Clowns not eating

[tripicana]

hello, i have a new pair of clowns that have not eaten since i got them. i have tried the formula 1 and miceces shrimp that i feed my other fish. i've also tried pellets and flakes, but they are uninterested in everything i've tried. i was wondering if anyone has any other food suggestions or techniques? i've tried morning/afternoon/and after the lights are out. im kinda in a bind because the LFS i got them from is closed sunday and monday. tuesday i'm planning on going to hawaii and would like to see them eat before i leave. my roomate will be around to keep an eye on them, but id hate to cancel my trip because of this. any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks, Joe

 

[stykthyn]

is there another store you can go to?how long has it been since they have eaten? in any event, try live brine shrimp. this is like crack to fish. they cant help but eat it. I have found that this will trigger a feeding response almost immediately. try soaking a little garlic juice in the shrimp for about 30 min b/f you feed the fish.

 

[tripicana]

i have had these clowns since friday, so only three days now. they are captive bred true percs. there is another fish store in town that i will go by today and try some brine shrimp. so i should put garlic juice in the water with the live brine shrimp? just a few drops or so? thanks for the suggestion, keep em coming. ill updated you all on what happens later today. thanks, Joe

 

[dc]

[welcome]


Are they small? I had a heck of a time with my percs when I first got them. I ended up shaving the frozen food to make it small. Enriched brine shrimp with Omega 3 is what they finally started eating. After a week or so they started eating anything.

 

[dantodd]

If they are particularly small I would also suggest trying frozen or freeze dried cyclop-eeze. This is a very common food used in raising CB clowns and they have probably already eaten it in the past.

 

[tripicana]

well i tried the live brine shrimp and cyclop-eze, and no dice. hopefully they will get hungry and start eating before they die. looks like ill be hangin worring about my fish instead of lounging on the beach.

 

[stykthyn]

have you tried the garlic, just use a few drops. it doesnt take much

 

[flinka]

Try the garlic. It worked for me with my clowns when I first got them.

 

[tripicana]

ok, couldn't find "garlic juice" so i just bought some whole garlics at the store. i mushed part of one up and let it soak in the water with the shrimp. the clowns still didn't go for it. i saw one eat only one shrimp. he spit it out at first, then ate it. but only one fish ate one peice. the other fish loved them. i guess fate will take its course, and ill leave it up to my roomate to remove them if anything bad is to happen. thanks everyone for your timely help. Joe

 

[tripicana]

well i got back from hawaii and the clowns are still alive! roomate said they started eating the cyclop-eze, but not a whole lot. gonna find out from the breeder what they fed them. hopefully they just need some time to adjust.

 

[dantodd]

Glad to hear it! Hope you had a good trip.