Clownfish Hungry?

Z06-Hec · Nov 27, 2018

So its been about 1.5 years since I sold my last 150 gal setup. In that setup i had a bit of ocellaris clowns. With my experience of those they really do not eat that much and usually drop a lot of food.
So i moved down to GA and am tired of waiting for the funds to finish my basement and build my in wall 300.
So i got a 10 gal nano to hold me off some.
Started with sand and rocks for a few weeks, then added a monticap for testing and a week later I added some more corals. Lobo, trachy, torch, GSP and a Ric.
Black Friday sale comes along and I end up getting 2 Percula clowns, 1 an onyx and 1 a snowflake that were already paired in a tank by themselves.
So these are the only fish going into my 10gal as oppossed to my 150gal my clowns had a bunch of angels and tangs to compete with for food...
My question is, is it the difference in type of clowns or the competition in the tank not existing that has these clowns behaving as if they are starving?
They constantly want food... They are always swimming at the top waiting for me to drop any and if any falls to the sand bed they peck it off the sand, something i have never seen any of my previous clowns do. At this point i have tried feeding them 3 times a day and they still eat every pellet i throw in.

NY_Caveman · Nov 28, 2018

Just because they are swimming at the top of the tank with puppy dog eyes does not mean they need to be fed. It is just their conditioned behavior when you are at the tank. Try to resist overfeeding.

Hitman · Nov 28, 2018

Clowns are lil liars when it comes to feeding. Every time a different family member walks by the tank they act like they have never been fed. They will eat and eat and eat if you let them. Mine are fed a fat pinch of pellets in the morning and frozen foods in the evening daily.

davocean · Nov 28, 2018

I think all my clowns love to rush on food.
My clowns have actually figured about the time my autofeeder dumps and swim up to it about 15 minutes or so before, it's the only time they leave their nem, and on opposite side of tank.
All my fish right now charge me every time I'm near, but I do feed several times a day having anthias.

Z06-Hec · Nov 28, 2018

I thought so... but again in my last few tanks, probably a total of 7 clowns none of them behaved like this... Now that it is a tank with them alone, its like they ask for food all the time and eat it when its given...
I will stick to my regular feeding plans.
Thanks