bicolor blenny won't eat his vegetables!

[deirdre138]

Hi,
My bicolor blenny seems to much prefer the reef nutrition arctipods and other meaty foods to the dried seaweed and algae diets that he is SUPPOSED to need as a herbivore... Any thoughts on this? I am a bit concerned that his nutritional needs aren't being met but he seems to only want to eat food out of the water column that are meant for other inhabitants of the tank. Should I try other foods? Should I just let him eat meat?
thanks
deirdre

 

[nickyblase]

feed the herbivorous food first, and then the meaty food. Is he getting algae anywhere else in the tank? I don't see mine eat nori, but I have seen him eat the spirulina pellets I plop in there. I also have a lot of diff kinds of algae in the tank that he feeds off of naturally.

As I understand it, if blenny's eat too much meaty food and not enough algae long term, they will get bloat, which is not good if they have it for a long time.

 

[deirdre138]

thanks so much. i think I will experiment with some other foods for him and try feeding them 1st. then the meateaters can wait

 

[jovreef]

You can also try wetting the nori & then rubbing it with your fingers in the tank, that will break off tiny peaces that will float around the tank. Maybe he will grab them out of the water column like this.