Clown eating habits

[Modemagic]

I purchased a Percula Clown earlier today and introduced him to his new home. a 75 gallon tank with nothing but some LR and sand in it. Man, he looked bigger in the store.

I dropped in some Marine fish formula pellets, that my Damsels adore, and he didn't even blink at them. I turned my flow pump off thinking since he is in the front corner of the tank swimming against the current maybe he is stuck, but the silly fish still stayed in the same corner. With the pump off, I tossed in a few more pellets right by him and he was too busy swimming in place to bother with them. I decided to give him some time to mess with it and turned the pump back on then.

I was in my office for 10 minutes or so, and notice the pellets that landed on the sand are now gone! When I feed my damsels in my 5 gallon nano, the food barely hits the water till they scurry like there is no tomorrow to eat it. Are clownfish just not as aggressive of an eater? I guess it is possible that the flow moved them on behind the LR or something.

 

[Tron87]

I got a True Perc four days ago. I've had better luck feeding him small sized mysis than my flakes. He eats regularly but is not agressive at all. My damsels dart around the tank like they are insane y hungry but my Perc just casually picks up chunks that float by.

I'd say give him a coulpe options for food and a couple more days before you freak out.

Also, he stays up near the top left corner as well. Ventures out elsewere when he feels like it but always returns. I'm not worried. I don't think you should be.

 

[Modemagic]

Last night (early this morning actually) I had to run to the store to get a can of baby forumla and a syringe, (My wifes cat decided to have kittens yesterday, and one was not doing so hot) I looked in the tank and I couldn't find the Percula. Finally I had to flip the lights back on to find he was almost going into the overflow. Looked to me like he was swimming like crazy but could not get away. I ended up cutting a piece of my extra sponge off to put in the way of the hole where an additional section of loc-line would come out of my overflow to make sure he didn't end up going over, because getting him out of there would have been a huge disaster. I turned out the light and went back to bed knowing he was a safer fish. After just a few minutes I had to come back downstairs, (now 2:15am or so) and instead of flipping on the tank lights, I used my daughters little reading flashlight which has a red light. That silly fish was all over the tank swimming back and forth, up and down, etc. Seems like under the tank lights he puts on a show, but when the lights go off, he's quite the swimmer.

Is this normal behavior?

 

[cschweitzer]

Sounds like he's still getting adjusted. It's easier for many fish to search around at night because less chance of predation at that time. Clowns are just as voracious of eaters and when he gets settled you should see him at the front of the tank waiting when it is feeding time.

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9364808#post9364808 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Modemagic
Last night (early this morning actually) I had to run to the store to get a can of baby forumla and a syringe, (My wifes cat decided to have kittens yesterday, and one was not doing so hot) I looked in the tank and I couldn't find the Percula. Finally I had to flip the lights back on to find he was almost going into the overflow. Looked to me like he was swimming like crazy but could not get away.

my a. ocellaris did this at night when they slept as well... my male still has to do it as apparently the Mrs. doesn't think the anemone is big enough for both of them...

If you are desparate to get a feeding response, try some live brine shrimp, available at some LFSes. Just keep in mind these are generally pretty nutritionLESS and it may be a good idea to make your own food for him.

My clowns started out refusing pellets, but they readily ate a blended mixture of talapia, shrimp and scallops that I soaked in a Kent product called MarineZoe.

hth,

Matt

 

[Modemagic]

Well, there is a good possibility that he ended up finding and eating those pellets I put in there. I can't seem to find any of them.

If he feels the need to act retarded, then thats fine by me, I have no problems with that. Just as long as he is having a good time doing it! Tonight is brine shrimp night for the damsels as well.... I'll give him a bit of it and see what happens.

 

[cschweitzer]

If you're feeding live brine, it is imperative to add nutrition to them, or gut-load them before feeding. They have little to no nutritional value as previously stated. In the water you have the brine shrimp, add selcon to the water. This is high is fatty acids and proteins necessary for health of your fish. The best part, you don't have to do anything except add it to the brine shrimp water and wait an hour...they will take care of the rest. They eat this stuff like humans eat fast food, but it is good for them and the only way to have them benefit your fish. You will see dramatic improvement over just feeding the brine without it.

 

[Modemagic]

The brine shrimp I feed typically is of the frozen variety. I'm not even sure where to get the live variety. I'm sure my LFS has it, although I've never taken the time to look for it. My damsels love the frozen. They would eat just about anything though I'm sure.

 

[Tron87]

Just go with frozen mysis if you don't want to deal with live food.