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How often should I feed my clownfish


monkeytrumpets

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monkeytrumpets

I picked up my tank-raised ocellaris clown today and I'm curious how often and how much I should feed it. The LFS recommended spectrum pellets (that's what they feed the clowns there) but didn't give me any bearing as to how often and how much. The clown is only an inch and a quarter long or so, and is the only fish in the tank. Thanks!

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if my clown were to answer this, he'd say three times a day :-)

 

but i only feed him every other day, and just a little bit. i feed him a variety of foods...hikari marine s pellets (about 4-5 pellets) omega one flakes (2-3 flakes), and frozen mysis, cyclopeeze,and brine (i break off a small part of the cube). my shrimp and other CUC members also all come out to eat as well.

 

this is working for me...the clown is growing and happy and my levels stay in check.

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monkeytrumpets
if my clown were to answer this, he'd say three times a day :-)

 

but i only feed him every other day, and just a little bit. i feed him a variety of foods...hikari marine s pellets (about 4-5 pellets) omega one flakes (2-3 flakes), and frozen mysis, cyclopeeze,and brine (i break off a small part of the cube). my shrimp and other CUC members also all come out to eat as well.

 

this is working for me...the clown is growing and happy and my levels stay in check.

Thanks, that helps a lot! :D I felt bad asking such a newb question, but I'm very thankful for such an informative reply! Did you have any trouble getting your clown to eat for the first few days? My clown's stomach is nice and full-looking at the moment (I'm almost certain the LFS had just fed him when I bought him) so I'm not terribly worried about it now. Just wondering if there was a trick to get them eating or if they should just start on their own after a couple of days.

 

-Adam

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yes, i had a lot of trouble at first. i had him in my QT tank (he's wild caught, and had just come in, so was probably through hell and back in the week or two before i got him). he was a mess...got sick, wouldn't eat, etc. he ate nothing for the first week i had him, and i was sure he was going to die. then someone suggested just trying a wide variety...i went to my LFS and bought anything and everything suitable for a clown. what finally got him was hikari freeze dried brine...totally un-nutritious, more like a treat, but he ate. i still give him that as a treat but not often. and once he started eating, he never stopped....he's such a pig, if i go anywhere near the tank he starts wagging and going to the top. in fact today i bought a pom pom crab, and when i dropped him in, the clown went for him like he hadn't eaten in a week (pom pom smacked him and the clown stayed away lol).

 

so don't worry, he'll be ok if he doesn't eat for a few days...just keep trying, but at the same time, be careful not to overfeed your tank.

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My tank bred ocellaris loves Cyclopleeze flakes,he wont touch pellets. I just hold a pinkch underwater for a few secs and he picks it out from my fingers, I also feed frozen mysis a few times a week.

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monkeytrumpets
My tank bred ocellaris loves Cyclopleeze flakes,he wont touch pellets. I just hold a pinkch underwater for a few secs and he picks it out from my fingers, I also feed frozen mysis a few times a week.

Is this what you're talking about for flakes?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...p;N=2004+113189

I did some looking and most of the cyclopeeze I can find looks to be powder or granules of some kind. This looks to be the closest thing to flakes I've found so far. Or it's possible I'm on the wrong track altogether...

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joel sandoman
Is this what you're talking about for flakes?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...p;N=2004+113189

I did some looking and most of the cyclopeeze I can find looks to be powder or granules of some kind. This looks to be the closest thing to flakes I've found so far. Or it's possible I'm on the wrong track altogether...

i have that same exact thing soloskillz. those are the flakes. i have found that you must turn off the main pump or they will just go right down your overflow. they don't sink hardly at all

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monkeytrumpets
i have that same exact thing soloskillz. those are the flakes. i have found that you must turn off the main pump or they will just go right down your overflow. they don't sink hardly at all

My cyclopeeze flakes are on the way. Thanks to everyone for all the information!

 

-Adam

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My clown loves cyclopeeze flake and powder. There is a trick to feeding the powder so it doesn't just float on top. Take a small jar (like a baby food jar) and fill it with some tank water. Add a very small amount (I use like 1/8 or less of a teaspoon) of cyclopeeze powder. Shake it up and pour it to the tank. My clown goes nuts. My yellow watchman goby gets some too. Everything in the tank gets some. I only do this about once every other week. Usually the day before a water change.

 

The spectrum pellets (high quality pellets in general) will probably have the most nutritional value of anything you can feed your clown. The only problem with pellets are the phosphates it introduces to the tank. My clown gets pellets about once every other week (cyclopeeze one week and spectrum pellets the next). Brine has next to zero (if not completely zero) nutritional value. Mysis on the other hand has some good proteins and lipids that your clown will benefit from. Of course you don't want to over feed your clown and tank, but mysis is probably your best choice in a compromise between nutritional value and safe for your tank. I feed my clown every other day. Most of the time it is mysis.

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Thanks, that helps a lot! :D I felt bad asking such a newb question, but I'm very thankful for such an informative reply! Did you have any trouble getting your clown to eat for the first few days? My clown's stomach is nice and full-looking at the moment (I'm almost certain the LFS had just fed him when I bought him) so I'm not terribly worried about it now. Just wondering if there was a trick to get them eating or if they should just start on their own after a couple of days.

 

-Adam

 

 

My clown was a pig, so there was no trick to getting him to eat. He'd come to the top and beg anytime I went near the tank.

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My clown was a pig, so there was no trick to getting him to eat. He'd come to the top and beg anytime I went near the tank.

