B&W pair not eating...what do you feed your clowns?

[hobbzz]

I recently got a pair of black and white occ, supposedly tank raised, and they aren't eating with much gusto. The male will pick at pretty much anything, but some pieces he'll spit out, and other pieces of the same type of food he'll eat. The female pretty much ignores everything, and will only eat the occasional piece. I've tried frozen mysis, brine, cyclops, zooplankton, flake, hikari marins S, and even some frozen home-made blend with shrimp/squid/shellfish etc. I've also tried every combo of food soaked in selcon, vita-chem, both, or not soaked in anything.

The only other fish in the tank is a bangaii cardinal, so they aren't being bullied. I think the female might even think the cardinal is another b&w clown. At first it looked as if she was trying to get the cardinal to be submissive, but of course he would just sit there. So far there has been no nipping. Every once in a while the cardinal will get tired of the clowns hanging around and push them out of his space, but not aggressively.

What do you guys feed your clowns? Anything I haven't tried?

 

[dc]

I'd try to find out what they were feeding them. That sounds like a pretty good variety. I feed mostly frozen, with pellets inbetween.

 

[hobbzz]

They had them labeled as "black and white PERCS", so I honestly wouldn't trust anything out of their mouths. I could see the person answering the phone having nothing to do with feeding the fish, and just saying the first thing that comes to mind so that he didn't have to actually ask someone. Or if they weren't actually eating in the store, I could see them lying about it. Since I've never seen a clown that didn't devour everything in sight, I didn't have them fed while I was in the store...stupid me.

I was pretty suprised when the cardinal was out eating them. :lol:

 

[raleej337]

I've had an experience with my first clowns not eating for a week. IMO it's normal behavior when they are new in the tank though this not apply to all.

Good luck and hope they'll eat after few days.

 

[hobbzz]

The female is now staying close to the sand, underneath a powerhead, and the male is hovering over her. Every once in a while she'll turn around, or come out to the front, but mainly just stays in the back of the tank. No external parasites or anything like that. But she's got fairly rapid breathing. It's starting to look like she might be sick according to her behavior. I'll keep a close eye on her the next few days, but I work all day tomorrow so...

 

[Slakker]

Uh-Oh....mine did similar things when I first got them and I ended up having them in QT for a good three months afterwards for treatment.

Watch for the female to sit in one spot on the substrate and sort of list to the side, that's what mine did. Also, keep trying to get them to eat. Getting them to eat is half the battle...mine started recovering literally within days of starting to accept food.

 

[OrionN]

Are these what you have? If they are, they are not Percula or Ocellaris and are not tank raise. They are often label B&W Percs. Keep them comfortable and they will start eating. Consider cover the tank so they don't see people walking in front for a while until they start eating.
This, BTW, is not my picture. I just grab it from another thread.

 

[hobbzz]

^ Nope they're not saddlebacks. I love those little guys though. I used to have a regular brown one.

Well the lights are still off right now, but they're both swimming around. The cardinal is on the opposite side of the tank. Maybe the female actually does think the cardnial is another clown and is stressed because of him not being submissive? I've seen stranger things happen...

 

[OrionN]

Most of the time, tank raise clowns are fed flakes. I think they just need to be comfortable before they start to eat. Hope she did not get sick from being at the LFS. Hope they will do well for you.

 

[hobbzz]

Thanks for the support guys. I'll keep you posted on any changes.

Anyone else ever see a clown try to get another type of fish to be submissive? They aren't exactly the smartest fish, what with hosting powerheads, and coffee cups, and veggie clips. :lol:

What brand/type of flake do you guys feed? Right now I've just got a sample of Hikari from the Drs. F&S swap...

 

[MarinaP]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10498445#post10498445 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobbzz
What brand/type of flake do you guys feed? Right now I've just got a sample of Hikari from the Drs. F&S swap...

OSI spirulina

 

[OrionN]

Omega One Super Color flakes

 

[xxpipedreamxx]

When I bought my pair last year, neither one would eat for about two weeks. They would pick at the food or totally ignore it as yours are. Be careful with all that feeding, as you may degrade the water quality. I would test for ammonia from all of that food breaking down as it would cause heavy breathing. Back to my original thought, just try feeding them twice a day and if they are not interested, do not feed more. Wait until the next day and try again.

 

[catastrophe]

I used mysis to get my maroon clown to eat. The lfs said she wouldn't eat the week he had her. He sold it to me for $10. I kept her in qt, tried different things till I found something she liked. She's now eating anything that I put in the tank.

 

[hobbzz]

I wasn't feeding that much at one time. I only feed 1-2 times a day. And I pretty much spot feed. I don't just dump everything in the tank all at once. I'll add a little, and wait until they finish that before adding more.
And the female seemed to be breathing fine this morning, so hopefully the cardinal was just stressing her out last night. Both of the clowns had invaded his normal spot last night, so he was gently pushing them out a lot. We'll see what it's like tonight.

 

[xxpipedreamxx]

Good luck and keep us updated

 

[tpdpercula]

Mine have hosted everything from powerhead tops to MagFloats.

 

[hobbzz]

The clowns are hovering under the powerhead again. That cave used to be the cardinals spot, so now he spends a lot of time trying to get them out, but they don't seem to be getting the point. The powerhead is just used to prop up a container that a clam is in, so once the clam attaches, I'll take the ph out...hopefully soon.

 

[MIKE ALERS]

mine's seem to like marine cuisine...they also got sick i guess from stress and started to do same thing your's doing.i started soaking they're food in gel tek and it seemed to help.

 

[hobbzz]

I wonder if the cardinal is causing the stress...the male doesn't seem to be bothered. He goes out and swims by himself every once in a while.

If the cardinal trying to keep them out of his space is causing stress, would they move on their own? Or could they be dumb enough to keep themselves in a stressful situation by not getting out of his territory? I'll take some video tonight and post it by tomorrow...