How much do young clownfish eat?

[SneakyPete]

I've got 2 Ocellaris clownfish in my QT right now. They have been there 2 weeks. When I first added them, they would both eat 3-5 of my Ocean Nutrition formula 1 pellets. I can only feed them once as when I leave for work, the tank room is still quite dark and they are hiding in the PVC. Now they only eat 1 or 2 pellets each. Then they will take the pellet in their mouths and spit it back out. I'm concerned that they either don't like the food or have trouble eating the food. They are still active, but are not as active as they were when I first put them in there (perhaps due to it no longer being a new, unsure place, but i am not sure). I've tried to also feed them flakes, but they don't seem to come up to the service to get them...

Anyway, question is are they not eating enough? I don't want to overfeed the tank and let the pellets sit on the bottom but I don't want them starving.

 

[pugcrush]

When it comes to food, I like to diversify. Start feeding some rods & PE mysis, & I guarantee your clowns will greet you each time you pass the tank.

 

[SneakyPete]

I have some frozen shrimp (cooked unfortunately) in my freezer. I took one and shredded it up quite small. I put a few pieces in the tank and the dominant went after it pretty hard. She ate a few pieces and even took a larger piece back "home" to her PVC elbow. The other clown was not interested in the slightest to it. The smaller one is the one that almost always eats more pellets too, so he may have been good before, but I was worried about the other not eating. I'm happy she liked the shrimp. I'm going to pick up some other food types when I am at the LFS tomorrow.

 

[MuffsAbby]

I have two ocellaris clowns that I got 3 weeks ago and they're little piggies! They're on their own in a 150g tank, and I got a little feeding ring so the food doesn't go all over the surface of the water. Whenever I pass by the tank, they swim up to their feeding ring, hoping to be fed. Like you, I feed only a couple of pellets at a time, although they tend to eat about 8 or 9 pellets each, twice a day. I also feed a variety of foods, and they especially love the mysis shrimp. I hope your two start to eat a bit more once you try some variety.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

You need to vary it more. With saltwater fish you need to feed more than flakes or pellets(in reality freshwater fish need more than the flakes they get, but different story). I don't feed anything more than once per day, but I only feed once. I like to change it up between 3 items of food, Ocean Nutrition Brineshrimp Flakes, frozen Hikari Mysis Shrimp, and frozen blood worms. Now my clownfish will literally attack any food that hits the water because they get something different every day. Mysis is the base of the diet feeding it maybe two days in a row then feeding bloodworms or flakes. Bloodworms are my fish's favorite. They will practically jump out of the water when I feed them bloodworms. Get different frozen foods and mix it up!

 

[Reefing Newbie]

Ughhh, double post lol

 

[SneakyPete]

I picked up some mysis shrimp and some bloodworms. I fed them (too much) mysis shrimp yesterday and some blood worms tonight. The female LOVED the mysis shrimp, the male didnt really care for it, ate some, but the female ATTACKED it. The male ate more when I fed blood worms, but neither really seemed wild about them..

 

[Saadatski]

i feed my clowns alot, about twice a day, and i feed my tank about 1 cube of mysis split twice and a small feeding of pellets. My clowns go crazy for pellets, because i have been feeding them it for about a year, then i realized i should diversify. They are still getting used to mysis, but they definetly love it

 

[bugs713]

I also have two young ocellaris and the bigger of the two eats the bigger food particles, but the smaller one will only pursue the smaller sized bits, will not touch the bigger size even though they would be no problem for him to eat. I also feed a wide variety of foods 2-3 times daily and they both eat piggishly well.
Good Luck!

 

[Samped]

My oscellaris doesnt eat my brine shrimp too often..What are pellets though? Dry flake stuff? Im gonna have to try that

 

[aandfsoccr04]

pellets= new life spectrum.

 

[sponger0]

Feed them enough to consume in a few minutes. I try to feed multiple times a day, each only a little food so there is no waste

 

[xCry0x]

I have 2 occ and a ywg, feed them formula 1 and frozen mysis. The mysis is the only thing I have seen the ywg eat but the clowns eat both.

I chop 1 frozen cube into about 8 pieces. Feed at night, usually feed 1 cube piece and 4-5 pellets. The clowns like the pellets more... the 1/8th cube is more than they need at their size as a lot of it floats away, but it is also the only thing the ywg will eat and he is a timid eater and only eats what floats infront of his face.


--edit

Fish are all juvi, not full grown.