 

Most clowns are pigs, but sometimes it can take a week or so for a clown to get accustomed to his new tank and they won't eat much in the beginning.

 

My clown wouldn't take mysis at first. I now put a couple drops of Kent's garlic extreme and .5ml of Selcon in a jar with the cube of mysis. I let it marinate in that. I feed some to the fish with tweezers and keep the jar stored in the freezer between feedings. The Clown loves it and it's very nutritious.

Edited by stallen
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monkeytrumpets
Most clowns are pigs, but sometimes it can take a week or so for a clown to get accustomed to his new tank and they won't eat much in the beginning.

 

My clown wouldn't take mysis at first. I now put a couple drops of Kent's garlic extreme and .5ml of Selcon in a jar with the cube of mysis. I let it marinate in that. I feed some to the fish with tweezers and keep the jar stored in the freezer between feedings. The Clown loves it and it's very nutritious.

Stallen, you have a BC8 don't you? Do you unplug the pump while you're feeding or did you just put a screen or something over the vent into chamber 1?

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Koral krazy (reefer 365)

just some advice: turn the filter off when they feed because it saves more food from being wasted, and be sure to mix it up. Clowns do best with a variety of food. Flakes, pellets, mysis, and brine is what i feed. For a treat you can breed your own brine and serve them when there newly hatched with the yolk still attatched.

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I feed my skunk clown two or three times per day with 3 or 4 pellets each time. He comes right up and pulls them out of my fingers, so I don’t turn of the pumps or anything. It seems to be working, I’ve had him for five years. I also drop a cube of frozen coral food into the tank at least once per week & the skunk clown gets his share. I don’t have any mechanical filters to worry about clogging, but I do keep a mesh bag in one of the back chambers with a spoon of Seachem PhosGuard to keep phosphates down.

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Stallen, you have a BC8 don't you? Do you unplug the pump while you're feeding or did you just put a screen or something over the vent into chamber 1?

 

Yes, I turn off the pump for about 10 or 15 minutes. If the clown was all I was feeding I might only turn it off for a couple minutes, but I'm also feeding a yellow watchman goby that usually stays on the bottom 1/3 of the tank. The mysis wouldn't make it down that far with the pump on. It would get sucked into the intake within about 3 seconds.

 

I like to turn off the pump for 10-15 minutes to give my CUC (and coral) time to finish off any bits of food that the fish left behind.

 

I am currently working on a timer that will automatically turn the pumps back on since it would be a fiasco if I ever forgot and left it off. Here is the DIY thread for that timer mod if you are interested...

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=109789

Edited by stallen
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i've got a mated pair of clowns and they're pigs!!!! my setup is a 37gal with a 15 gal sump and i've got 11 fish. I feed a variety once daily and do water changes depending on nitrate levels. It takes time but i'm sure yours will be a pig too..

good luck!

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monkeytrumpets

Ok, I got the little guy on Saturday, and today is Wednesday. He still hasn't eaten anything. I got my shipment of cyclopeeze wafers in the mail today and tried those, but Berg, as I've come to call him, just swam up to them, bumped them with his nose, and swam away. :huh: I'm getting a little concerned since it's been at least 4 days and he hasn't eaten anything. I plan to go to the LFS on Friday to get a few more members of my CUC. Do I pick up more (different) food or is there something else I should try?

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I'm having the exact same problem too! I just picked up a percula clown on Saturday and it still hasn't eaten. I've tried mysis, frozen brine, flake, spectrum pellets, and frozen cyclops. At times he's tried to eat but spit it out. I saw him eating when he was at the LFS, so I think it's just a matter of time before he gets comfy enough to eat.

 

I'm going to try some live brine this weekend if he's still not eating and pick up some cyclopeez as well. Let me know what your clown reacts to!

 

 

Ok, I got the little guy on Saturday, and today is Wednesday. He still hasn't eaten anything. I got my shipment of cyclopeeze wafers in the mail today and tried those, but Berg, as I've come to call him, just swam up to them, bumped them with his nose, and swam away. :huh: I'm getting a little concerned since it's been at least 4 days and he hasn't eaten anything. I plan to go to the LFS on Friday to get a few more members of my CUC. Do I pick up more (different) food or is there something else I should try?
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I think this is pretty common. Mine went around 5 days before he ate. What got him started was New Life Sprectrum "Color Enhancing 1mm sinking pellets". I'd also try soaking mysis (or pellets for that matter) in Kent's Garlic Extreme or Kyolic Garlic Extract.

 

I'd start to worry after about 1 week. Also, if you have some pods or algae in the tank he might be feeding on that when you aren't aware.

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My black clown is a pig too. Eats every pod in sight plus I feed Ora Glow pellets every other day, mysis as a treat although he prefers live food. My snails keep laying eggs at least once a week and he picks those off the glass too. Goes nuts when I stir up the tank -- feeding frenzy. But when I got him he didn't eat for 5 days. I finally got 1 pellet in him by sinking it in front of his face. He would not go to the trouble of coming to the surface.

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Koral krazy (reefer 365)

You have to give them everything until they find their "favorite" food. Then they will start to pig out on everything you give them.

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monkeytrumpets

He finally ate! He was too lazy to come to the surface, so I busted up a cyclopeeze wafer and mixed it in a little tank water to suspend it, then I poured the concoction into the tank and he ate! I also caught him eating pods this evening (I wondered why there seemed to be fewer pods in the tank than normal). I'll pick up a bit of chaeto for the pods to hide in to boost their numbers. I think I'll try marinating the pellets in garlic extract in hopes that he might quit being so lazy and come to the surface to eat.

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