Clown not eating

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I have had my clown for about 2 weeks now, but i never seem to see him eat anything. The yellow tail damsel devours any food i feed them, but my clown seems to ignore it. He doesnt seem sick, swims around now and then, although he mainly stays by his adopted home in the tank. Could he be eating the caulepra in my tank maybe or the GHA? Any ideas?
 
Hi there, I'm still a noob but I had the same prob when i first introduced my percula's. They did not eat and swam around and sadly eventually perished, I would suggest that you look into this and they something???

Later on my tank settled and introduced another set of clowns and they eating like pigs ???? just my experience and 2 cents :)
 
lets start with what you are trying to feed him? and when and how much?


what other tank mates do you have, the dmasel and what else?
 
two weeks is a very long time for the poor fellas not to eat, you have to get onto this fast, they will die soon if you dont....

also how long where they in the LFS you got them from and what was he feeding??? If you dont know, get on the phone and ask
 
Feeding them flakes in moring and in the evening. And every now and then brine shrimp.

I got a cleaner shrimp and some hermits in the tank as well as the damsel.

They were at the LFS for about a day when i got them, dont know what he fed them.

My flakes are roughly 2 months old now, could it be maybe they are going stale and he doesnt like them? but then that wouldnt explain why he doesnt eat the brine shrimp. Any suggestions of food to feed that may perk him up?

Another point that may help, its as if he doesnt notice the food, he always seems to be facing the oposite direction to it when i feed them and doesnt notice it float past him.
 
Feeding them flakes in moring and in the evening. And every now and then brine shrimp.

I got a cleaner shrimp and some hermits in the tank as well as the damsel.

They were at the LFS for about a day when i got them, dont know what he fed them.

My flakes are roughly 2 months old now, could it be maybe they are going stale and he doesnt like them? but then that wouldnt explain why he doesnt eat the brine shrimp. Any suggestions of food to feed that may perk him up?

Another point that may help, its as if he doesnt notice the food, he always seems to be facing the oposite direction to it when i feed them and doesnt notice it float past him.


thats cause he dont like flakes:) when you say brine shrimp is that alive or dead? has he ever eaten live brine?

have you tried defrosting frozen marine foods?

thinks like mysis shrimp, krill, frozen brine and feed that? if not thats def what you need to try today, in my view.


i would seriously doubt that the flakes are old, he just simply does not know thats food.
 
Could be with the flakes, but ya i been using frozen brine shrimp but have only fed them maybe twice with it since he's been there. How should it be fed though, i just run a bit of water over the piece i cut off to feed them till its softish and then put it in the tank. Am i doing this wrong?
 
GarlicGuard
Product Description
GarlicGuard™ is an appetite/flavor enhancer for freshwater and saltwater fish. GarlicGuard™ will help renew the interest of poor or finicky eaters. GarlicGuard™ contains naturally derived garlic oil. GarlicGuard™ also contains Vitamin C. For use in both freshwater and marine. GarlicGuard™ is reef safe.

Sizes: 100 mL, 250 mL, 500 mL, 2 L, 4 L, 20 L

Why It's Different
Seachem sells the same garlic extract (with the added value of Vitamin C addition) in an 8 oz bottle for less than half the price of other manufacturers’ 1 oz. bottle! Garlic is safe for all fish and there is no danger of overdose.

Directions
Shake well before use. Soak food in GarlicGuard™ before feeding. For enhanced effectiveness against Ich and other parasites use Seachem's Focus™ and Metronidazole™ as follows: Add 1 measure of Metronidazole™ to 1 measure of Focus™ per tablespoon of frozen food. Completely soak this food mix in GarlicGuard™, refrigerate, and feed once or twice daily for 1–2 weeks.
 
This product is extremely good.



Entice
Product Description
Entice™ is an all natural scent and flavor enhancer for finicky eaters. Simply soak any food item in Entice™ to attract the interest of finicky eaters. Ideal for all marine and freshwater fish.

Sizes: 250 mL, 500 mL, 2 L, 4 L, 20 L

Why It's Different
Entice™ is a completely unique product designed to address a previously unmet need. A variety of fish are difficult to successfully keep because they simply won’t eat.

Directions
Briefly soak food prior to feeding or add 1 or 2 capfuls directly to aquarium in the same location in which food was just added. Shake well before use. There is no danger of over use so use as liberally or sparingly as you find necessary. 250 mL is good for 50 feedings.
 
