2 Weeks in, barely eating?

[DreadCapn]

I put 2xBlacker Ice Clownfish from Sustainable Aquatics* into my DT two weeks ago today, and I'm concerned about their eating. (*I do have some SA pellet food on the way to try)

They were the first fish in my tank, and I chose not to QT them, since my QT was already occupied with a Blenny.

I got some general clownfish pellets which were a non starter. The clowns hardly ever notice them before they sink, and if they do, they are just as likely to spit it out as eat it (although I have seen them eat a few).

I got some frozen enriched brine shrimp and they nibbled on them a little bit. I didn't feed anything for the last two days, and fed about 1/4 cube tonight, of which they ate just a few bites of.

They seem to be doing fine. They're idiots and do random junk, but that sounds par for the course with clowns. They spent the first week in the top front of the tank, and they've been camped out by the rear overflow constantly swimming against the current for several days now.

1) I did seed a lot of copepods a few weeks prior - could they just be living off of these? I never see them poking at the rocks.

2) I am feeding some reef chili 2-3 times a week, could they be getting by on that?

3) How do I know if they're starving-starving before they hit death's door?

 

[Cliving1]

They wont eat copepods. Try various foods like live brine, mysis, flake etc until they start feeding. Dont overfeed the tank though.

 

[Kinetic]

If they're not diseased, they'll eat eventually. It took my Sustainable Aquatics clowns about a week to eat anything, then another week to start eating regularly. I started with the SA pellets that they included in the shipment, and now I've introduced flakes as well. They will also try to eat the large mysis.

I had a second group of SA clowns come in, and they almost started eating right away. They seem to watch each other and learn from one another. If none take the initiative right away, it'll take some time.

 

[DreadCapn]

If they're not diseased, they'll eat eventually. It took my Sustainable Aquatics clowns about a week to eat anything, then another week to start eating regularly. I started with the SA pellets that they included in the shipment, and now I've introduced flakes as well. They will also try to eat the large mysis.

I had a second group of SA clowns come in, and they almost started eating right away. They seem to watch each other and learn from one another. If none take the initiative right away, it'll take some time.

Thank you - I'm fairly certain that everything is ok, but smart enough to know I only know a drop in the bucket.

I think they have also been going nuts adjusting to having 90g basically to themselves. They still haven't explored the bottom half of the tank!

 

[LargeAngels]

Seems some rank raised Fish get very used to only the food they where raised on. They should come around but freshly hatched brine shrimp is hard for any clown to resist.

 

[Kinetic]

Thank you - I'm fairly certain that everything is ok, but smart enough to know I only know a drop in the bucket.

I think they have also been going nuts adjusting to having 90g basically to themselves. They still haven't explored the bottom half of the tank!

I recently started feeding Reef Mariculture TDO Chroma Boost. Even mixing it with their loved food, they stopped eating very much after I introduced it. First day, they ignored all the food, maybe picked at something, but they seemed grossed out by even the food they used to go nuts over.

After a couple days, they were still not eating much. So I just fed them the old mix they were used to, and they went nuts.

Either the new food makes them cringe, or anything out of the norm is really weird for them.

Now they're back to eating normally, though still seem to have some reservations.

 

[DreadCapn]

Just to update, the clowns are three weeks in, and have started eating a little bit more since I got the Sustainable Aquatics pellets. I am currently feeding them a mix of those and frozen fortified brine, baby brine, mysis, and a seafood mix that I blended together before refreezing.

They still show very little interest in food overall, but I suppose they are getting what they need.

 

[Andrew S.]

Good luck, sounds like you are doing ok