Feeding small clowns

[LondonReefer]

Hi all,

Couldn't find a post with this exact question, but apologies if I've missed one.

I'm about to set up a nano tank with just a pair of common clowns. Lfs have them in at 3cm long. I want them to obviously have best possible life in the tank (goes without saying), but I'm also keen for them to not grow as quickly a possible. How much/little can I feed them for them to be perfectly happy and healthy, but just not growing as fast as possible/slowest safe growth?

Hope that makes sense and don't want to sound like I'm trying to stunt them!

Many thanks
Ryan

 

[Alenya]

I have kept small clowns in a nano and have surface fed a couple of very small pellets for each clown daily.

 

[LondonReefer]

Cool, thanks very much. Any points to note on growth rate?

 

[Alenya]

Just give them a good look each day, they should still look healthy and well covered without being fat

 

[vetteguy53081]

Assure they get adequate nutrition as skimp feeding can do its own harm to any fish. Heavy feeding doesn’t necessarily lead to rapid growth.
Clowns are susceptible to bacterial and brooklynella disease and lack of nutrition won’t help immune system

 

[LondonReefer]

Great info, thanks both. I'll varied diet in there and feed them daily

 

[LeftyReefer]

I really like the TDO-C2 Chromaboost pellets for my clowns. They are a sinking pellet, but small enough that when sprinkled on the surface, they float for a bit before sinking. if you feed just a few at a time and stop when interest drops, they leave no mess. My clowns probably eat 6-8 pellets each, per feeding. C2-Small size. I also feed the piscene energetics Mysis pellets, which are a similar sized pellet, also a slow sinking pellet.

I feed my clowns 3 times a day. 2 meals of pellets, and then they get frozen for meal #3.

 

[LondonReefer]

Very interesting, thanks a lot. I'll take a look at those pellets. In addition to the frozen food that I'll grab anyway

 

[Alenya]

Pellets are great for clowns in nanos, they are concentrated and because they are snatched up on the surface don’t pollute as much (I have a 40L nano). I feed frozen midweek and the day before a water change.

 

[LondonReefer]

Thanks, that seems like a good schedule. The tank I just bought is the IM nano 10, so basically the same size as yours

 

[Alenya]

To give you some context the above schedule barely sees skimmate in the skimmer cup.

Currently I am feeding about 1/3-1/4 small cube frozen marine mix daily as I have new livestock and the cup half fills in a week. The skimmer stopped working for a few days and I almost immediately had a bloom.

 

[LondonReefer]

Wow that's very interesting as I'm fully intending on not using a skimmer. Will be curious to see how it goes. Weird that it barely takes any skimmate out but you nearly had a bloom isn't it? Then again, half a cup is a fair bit

 

[Alenya]

Wow that's very interesting as I'm fully intending on not using a skimmer. Will be curious to see how it goes. Weird that it barely takes any skimmate out but you nearly had a bloom isn't it? Then again, half a cup is a fair bit

The joys of nano tanks