My Scooter Blenny
I haven't blogged anything about my saltwater fish tank, and since I don't have anything else to blog about, I thought I'd mention it. A few months ago, I was at the Petco on Sepulveda Blvd in Van Nuys. It's a dinky Petco and only has a handful of mediocre saltwater fish tanks. I looked into the tank and saw the saddest fish I'd ever seen.
It was a Red Scooter Blenny that was tiny and emaciated - its stomach was so sunken that it looked like it was holding in its breath. It broke my heart. In the wild, Scooter Blennies only feed on tiny live microscopic pods. Tiny live microscopic pods that are NOWHERE to be found in a Petco holding tank. He fluttered around the tank on his tiny side fins, moving gracefully about the tank, looking in vain for something to eat.
I watched that poor little guy and saw that he was only $6. I had room for another small fish in my tank - and because I've got a lot of live rock in my tank, I knew that I had a collection of some of the pods that it feeds on. So even though he's not the prettiest or flashiest saltwater fish, I bought the guy - not knowing if I'd be able to keep him alive long term, but knowing that he'd stand a better chance in my tank than in the Petco tank.
I took the guy home and put him in my tank. In the first few weeks, I started reading everything I could about the feeding habits of the Scooter Blenny. Most of the information recommends building up a colony of the pods, because Scooter Blennies won't eat regular fish food. In rare cases, owners have gotten Scooter Blennies to eat regular fish food, but it involves a lot of work to wean them off the food they eat in the wild to something completely foreign to them.
While I researched, the Blenny disappeared from my tank. I wasn't sure if it was just hiding amongst the rockwork - or if it had died. I would only be out $6, but I felt bad for the poor little emaciated guy. I wondered if I should have just let him die at Petco and hope that maybe Petco would stop ordering unhealthy fish to die in their store.
A week later, I spotted movement in the rockwork of my tank. He was ALIVE! My Scooter Blenny was alive!
And he was FAT. Like ORCA FAT. My little fish had suddenly gone from being a tiny, emaciated Clay Aiken - to Ruben Studdard after having EATEN Clay Aiken.
In the next few days, whenever I fed the tank, I would watch him veraciously attack the frozen fish food. Somehow, my little guy had gone from eating tiny microscopic pods - to eating huge chunks of fish food about half his size. As best as I can tell, the movement of the chunks of fish food simulated the movement of his live food that he usually feeds on, so he made the switch. From all the reading I've done, teaching it to accept new food is extremely difficult if you're trying to do it - let alone, if you're like me and not trying to do it.
Alas, my digital camera doesn't take good pics underwater, so this is a pic of a Scooter Blenny I grabbed from an online saltwater fish store. This Scooter Blenny in this pic is like Aretha Franklin circa "Freeway of Love" and "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me". My guy is Aretha Franklin circa RIGHT NOW.
Now the guy moseys around my tank all the time - just kicking back til feeding time. I suppose I should feel happy that he's well-fed and alive - but I feel a bit guilty.
Before he moved around with grace and form on his tiny fins, now he just kinda meanders around, sliding around on his enormous belly. He's happy and alert, but he doesn't move like he used to - though, how could he? He's HUGE now. He's like a fat guy trying to dance ballet. I don't suppose there's any sort of diet and exercise plan I can put him on. I just have to hope that his little fish body can handle the extra pounds.
Sigh. Even my pet fish are overweight and out-of-shape.
It was a Red Scooter Blenny that was tiny and emaciated - its stomach was so sunken that it looked like it was holding in its breath. It broke my heart. In the wild, Scooter Blennies only feed on tiny live microscopic pods. Tiny live microscopic pods that are NOWHERE to be found in a Petco holding tank. He fluttered around the tank on his tiny side fins, moving gracefully about the tank, looking in vain for something to eat.
I watched that poor little guy and saw that he was only $6. I had room for another small fish in my tank - and because I've got a lot of live rock in my tank, I knew that I had a collection of some of the pods that it feeds on. So even though he's not the prettiest or flashiest saltwater fish, I bought the guy - not knowing if I'd be able to keep him alive long term, but knowing that he'd stand a better chance in my tank than in the Petco tank.
I took the guy home and put him in my tank. In the first few weeks, I started reading everything I could about the feeding habits of the Scooter Blenny. Most of the information recommends building up a colony of the pods, because Scooter Blennies won't eat regular fish food. In rare cases, owners have gotten Scooter Blennies to eat regular fish food, but it involves a lot of work to wean them off the food they eat in the wild to something completely foreign to them.
While I researched, the Blenny disappeared from my tank. I wasn't sure if it was just hiding amongst the rockwork - or if it had died. I would only be out $6, but I felt bad for the poor little emaciated guy. I wondered if I should have just let him die at Petco and hope that maybe Petco would stop ordering unhealthy fish to die in their store.
A week later, I spotted movement in the rockwork of my tank. He was ALIVE! My Scooter Blenny was alive!
And he was FAT. Like ORCA FAT. My little fish had suddenly gone from being a tiny, emaciated Clay Aiken - to Ruben Studdard after having EATEN Clay Aiken.
In the next few days, whenever I fed the tank, I would watch him veraciously attack the frozen fish food. Somehow, my little guy had gone from eating tiny microscopic pods - to eating huge chunks of fish food about half his size. As best as I can tell, the movement of the chunks of fish food simulated the movement of his live food that he usually feeds on, so he made the switch. From all the reading I've done, teaching it to accept new food is extremely difficult if you're trying to do it - let alone, if you're like me and not trying to do it.
Alas, my digital camera doesn't take good pics underwater, so this is a pic of a Scooter Blenny I grabbed from an online saltwater fish store. This Scooter Blenny in this pic is like Aretha Franklin circa "Freeway of Love" and "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me". My guy is Aretha Franklin circa RIGHT NOW.
Now the guy moseys around my tank all the time - just kicking back til feeding time. I suppose I should feel happy that he's well-fed and alive - but I feel a bit guilty.
Before he moved around with grace and form on his tiny fins, now he just kinda meanders around, sliding around on his enormous belly. He's happy and alert, but he doesn't move like he used to - though, how could he? He's HUGE now. He's like a fat guy trying to dance ballet. I don't suppose there's any sort of diet and exercise plan I can put him on. I just have to hope that his little fish body can handle the extra pounds.
Sigh. Even my pet fish are overweight and out-of-shape.
posted by Eugene at 2:25 AM
1 Comments:
I so enjoyed reading about your scooter!! I have a red one too, and the dumb people at the pet store didn't tell me he needed a well established aquarium to survive! He's so thin, my tank is only 1 week old! But I bought 2000 pods from a place called Live Feeds and he is looking alittle bit better now. I do have the live rock, but only one big one, the rest are dead rocks....I'm heading off today to get him some live tube worms. I've read that they like to eat those too, out of the sand. Unlike yours mine cost $30.00!! And I like him so much, I'd sure like him to make it!
Well, thanks for sharing about your scooter.
Mandy in NJ
www.rockmoorchihuahuas.com
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