Cantusaurus

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I have had my lawnmower Blenny for about 6 weeks in my 32.5 gallon tank (long). The first 4 days it was in the tank it hid and didn't come out much, and would get scared if I came near the tank. I could see it grazing on the rocks at about the 3rd day I believe. It didn't come out when I fed Algae Pellets and other prepared food. I put an algae wafer about 4 days after I got the blenny and tried not to scare it. Luckily it was definitely eating it :) it became less fearful of me overtime, and would graze more. Over the first 2-3 weeks it would graze on the algae in my tank as well as the wafers which I put a portion of every other day. I kept trying to get it to eat the pellets, and it finally did, and it actually loves them and will eat them from the sand. It began to even swim with the other fish when I fed and would even eat out of the water column about a month after getting him. He surprisingly even eats Mysis, and other frozen foods I give! I tried flakes and Hikari Mega Marine Algae (Frozen Algae and Meat blend) and he loves them both!
BUT
He Is Skinny. Still Skinny. I didn't look at his size too much at first, especially since he hid a lot and didn't come out much the first couple days so I wasn't expecting him to be fat. He doesn't seem to want to fatten up. He doesn't appear to have anything wrong. He swims a lot, cleaned the algae off my glass, and there is plenty of green microlagae on my rockwork. He doesn't graze as much anymore, maybe because of the prepared food. But i've been feeding every day, and he's been eating. BUT NOT FATTENING UP!!! It's frustrating, and I'm trying to remember if he appeared that way when I got him, but it was hard to tell. He wasn't fat when I got him, but maybe not as skinny since he took a bit of time acclimating.
Should I return him to the store or rehome him?? I don't want him to end up having health complications if he stays, but I don't wanna stress him out getting him out of the tank.
He may just have a high metabolism or maybe not grazing as much as he should since he loves prepared food :( . I myself am pretty skinny despite eating, let's say, not the healthiest of foods. So I don't know anymore... Oh, and he doesn't seem to want the Seaweed Salad, from Sallys. San Francisco Bay Brand; Seaweed/Algae Sheets. He picked at it, but doesn't seem to like it or be interested. I could try again, but I don't want to add more nutrients to the tank, especially because i've tried and failed a couple times with it. Maybe the brand? I could try the Omega One sheets, I've heard those are good.
Suggestions would be appreciated.
Below are images of my blenny. And there is more microalgae on the rocks then it seems and in the pictures for the blenny. At this point whatever will be best for the Blenny I will do.

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watty21

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If he is eating then you're already past the hard part. And getting him comfortable around you is also a huge hurtle so congrats! I definitely wouldn't try to rehome. He'll just do the same thing elsewhere - be scared and hide for a while. Fish are super variable in how much weight they put on so don't worry too much. You can always try feeding multiple times a day and you can feed as much as he will eat!
 

Woodneers

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Looks like a normal blenny to me. If hes eating leave him alone and as he gets comfortable he will get nice and round! Most people start these threads because their blennies abdomen is enlarged from other issues.
 
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Cantusaurus

Cantusaurus

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Ok. Thank you! That sounds good, and sounds right. I'll try and feed him more and see if there are any changes.
 

hikermike

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Mine also loves crab cuisine and some flake foods and regular frozen foods. They're detrivores not herbivores. If I come close to the tank and not feed him, he starts rushing the tank and smashes his square jaw on the glass sounding like he's going to break it. (Like a pistol shrimp) They have a square flat plate to "bang" on the rocks to scrape the algae off! He also hid the first couple of months not coming out until nitetime
 
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Cantusaurus

Cantusaurus

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Mine also loves crab cuisine and some flake foods and regular frozen foods. They're detrivores not herbivores. If I come close to the tank and not feed him, he starts rushing the tank and smashes his square jaw on the glass sounding like he's going to break it. (Like a pistol shrimp) They have a square flat plate to "bang" on the rocks to scrape the algae off! He also hid the first couple of months not coming out until nitetime
Thanks! :) yeah I realized lately that he is more of a detrivore, and he pretty much eats all the frozen food, pellets, or flakes I put in the tank, and algae wafers. But he will not eat algae sheets for some reason. He's still skinny, but he fattensif he eats a lot, but when he hasn't eaten yet he looks skinny. So would he have some sort of worm this whole time and he's just not gotten over it and not gotten worse from it? Because i've had him for almost 3 months. He looks normal, and he grazes on the rock somewhat so I think it'll work out. But I still thinks his skinny belly is not normal.
 
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