View Full Version : feeding clownfish
i have had a clown fish for about a week now, and just wondering what their eating habits are like? at first he was very aggressive, now, he barely eats. i feed nutramax flake food, and hikari freeze dried brine shrimp. he is in a 75 gallon with two damsels. the damsels seem to eat fine, one is very piggish :) but the clown just doesnt seem interested. he seems to eat the smaller particles floating by. also, he isnt very big, maybe 3/4 or an inch or so. any suggestion? or am i worrying for nothing today?
OrionGirl
02-03-2004, 9:32 AM
Clowns are in the same family as damsels, so I would watch for any aggression between them. The clowns I've had were alwyas very aggressive eaters--willing to poke out of the water to take food, even.
mogurnda
02-03-2004, 9:36 AM
You might try frozen foods. I agree with OrionGirl that clowns tend to be piggish, but my clowns didn't like large particles when they were very small. My guys have always gone nuts for Formula One. I just take a small chunk and break it up between my fingers in the tank, and they love the small bits. In the wild, they are planktivores, so they like to chase small bits in the current.
thanx guys. when i feed, he doesnt even seem to even notice the food, no matter if its freeze dried brine shrimp, or the flake food. i havent noticed any real aggression between the fish. the clown usually stays by his rock, the damsels by theirs. if one invades the others terriotry, then there is a little chaseing going on, but nothing too big i dont think. the clown rarely moves from his area though. even during feedint time. is it just too soon for him to be aggressive? could i possibly be doing something wrong? i did a major water change yesterday which lowered nitrates and raised the ph a little. could that be the cause?
thanx guys
he stays like this "swimming in place" all day
mogurnda
02-03-2004, 10:06 AM
HOw many nooks and crannies does it have for hiding places? My clowns love caves. The good news is that the guy is not up at a top corner or hiding under something, which would be a sure indication that somebody is being a bully.
they have alot, i dont have any live rock in there now, but there is over 50 pounds of base rock, only one peice is really solid, the rest are very porous. he swims about 3 inches up that rock, and at the base there is a really neat cave, but doesnt seem to like it i guess. im gonna get the formula one and give that a try. any thing else i should know?
mogurnda
02-03-2004, 10:15 AM
any thing else i should know? Clowns are odd creatures. I am willing to bet that it will be fine once it settles in.
thanx mogurnda that makes me feel much better
petcrazy213
02-03-2004, 12:41 PM
Hi caz,
I myself have 2 of those false clowns and have no problem when it come to feeding. I've actually found that they go NUTS over the pellets I feed ... they are a "marine s" ( I think the s stands for small) and they are from hikarii (sp). The fish LOVE them and gobble them up whenever I feed them. I also found they like the brine shrimp, frozen and live, and they will nibble on mysis shrimp on occasion.
They are funny fish though. Mine usually sleep at the surface next to the heater at night and I have looked in on them a number of times thinking they were dead by the way they were laying at the top.
Hope that helps.
thanx. yeah mine has scared me a few times as well. if i wake up early, he sleeps by the surface. not lately though. i try and feed him freeze dried brine shrimp, and flake food. im gonna get some other food today as well.
i talked to the lfs and said that since he is eating, just not aggressively then maybe another clown would help him eat, or atleast get him moveing around the tank more. this sound like a good theory?
mogurnda
02-03-2004, 3:26 PM
Maybe. Once they decided who was boss, my clowns have been inseparable. There will probably be a little scuffling at first. In my admittedly anthropomorphic opinion, clowns are lonely as singles.
so far so good. i added the fish a little while ago, and they are rubbing up against eachother. anyways, the old clown fish is swimming around with the new one, which i think is a good sign.
just wanted to add my experience with my Percula clown fish.
I've had a p air for about 2 months now, they' ve always been good eaters , whatever I put in the tank they'll eat. And they always poke they're heads out of the water when I open the lid.
The larger 1 likes to swim on it 's side in the current at the very top of the tank. They used to sleep on the bottom of the tank until last week I put a backing picture on the back of the tank. On 1 side of the backing is a picture of a huge anemone and they've been acting like they 're trying to get into the picture of the anemone. Now they sleep up in the top back corner of the tank by the anemone picture & they lay side ways. Very strange.
Talk about being really scared when I first notice them in the morning. But when I turn the light on in the room they swiming around like normal.
Mine are also with a few Damsels but the clowns don't really bother them unless they get too close, then they just shoo em' away.
Anyway , just wanted to share that, these are strange fish indeed.