B&W ORA Ocellaris Clowns are not eating!

[gotfrogs]

I got two black and white Ocellaris Clowns last week (Thursday) and they have not eaten. I had them in a new 28 gallon tank with a pair of cardinals up until yesterday. Yesterday I went ahead and moved them to a more established 58 gallon tank. The water in both tanks test fine (pH 8.2, Nitrates not detectable, 1.025 SG) and all of my other inhabitants are doing great.

I have tired frozen brine mysis and PE mysis and they have shown no interest. They are opening and closing their mouths repeatedly but don't appear to be having breathing problems.

 

[GSMguy]

frozen cyclopeze

rods food

 

[reefman13]

Are you able to find out what they were eating at the store?

 

[gotfrogs]

Might have been a mistake but I brought them home as soon as they were delivered to the LFS from ORA (I special ordered them).

I just tried frozen cyclopeze and they showed no interest.

 

[reefman13]

Try some ORA glow.

 

[gotfrogs]

I tried that the 1st and 2nd day I had them thinking that is what ORA was feeding them. No luck at all. The tank lights are out for the night. If they are still with me tomorrow I will try the ORA food and frozen cyclopeze again.

It is really upsetting for such a nice (and expensive) set of fish to be so unhappy and not eating.

 

[bugbdon]

hmmm, i had a similar problem with my percs when i first got them. mine would "mouth" the food then spit it back out and i didnt' see them eating. it took 2 weeks before i physically saw them eat. at each feeding i soaked the food in garlic extract before feeding.....it seemed to help a bit. my problem now is that they only eat "spectrum thera A" pellets. be patient....fish can go a while with out food before they die.
also......i probably would put them in a QT tank... QT is not just for disease, but also to "bridge the gap" and get them eating with out competition and so you can observe them more accurately. check out their feces also....the stress of travel might have allowed internal parasites to develope

 

[gotfrogs]

They do have some type of parasites/ich on them I just noticed this after making my last post.

 

[bugbdon]

well there you go......cause and effect.....now just treat in QT tank. keep them in there long enough, don't rush it.

 

[JDL1000]

I have a pair of the same clowns. Mine won't eat anything but flake food. Try the flake food and see if they eat.

 

[sdunkin]

I have a pair of ORA True Percs, and when I got them they would only eat flake food. I have only had them a couple of weeks, but they still will only eat flakes and pellets. They will not touch mysis or cyclopeeze, but they are starting to kindof eat brine (will eat a piece or two, and then just quit eating).

 

[gotfrogs]

Well they are still with me and have still not eaten. I moved them over to a quarantine tank that I set up today. I plan on treating them with Hyposalinity. SG is currently 30%.

 

[bugbdon]

try putting some pvc pipes in there for them to hide in, they'll feel more secure

 

[lancer99]

I had this same problem with ORA black false percs (ocellaris). One died overnight (may have been the victim of a mantis shrimp), but the other one just would not eat. I tried regular mysis, PE mysis, Rod's food, Cyclop-eeze, chopped shrimp, flake food, pellets....nothing worked.

I have no idea how ORA feed their clowns, but it seems like a lot of people are having trouble getting them to eat.

-R

 

[reefman13]

I would call up ORA and tell them your situation before you ask them what they feed their clowns.

This is however one of the main reasons why for EVERY fish I am ever interested in buying from a store, I ask them to drop a little of everything in the tank, to #1 see if it eats at all and #2 to see what it eats.

 

[gotfrogs]

ORA said that they feed them frozen brine, mysis, and their own dry food concoction.

The good news is that one of the two ate for the 1st time today! I bet he was hungry after 13 days of not eating. I was able to get him to eat a few pellets of New Life Spectrum Thera+A. Hopefully the other one will follow suite really soon.

 

[bugbdon]

that's what i feed!!! thera +A now if only my clowns would eat something else......
also, did you end up treating with hyposalinity? do they any other symptoms?

 

[gotfrogs]

Yes, they are in a quarantine tank at 14% salinity.

 

[reefman13]

I have started my fish on Omega One foods, and their colors are really popping. I also feed frozen. Just keep in mind that when they are both eating nicely it is especially important, to offer clowns a variety of foods.

Best of luck, and I hope they both turn around for you and start eating like horses!

 

[vietcu]

I had the same problem but I don't think mine went 13 days. My LFS told me to not feed my tank for 1-2 days, then feed some frozen food. Everything in my tank went crazy including the clowns. Unfortunately my LFS gave me a piece of their frozen food, didn't tell me what brand (look like brine shrimp though).