Clownfish not eating

Tristan · Nov 21, 2016

This weekend I went to reefapalooza and got a pair of Flurry/frostbite clownfish. I brought them home yesterday and drip acclimated for an hour+.

Today I tried feeding them but they wouldn't eat. I think I would see them going for the food but they would just lose interest.

I've tried feeding Frozen mysis, arctipods(reef nutrition), original rod's, esv, soft clownfish pellets(fauna Marin), panta Nouri polyp, and live tigrio pods (nutramar).

None of them worked. Im in the works of making a batch of live brine that will hatch tomorrow.

cloak · Nov 21, 2016

Going two, three, sometimes even four days without eating is fairly common for new additions IME. I wouldn't panic just yet. Just keep offering a wide variety of foods and hopefully something will stick. GL.

Tristan · Nov 21, 2016

cloak said:
Going three, four, sometimes even five days without eating is fairly common for new additions IME. I wouldn't panic just yet. Just keep offering a wide variety of foods and hopefully something will stick. GL.

I just tried feeding them again with betabrine(reef nutrition) and the clownfish pellets and they are it but spat it out

cloak · Nov 21, 2016

You might want to try soaking those pellets in a cup of water for about 5 minutes prior to feeding. This will soften them up a little and make it easier for the Clownfish to consume. GL.

Tristan · Nov 21, 2016

cloak said:
You might want to try soaking those pellets in a cup of water for about 5 minutes prior to feeding. This will soften them up a little and make it easier for the Clownfish to consume. GL.

Okay. Thx

Tristan · Nov 23, 2016

cloak said:
You might want to try soaking those pellets in a cup of water for about 5 minutes prior to feeding. This will soften them up a little and make it easier for the Clownfish to consume. GL.

Tried but they still aren't eating and the male is starting to look lethargic.

Antics · Nov 23, 2016

Have you tried Brine? I seem to have the best luck getting clowns to eat frozen brine over mysis and other foods.

Tyreef2016 · Nov 23, 2016

following. Im In a Similar situation with my new clownfish addition. I'm trying every food i have available, hopefully soon he will take to something. might try some garlic maybe (short term)

Tristan · Nov 23, 2016

Antics said:
Have you tried Brine? I seem to have the best luck getting clowns to eat frozen brine over mysis and other foods.

Surprisingly out of all the foods I have, I don't have brine. I tried to hatch a batch of live brine yesterday but I think it was a bad batch

Tristan · Nov 23, 2016

They've gone at least 5 days without food. The female is eating just very tiny bits of tiny mysis but the male is just lethargic.

Antics · Nov 23, 2016

Couldn't hurt I imagine? I'm basing this on experience with ordering clowns from various vendors at work. Some may eat hatchery pellet, some might eat mysis, but generally speaking they usually all eat brine.

Hope it helps.

Joey waid · Nov 23, 2016

I would not worry just yet. I wonder if you can contact who you bought them from to see what they were feeding them and try to duplicate that. When we have added new clowns, mysis usually got them to eat with in a few days. I have had them not eat for 5 or 6 days. For some reason it takes clowns a while to warm up to their new home..

Tristan · Nov 23, 2016

Joey waid said:
I would not worry just yet. I wonder if you can contact who you bought them from to see what they were feeding them and try to duplicate that. When we have added new clowns, mysis usually got them to eat with in a few days. I have had them not eat for 5 or 6 days. For some reason it takes clowns a while to warm up to their new home..

I just contacted Sea & Reef Aquaculture and am waiting for a response.

Tyreef2016 · Nov 23, 2016

Tristan said:
I just contacted Sea & Reef Aquaculture and am waiting for a response.

NON EATING CLOWNS

It is not unusual that fish will take a few days before resuming normal eating habits. Especially the percula variations because they tend to be a bit more skittish. I feed different high quality pellets including New Life Spectrum and Otohimi. I also feed flakes (ocean nutrition formula one and two) as well as frozen food - PE mysis and cyclop-eeze. The fish should recognize those types of food. If the fish have been added to a reef tank with a lot of other fish right away it might take a little longer before they start eating. However, fish can go for quite a few days without food so I don;t think your customer should worry too much. They should begin eating after a few days and when they feel more comfortable in their new environment.

This is from sea and reef.

Undertaker · Dec 27, 2016

Joey waid said:
I would not worry just yet. I wonder if you can contact who you bought them from to see what they were feeding them and try to duplicate that. When we have added new clowns, mysis usually got them to eat with in a few days. I have had them not eat for 5 or 6 days. For some reason it takes clowns a while to warm up to their new home..

I'm glad to hear this!!! I just bought two clowns yesterday, and at the same time bought mysis. I feed them around two hours after putting them in the tank, and they ate a little. Today same thing ate a little if any