Also Known As: Starry Lawnmower Blenny, Snowflake Blenny
Compatibility and Behavior
Have you ever looked into a galaxy of stars? The Starry Blenny (Salarias ramosus) is a personality fish with a starry night-sky colorway. A dark brown to nearly black body is densely peppered with tiny white to pale blue star-like spots, and between that speckling, the blunt head, big expressive eyes, and tufted cirri on the crown, it's a genuine character that spends much of its day perched on a rock watching the tank go by. It's also a hard worker, prized like its Lawnmower cousin for grazing film and filamentous algae off rock and hard surfaces, though individual appetites vary from strongly herbivorous to more omnivorous. It's reef safe and coexists peacefully with a wide range of fish and inverts in most community reefs, with one familiar blenny caveat: it can get territorial toward other blennies or similarly shaped algae grazers, which it sees as competition, so keep it as the only blenny in the tank unless you have plenty of space.
Aquarium Requirements
Like the other grazing blennies, this fish needs a tank that actually grows algae. It does best in an established system around 30 gallons or larger with abundant mature live rock coated in natural microalgae and biofilm to graze, and it favors rockscapes with lots of ledges, caves, and crevices to hop, perch, and retreat into over wide-open swimming space. A tight-fitting lid or mesh screen is important, since blennies are capable jumpers, especially when excited or chased. Pair a well-matured tank with regular supplemental algae-based feeding, nori, spirulina flakes and pellets, and algae wafers, plus the occasional meaty item like mysis or brine.
Specifications
Approximate Size: Sm/Md: 1.75–2.5", Lg: 2.5–3", XL: 3–4"
Diet: Herbivore; grazes filamentous and film algae, supplemented with nori, spirulina-based flakes and pellets, algae wafers, and occasional meaty foods such as mysis or brine shrimp
Origin: Indo-West Pacific
Care Level: Easy to moderate
Reef Safe: Yes
Temperament: Peaceful
Minimum Tank Size: 30 gallons
Special Considerations: Depends on natural algae and biofilm to graze, so it needs a well-established tank and regular supplemental algae-based feeding; can be territorial toward other blennies or similar algae grazers, so best kept as the only blenny; a capable jumper, so a tight-fitting lid is recommended