Two little clownfish

alexkharden · Apr 9, 2016

About two weeks ago I bought two Extreme Picasso clowns, and they've been in quarantine since then. They're both little guys, so small that I have to crush up the small size pellets for them to be able to successfully eat them. My question concerns their feeding habits. There's a piece of pvc in quarantine that they appear to love to death, lol. So much so that they won't even leave it to eat, literally. If I don't drop the food directly in front of the pvc they won't eat it, they just watch it go to the bottom of the tank.

Is this normal? I'm just worried about how they'll survive and eat in a 200 gallon tank, if they won't even leave the pvc in a 20 gallon.

ngvu1 · Apr 9, 2016

It will be tough in the 200 gallons. They have long coral feeders to target feed corals. You can use that to target feed them. I had the same issue but my tank is 85 gallons. Mine finally moved to the nem then it is a lot easier to feed...good luck

alexkharden · Apr 10, 2016

But I see all these large tanks with clowns in them, does everyone have these problems?

Chrisfish · Apr 10, 2016

Just curious, have you tried different foods, ie Frozen or flake? My clowns won't touch pellets or even flake food , just a suggestion.

cmcoker · Apr 10, 2016

alexkharden said:
But I see all these large tanks with clowns in them, does everyone have these problems?

I've got two in a 120g. They went in as a mated pair after living in my nano for 2-3yrs. At first they found a spot and didn't stray much for food, after about a week they would dive into the feeding frenzy with the rest of the fish.
I have never found them to be shy about eating once they are comfortable and bigger. They just need some time to grow and it shouldn't be an issue.
Do you plan to let them grow out a bit before going in the 200g? Id be worried about them taking a trip to the sump if they are that tiny...

Bdog4u2 · Apr 10, 2016

Clowns grow pretty quick and when you move them there's a pretty good chance they'll be hanging up at the top of the aquarium unless you bring the pvc to the display tank with them and there's no aggressive tank mates

ngvu1 · Apr 10, 2016

I guess I was not clear in my previous post. Like cmcoker was saying when they get bigger, they will be able to swim out to get the food when you feed. It is hard in the beginning when they are small. They can't eat big pellets and they can't swim fast so they often hide in the caves...might be too hungry to survive if not target fed.
Those 1mm pellets are very small. I feed mine those when they were smaller.

alexkharden said:
But I see all these large tanks with clowns in them, does everyone have these problems?

alexkharden · Apr 13, 2016

Chrisfish said:
Just curious, have you tried different foods, ie Frozen or flake? My clowns won't touch pellets or even flake food , just a suggestion.

Yes, I've fed them pellets, flake, and dried mysis. They've eaten it all, but they definitely prefer the crushed up pellets.

cmcoker said:
I've got two in a 120g. They went in as a mated pair after living in my nano for 2-3yrs. At first they found a spot and didn't stray much for food, after about a week they would dive into the feeding frenzy with the rest of the fish.
I have never found them to be shy about eating once they are comfortable and bigger. They just need some time to grow and it shouldn't be an issue.
Do you plan to let them grow out a bit before going in the 200g? Id be worried about them taking a trip to the sump if they are that tiny...

Yes, I plan on leaving them in quarantine until they're bigger. Maybe that'll be a good indicator as to when they're ready for the main tank, when they start leaving that pvc.

Bdog4u2 said:
Clowns grow pretty quick and when you move them there's a pretty good chance they'll be hanging up at the top of the aquarium unless you bring the pvc to the display tank with them and there's no aggressive tank mates

Lol, I have no intention of moving the pvc to the main tank.

ngvu1 said:
I guess I was not clear in my previous post. Like cmcoker was saying when they get bigger, they will be able to swim out to get the food when you feed. It is hard in the beginning when they are small. They can't eat big pellets and they can't swim fast so they often hide in the caves...might be too hungry to survive if not target fed.
Those 1mm pellets are very small. I feed mine those when they were smaller.

I'll try to find some of those 1mm pellets, I thought I had the smallest ones available. Thanks for the suggestion!