Clowns won't eat, any suggestions?

cam2fst4u

Reefing newb
Hey Guys... Need some advice again...


After the Goby jumped out of the tank I figured it would be a good time as any to get the clowns that my son has been wanting.. Well They have been in the tank for 3 days.... and they haven't ate anything. They wouldn't even conisder the flakes that I have been feeding much less even look in the direction... So I thought I should go get some live food for them.. thinking that would be too much to resist... well the LFS guy told me not to feed live but to feed the frozen Marine Cuisine instead. Well I tried that and they finally noticed it but still wouldn't touch it. Any suggestions? All the other fish readily ate every bit of it and will eat the flakes the same way. :question:
 
Frozen food is the best that you can feed your fish. Flakes and pellets contain preservatives that can lead to algae problems and water quality problems. I do not recommend feeding anything but frozen food.

It's not unusual for new fish to take several days to adjust to their new environment. It can take up to a week for them to start coming out of the rocks and start eating. Soaking the food in garlic extract before feeding should help elicit a feeding response, so go ahead and try that. In the meantime, don't give up -- keep offering them food, and eventually they'll take it.
 
did you ask the LFS to feed the fish before you bought them? I've got two down the street from me, one that I buy my fish from and the other one where I buy everyting else just because the one I buy my fish at feeds the fish that I'm "just looking" at before I even say if I like it or not....it's pretty nice. Actually, we've gotten chummy enough to where when I go in now, he let's me feed his big display lion fish :shock: SOOO COOL!!!

The mistake I made buying fish at the other place was that I never had them feed the fish before I took them home and the problem there is that you don't know if they're eating yet, what they're eating, how long they've been at LFS....all that.

Hopefully everything works out great for your new additions :x:, but hopefully I've given you some good advice for next time too.
 
Mine took a few days before they ate. I fed them frozen mysis from the start, just a little to see if they would eat. it wasn't until the 4th or 5th day that they got used to their new tank and started eating. Now, they're eating machines and twice the size (well, the female is, at least...hehehe). They were also the first fish. I had no problems getting other incoming fish to eat after them.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies.... Will try to find the garlix and see if that helps...

First time that i have had a fish not eat... I fed this morning and the one acted like he was going to but just spit it back out and wouldn't touch anymore.. i am going to call the store I got them from to find out what they were feeding.

What would be a good anemone that would go with them that is fairly easy to keep?
 
Update: well I tried again this eve with the frozen and the lil clown ate a few bites and the bigger one took one that I saw... I am guessing this is good news.,,, To acclimate the fish I usually just float the bag and remove some of the water and replace 1/4 with the tank water every 15 mins and this time I did the drip acclimation method thought I was being safer...
 
How long did you drip it for?

I got a true perc not too long ago and poured the bag he came in directly into a home depot bucket (it was sitting at an angle to keep the water a little deeper) and then let it drip for at least an hour or so (they say till the water has at least doubled, but I'm pretty sure I let it triple or quadruple) then I turn off the lights in the tank and put him in bare handed/no net. The next day, the lights came on like normal and I defrosted a cube of Aquarium Fish Foods: Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef Frozen Food
that I placed in the tank using THE GRABBER 27" AQUARIUM TONG- PINCHERS - eBay (item 230366675375 end time Aug-19-09 06:55:35 PDT)

and that sucker was pushing my Damsel (been in my tank since I started cycling) out of the way to eat from the grabber...I was pretty impressed.
 
I dripped them in a bucket for about 2 1/2 hours.. I let the water double took out half of that let it double again and took out half of that at least 5 times
 
:sfish:I watched them for a lil bit before I turned off the lights... They seem to be acting a lil bit better... the smaller especially...
 
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