Bicolor Blenny attacks!

I've got a small problem with my Bicolor Blenny that just presented itself to me tonight.  It seems that he is stalking my Regal Tang.  The blenny was put in last weekend and he seemed to be doing great, found himself a home in one of the rocks always comes out to pick at the rocks.

Tonight however he comes out of his rock and perches himself on top of a different rock and just stares at the powerhead where the Regal Tang likes to hide.  Once the Regal comes out to feed the Blenny darts for it and nips at it's side as the Regal gets back behind the powerhead. 

I'm just curious if this behavior is normal for bicolor blenny's in general.  The rock where the blenny sleeps is on the opposite side of the tank.  I really like the blenny and don't want to have to take him out, but I like the Regal a lot more.  Any advise on how to stop this behavior would be great.  Thanks in advance.

Btw..  It's a 50 gallon tank and so far I have a Royal Gramma, Percula Clown, Cleaner Shrimp, Peppermint Shrimp, Bicolor Blenny, Regal Tang, a few Hermit Crabs and 5 snails, and a zoo rock. Been setup and running really well since mid August. 

** Edit:  I have a clip of that holds Sea Veggies on it that the Tang feeds from.  While watching tonight I noticed the blenny would pick at the veggies as well.  Possible the blenny is keeping the Tang away from the seaweed?  (Have a decent picture of the scenario but have not figured out to include that yet)

Edited by Jasob

There isn't not a large growth of algae in the tank.  A couple fiji branch ends have some algea growing on them but is kept at a minimum from the crabs and the Regal.  I'm starting to think that the blenny is trying to keep the seaweed clip to himself. 

The blenny seems to pick at a rock that has receeding dark red colored (algea?) on it.  Tonight is the first time I've seen him go for the seaweed, and he seems to be enojying it. 

Here's a couple pictures that'll define the size.  The blenny is probably bigger than the Regal.  (Sorry about the dirty glass.. ) The first one shows the blenny perched.  Can see the regal behind the powerhead (kind of blurred).  Other is a picture of the whole tank so you can see the Regal.  Posted both so both fish could be seen.

Well I guess I'm ready to do whatever I need to do to keep these fish alive.  What other kinds of food should I be putting in the tank? 

I realize now that in my hastiness to add fish I've wanted since I can remember I've not done all the planning that I should have.     Is there a way I can promote the algea growth?  When I was at Fish-4-u last weekend they showed me some blue-green algae or phytoplankton (If I remember right) in a bag. 

Also you mentioned Nori?  Any tips you can give me on this is greatly appreciated.  I'm going to start doing the research that I should have done a few weeks ago right now.  Thanks  for you time and your quick responses.

Thank you for asking so many questions.  Starting at the bottom and a long time ago I'll tell you about the tank.

About 13 years ago this was a freshwater tank that was setup for 7 years or so.  Then went into storage.  I basically jumped into this hobby 8/14/05 with no idea what I was doing.. (I'm still a kid most the time.)

Started off with 40 lbs Aragonite Live sand and 20 lbs crushed coral.  After filling the tank and getting the specific gravity correct I found out I needed live rock.  I bought 35 lbs of live rock as you can see.  I don't believe any of it was at the fish store for more than 3 weeks.   

I have not added any Live Water, Live Sand, from a reef aquarium.  The only thing that has been added from a reef aquarium was from Fish-4-U.  The Zoo rock in the middle of the tank was put in there on Sunday.  I didn't think to ask how long it's been in the tank.  I'm assuming not long. 

I'm not sure what macroalgae is and I have heard of the cynobacteria.  I was advised to keep an eye on that rock and if the red gets bigger to start to worry.  I changed my lighting habits and started doing 2 small feedings a day instead of one feeding.  It has receeded and seems to be going in the right direction.

I actually don't recall seeing any brown growth on the rock.  It used to be on the right side of the aquarium and I moved it to the left hoping a yellow tail damsel I had would not beat up on the clownfish as much due to territorial issues.  After moving it to the other side is when I noticed the red algea growing out of control and decided to research it a bit.   The rock on the right side on the picture above has some black coloring to it that caught my attention today and I don't know what to think of that either. 

