a little bit i'll let u know how it goes

[carey]

ok, good luck. I found when weaning them onto frozen that multiple feedings per day worked pretty well. Keep in mind these guys spend their entire day hunting for food. So once a day feeding is kinda not good. I feed at least twice a day now with the water flow off and the turkey baster to get the food to the fish. My scooter likes to eat off the sand bed so I shoot some food so it lays on the sand. he doesn't go for food much in the water column. Now my mandarin, she likes to eat the food from the top of the water, go figure. lol

[Ndmartin0120]

So I just fed and as soon as I put the food in the water the blenny perked up and started sifting the sand more and he also put all his fins up and fluttered his whole body so I guess it looks promising

[carey]

But did he eat any of the food?

[Ndmartin0120]

It looked like he did kinda hard to tell but he was sifting through the sand were the food had fallen

[carey]

I'd feed him again later and pay real close attention. I literally sit and watch my guys eat to make sure they are still ok with the frozen food. Rumor has it they can revert back to pods so i am paranoid and always watch em. lol

[Ndmartin0120]

Will do thanks for the help