Goodness Gracious Great Tails of Fire
Enchelyurus flavipes is a very common fish in its natural range of the Western Pacific and South China Sea. It only has two common names in English: The Yellow Fin Blenny and the Flame Tail Blenny, though it is also called 黃連鰭鳚 in China, which google says translates as the "Yellow Fin Finfish." They live in shallow tropical water near reefs or rubble where there is ample algae to graze on and places to hide.
The Flame Tail Blenny is a wildly underrated fish. They stay small, are very hardy, are incredibly engaging pets with inquisitive “personalities” and gorgeous stark coloration. They have very interesting swimming behaviors and are compatible with a wide range of fish and invertebrates in the home aquarium. As “Combtooth” Blennies, they are also excellent algae eaters, and indeed will need algae based food supplements if there isn't enough algae in their aquarium.
Keeping Enchelyurus flavipes is very easy. They can be kept in an aquarium as small as 30 gallons without a problem. They will be fine in fish only systems and reef aquaria alike with one notable exception. Selected individuals seem to have a penchant for nipping at and/or eating tridacna clam mantles, to the obvious demise of the clam. They are extremely unlikely to be aggressive with tankmates, unless those tankmates are very similarly shaped. As such, the blenny should probably be the only Blenny or long Goby in the aquarium unless a mated pair is obtained (an offering that is exceedingly rare in the US).
They greedily accept a wide variety of foods, and should be offered meaty foods as well as high quality pellets and algae based offerings. In aquariums with prodigious amounts of hair algae (come on people, get those nitrates under control) the blenny will spend most of its time perched on the rockwork, grazing away, and may ignore algae based preparations, though even in this case, a mix of other foods should be offered. Other than that, parameters for successful husbandry are just what you'd expect for nearly everything else you keep. Keep nitrogen down, keep pH within a tenth or two of 8, and and temperature stable around 78.
Flametail Blenny have been bred in captivity, and this has been done by a few advanced home aquarists. Even as such, they are not regularly available aquacultured because of the challenges in rearing a large number of fry to adulthood. They are demersal egg layers meaning they will lay eggs that attach to the substrate and the larvae will go through a planktonic period meaning there is a timeframe where the “pre-baby” fish are adrift on ocean currents and mimicking this environment while getting these larvae sufficient food is challenging.
So, if you are looking for the coolest personality fish for your aquarium, the Flametail blenny is definitely worth a look. They have coloration unique in the hobby as almost nothing else is flame yellow and jet black. In addition, there is nothing quite like watching them hop around aquariums and back into parking spots for the evening. If you have a spot for a fish like this, give your LFS a shout and ask about sustainably sourced Flametail Blenny from Quality Marine today!