Could be with the flakes, but ya i been using frozen brine shrimp but have only fed them maybe twice with it since he's been there. How should it be fed though, i just run a bit of water over the piece i cut off to feed them till its softish and then put it in the tank. Am i doing this wrong?


thats slightly wrong, but easy to fix:)

i get the ones that are frozen in small blocks, basically like ice cream cubes, place that in am empty glass which is floated in hot water in the sink. after a while it defrosts, around 15 to 20mins and then i feed it like that. There is a reason why NOT to place water in with it and put that defrosted water in, but i am not sure what that it, jacquesb will have an answer if you pm him:)

i also strain the liquid that is released from defrosting as I know its high in phosphates, but not sure what else.

also brine is not that nutricious, so use mysis and maybe culture some live shrimp....very easy to do and most things love live food:)
 
what did the lfs feed the fish before you purchased it? you could start off with something it recognises as feed and ween it off, but i think it must be eating something two weeks is too long for a clown to survive.
 
agreed there mike, possible pods and the like when lights are out, but i still think we need to find something that he id DEFINATLEY eating,a nd use the other stuff.


i have a CBB in recent memory that haunts me if it was simply a lack of nutrition :(
 
I know that recently there have been many cases of cyanide poisoning wrt percula and false percula clowns from Singapore!

The main symptom of this is that they refuse to eat and then perish.

Ask your LFS where it came from?

Hope this is not the case though!
 
LFS feeds fish flakes, think it is the same brand as i am using (Nutra Fin Max) .
Spoke to him this afternoon, said it could be lighting. Apparently he has had cases where fish wouldnt eat and they were prefectly healthy and it came down to lighting, so going to try switching off different lighting tonight and see if it helps.

I will definately find out about where it came from Marlin as it is a false percula and i know he does get some live stock from singapore, dont know about the clowns though.
I also hope this is not the case. :(
 
LFS feeds fish flakes, think it is the same brand as i am using (Nutra Fin Max) .
Spoke to him this afternoon, said it could be lighting. Apparently he has had cases where fish wouldnt eat and they were prefectly healthy and it came down to lighting, so going to try switching off different lighting tonight and see if it helps.

I will definately find out about where it came from Marlin as it is a false percula and i know he does get some live stock from singapore, dont know about the clowns though.
I also hope this is not the case. :(
i wouldnt go straight against what a LFS says (yeah right!) but i would seriously doubt that....as in seriously recinsider that as the reason. I am simply sure you need to find the food available to marines which the clowns see as food and feed them that fora while to get stronger.

please try different foods before you start worrying about lighting. I assure you if he is hungry and sees it as food, lights on, lights off, lights dimmed to a romatic glow.....nothing will stop him feeding. He just needs to know its food!
 
I know that recently there have been many cases of cyanide poisoning wrt percula and false percula clowns from Singapore!

The main symptom of this is that they refuse to eat and then perish.

Ask your LFS where it came from?

Hope this is not the case though!

Welcome to MASA Marlin, that is very sad news if it's true:(
 
Lol Crispin, i dont think the LFS was meaning he needed to have a candle lit dinner to eat, from what i gather he was meaning the lighting could be making it that he does not identify the flakes as food, if that makes sense?

But ya, if he doesnt eat again tonight i will definately go and buy another type of fish food tomorrow. Would pellets maybe be better than flakes?
 
Kunhardt - try this:
- grate up a fresh garlic clove
- get some RO water, and then place the food (different types: ie. flake, pellets, frozen brineshrip (after you strained off the water the frozen block came from), frozen mysid (also after straining out the water from the frozen block)) WITH the crushed/grated garlic clove into the container with the RO water - let it soak for 10 minutes or so...
- try and feed (target feed by squirting some of this mixture using your turkey baster) right in front of the clown (turn off all your pumps that the food stuff does not disperse all over the tank)....

See if the clown will now take some of this food.....

Give the clown the biggest chance of surviving, by giving it (her?) the biggest choice of food..... then, once establishing WHAT food to eat (the garlic is to strengthen the smell/flavor of the food - to attract the fish to the food), keep on feeding this....
 
Lol Crispin, i dont think the LFS was meaning he needed to have a candle lit dinner to eat, from what i gather he was meaning the lighting could be making it that he does not identify the flakes as food, if that makes sense?

But ya, if he doesnt eat again tonight i will definately go and buy another type of fish food tomorrow. Would pellets maybe be better than flakes?

it hasnt eaten for two weeks that you know of, stop waiting, get new food!

pellets would be a start, but i would def get a mix of different frozen at the same time:)
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys, I will try a mix some foods up with garlic tonight and see what happens. Hope it works out.
 
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