Lawnmower Blenny

Lawnmower blenny (Salarias fasciatus) is a mottled brown and cream Indo-Pacific blenny with a blunt, frog-like head and high-set eyes. It has no swim bladder, so it perches on rock and glass rather than swimming in open water, hopping from surface to surface while rasping at algae. For a fish with almost no colour, it has a great deal of character.

Aquarium care

• Grazes film algae from rock and glass, which is why most people buy one.
• Will starve once the film algae runs out unless you feed it directly. Offer dried marine algae or nori and algae-based prepared foods as a matter of routine.
• Needs a good amount of established live rock to graze over.
• Generally peaceful with unrelated fish, but can be territorial toward other blennies and similar perching species.
• Does not eat corals, though it will perch on them.
• A jumper, so keep the tank covered.

It suits an established reef or fish-only tank with mature rockwork, alongside clownfish, cardinalfish, gobies and other calm species. It is not a fix for a new tank's algae bloom, and it does poorly in small, sterile systems with nothing to rasp at. Stock rotates as shipments land; local pickup at our Lethbridge store. See more in saltwater fish.