Questions on eyelash blenny

I have been thinking long and hard on one more fish for my tank, and yesterday saw a grey eyelash blenny. He wasnt all that pretty, but boy did he seem to have the personality to make up for it.
Did the smart thing and decided to do some research on it before I bought. The trouble is, I can find anything on him, really.
Was wondering if anyone has had experience with them? Preferred food? Habits? Reef-safe?
I figured he'd be a decent little addition like most blenny's seem to be, but I'd rather turn to the honest experts and not the LFS which has burned me before.
TIA all!

 

i had a starry blenny they are cool fish. but if you have more aggressive algae eats like tangs the blenny will have difficulty feeding on any nori you put in the tank. i wasn't a fan of my blenny but maybe that was because he constantly(weekly) went into the overflow

 

I do have a tang (blonde naso), put its pretty chill. I actually use broccoli instead of nori, and the tang doesnt really mind when anything else touches that. I could always put another head of it down low for him too, if he eats it.
Also, I noticed the blenny seemed to be breathing a little fast. Then I noticed all the blenny's were breathing a little fast. Is this just something they do in comparison to other fish, or should I avoid the blenny's at the LFS?

 

Try looking for lawnmower blenny or algae blenny. I think those are more common names.

I have one and its a great fish. You're spot on about personality! Doesn't bother any corals, fish, or inverts. Mine only cares for algae that it can find on rocks or the glass. So far there's nothing I have added to the tank as far as food that it shows any interest in, so if there's any caution I could issue it would be to make sure you have ample algae present for it to eat.

 

it wasn't that the tang would be mean, its just blennies cant swim for long since no swim bladder, so there pretty easily crowded out of the food. also it takes the blenny longer to eat it, becuase its mouth is made to eat more loose algae or smaller green algae(it has a hard time breaking the pieces off) .

 

I see. So it probably wouldnt eat the broccoli then. No prob, I have nori too.

What about the faster breathing?

 

We have a couple down at the shop and I have to say they are probably the collest blenny I've seen personality wise. They don't seem to be afraid of anything or aggressive towards anything and they eat like pigs. Blennies tend to breath a little harder than most but I would still be cautious

 

I think they just do that!

 

That's what I thought but I wanted to make sure since I have never owned a blenny. But every video I have ever seen of them shows the same breathing, so I think they were just breathing normally - for a blenny.

 

I love my blenny. He's constantly scraping algae from the glass and rocks and gets along very well with all other fish. And they all have those adorable puppy dog faces. He'll be a fun addition to your tank. Kas