Should I be feeding my clownfish more?

[jaymoe17]

So I feed my 2 clownfish about a half a cube of mysis or brine shrimp a day, they love both. Recently while I was inspecting my tank I noticed that one of my clownfish looked a little bit weird after his ribs which made me nervous. I’ll attach pictures below.

Once per day seems pretty standard and they are the only 2 in the tank, although I just got a cleaner shrimp 1 day ago.

It looks like he may be thinner where I can see his ribs but maybe not? What do you all think? If I feed more then half a cube most of it ends up being a waste. I’ve had them 2 months now on this schedule.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’m not really seeing ribs or any extreme thinness, but those fins do look tattered. Usually that’s the result of aggression.
It looks like they are figuring out who is in charge, and the more dominant of the two is pressuring the other out of food (which is why the females always get larger than the males).

 

[jaymoe17]

I’m not really seeing ribs or any extreme thinness, but those fins do look tattered. Usually that’s the result of aggression.
It looks like they are figuring out who is in charge, and the more dominant of the two is pressuring the other out of food (which is why the females always get larger than the males).

Oh yes this isn’t a concern, I catch them figuring it out all the time, I just saw after it’s stomach a curve the goes right back into the tail so I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned.

Is this enough food you think a day?

 

[Sharkbait19]

It’s better for them to spread smaller feedings throughout the day, but as for amount that is good. That’s probably more than mine get.
Looking again, I honestly think that clown looks on the fatter end. Generations of inbreeding also doesn’t help with their physical appearance.

 

[jaymoe17]

It’s better for them to spread smaller feedings throughout the day, but as for amount that is good. That’s probably more than mine get.
Looking again, I honestly think that clown looks on the fatter end. Generations of inbreeding also doesn’t help with their physical appearance.

Haha okay cool. Appreciate the hasty response!

 

[crazyfishmom]

The clown looks pretty plump to me.

If you can, try to feed them twice a day instead of once. It helps to reduce aggression. The amount is fine as mentioned by someone earlier in the post. Fish have small stomachs so most of the time they get their fill and then the rest of the food goes uneaten and accumulates in the tank. If you feed smaller, more frequent portions they tend to eat more of what you’re putting in the tank. Win for the fish and win for you.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Do you feed your half cube all at one time? That would be too much in one sitting, a lot will go uneaten and you will have algae issue's.

I have 3 tanks with 18 fish total, and I feed a half cube divided between the 3 tanks. So half a cube is feeding 18 fish. I feed this amount 3 or 4 times per day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ll remove the emergency tag.

 

[CyberNinjaZ]

I only feed my currently single male a pinch of flakes a day. He may snack on other things without me seeing, but he looks very healthy. It's normal, as I've seen, for the female to take most of the food and leave the scraps for the male.