I have not had to scrape my glass of any kind of algae.  Every few days I scrape it because there's some sort of white organisms that are growing on it.  But after a few minutes of scraping the glass clean they come right back up.  A tank at a fish store (don't remember which one) had something similar on it and I was told it's nothing to worry about.  I hope that's right.  The snails do a really good jobs cleaning the glass other than some hard spots that have been on there since it was a FW tank. 

The light I have on it right now and have since it was a brand new tank is highly inadaquate for what I'm doing and is being replaced on Thursday.  Right now it's a Flourescent tube, 20 watt Only one tube.  The light that is in transit is a Coralife Compact Flourescent,  96 Watt 50/05 square pin base.  I was advised this should be enough. 

Currently setup is a filter with 3 cartridges in it, 2 powerheads, one Prizm Skimmer and the heater as my hardware.  The skimmer seems to really help.  I didn't realize my tank was getting cloudy until I had the skimmer going for a couple days.  What a difference.

As I was writing this I used my test kit From Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, INC.  Readings are: (I have a hard time distingquishing the colors)

PH:  8.0-8.2

Nitrite: 0

Ammonia: .0

Nitrate: (inbetween) 10-20

Water Temp: 79 Degrees.  Very stable (unless my son finds the power cords..)

Last water change was on Sunday.  I do a weekly water change of 4-5 gallons instead of going to church.

On Sunday I started adding Reef builder (Raises Carbonate Alkalinity) and Reef Advantage Calcium.  Since adding I noticed some new (what I think is) Corraline buildup on the rock on the right. 

Another thing I am doing that I'm saving up to fix, is the use of tap water.  I have been using Prime Dechlorinator and Cycle as recommended when first setting up tank.  Both bottles are now near empty, (It seems I overdid it on the Prime..) I'm hoping I can sneak in a RO unit within a couple weeks when my wife is shopping.  If not I'm seriously considering buying RO water. (Any suggestion on where I can get?) 

Hopefully this gives you a good idea on the tank.  Any questions, comments, or criticism is welcome.  Thanks again for you help.

I had a bi-color that did this to a purple tang. It didn't cause the purple tang to hide or anything. Mostly it was funny to watch this small little fish beat up the master of the tank.
I don't have any ideas on how to fix your problem, only suggestion I'd give is get more rock for your fish to hide in. If your blennie had more places to hide and swim around in, he may be less interested in your tang.
I know you're going to say its expensive, but talk to Mark Peterson and he'll hook you up with some Utah rock. That should do well.
Good luck with your tank!

Utah rock will not cycle your tank and after a few months will look and become just like live rock.  Good luck with your Blenny problem.

Thanks for all the info everyone.  I guess I'll be looking into getting some of that Utah rock.  I did sign up for the membership today for the WMAS.  For some reason I thought I had to sign up at one of the meets. 

Anyway I live in Tooele and I work in Murray.  For the last month or so my wife and I have been going into SL and Bountiful to check out corals and fish and trying to get all the info we can on this hobby. 

Mark if you read this post again, earlier in this topic it said you have a good source for Utah rock?  I'm sure, if you wouldn't mind, my wife and I would love to see your tank and get some of the UT rock on the weekend sometime (and maybe some LS LW from a tank).  If this is okay let me know when is a good time and how much $$ to bring.  

Also I'm going to see if we can't find a baby sitter for our 2yo next weekend and see about visiting a few people for the Reef Tour.  All the tanks pictured on the website are beatiful and I'd love to see them. 

Oh and about the OP, I found some Nori in sheets at the grocery store yesterday and put it inbetween the rocks near the blenny's usual resting place.  He loves the Nori, still goes after the sea veggies a little bit, but did not attack the regal last night.

That's good news.

Welcome to the WMAS.

FYI, Nori and Sea Veggies need to be considered kind of similar to other fish food. Don't put in more Nori/Veggies than the fish can eat in in less than a day. Leftovers add unecessary nutrients to the tank.

My number is in my signature line. You may call and arrange a visit. I live near MSM in Centerville and work there most Saturdays. If you come to my place before 10:30 AM (that''s the best time because that's when the sun is shining on the tank) or after 5 PM on Saturday you can also drop by MSM to see what cool stuff they have for sale.