How do you tell if a lawnmower blenny is skinny?

I finnally picked up a lawnmower blenny feeling pretty comfortable that my tank should be able to provide enough variety and amount of algae to feed one. Now that I have one though, I am not sure how to tell if he is skinny and losing weight, or if he is finding enough food of his liking and is atleast maintaining well.

 

How long have you had him? Did he look skinny when you bought him?

 

I have had him about 3 months now. To me he still looks slightly skinny, he was ravenous the first two days I had him. He swam rapidly around the tank tasting just about everything, now he is more relaxed, just sitting around hanging out. I pretty much never see him eat. I havent really had any success in getting him to eat anything that I give to him, but I can see the signature bite marks on the glass (combined with the fact he isnt dead yet) so I know he is eating atleast a little. He was BADLY skinny when I first got him, from underneath his belly was caved inward. now it is flat, and you can see it sort of pops outward on the sides, up near his head. However his overall all thickness just still looks skinny and I thought he should have put on the appropriate weight in 3 months. Here is a picture I just took today. I welcome any opinion.

 

He looks a little skinny but you really seem to have a good amount of food for him.....

 

thanks for confirmining that for me. I cant really do much else for him except just keep offering extra/different food to see if he will finally eat one. (which will also be a relief so I have a back up plan if he somehow depletes all the algae)

 

A well fed lawnmower blenny would be easy to spot as their little bellies get pretty fat. Is it eating the nori? If so, you should have no problem fattening it up. Try soaking it in some Selcom for a little extra nutrition.

 

Wha are you feeding the tank? Ours eats anything and everything lol. He is fat and barely can swim around the tank haha we put him on a bit of a diet cause looked like e was about to pop!!

Older pic. Only one I have on my phone

 

You can also try this.It has Garlic added to it and herbivores just love it.I agree that Nori if he will eat it would be good as well.

Aquarium Fish Foods: Ocean Nutrition Formula Two Frozen Food

 

He doesnt touch nori, doesnt touch formula two, I even tried some algae wafers. I knew I was taking a risk getting one that had never been proven to feed on other food. The rest of my tank is fed a varity of foods from krill to brine shimp to squid to even "emerald entree" (a mix of veggies and protien).

 

Mine did the same Would not touch any prepared foods at all, including nori. Tried basically everything. And I could not catch him, since he had no interest in any foods. He lasted about 5-6 months :-[