How often and how to feed my clown fish?

BellBoy04

New Member
I just purchased 2 black clownfish and a fire shrimp. I was wondering what should I feed them and how often? I been reading a lot on the net about this but everyone is different. I'm new to this so all info is helpful. Thanks a million in advance!
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nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
p_12020_FS20909D.jpg

Mine love this... one cube every other day, is what I would suggest - most lfs carry it

Marine Cuisine is a blend of natural seafood ingredients, spirulina algae, color enhancers, and added vitamins. This complete diet for your marine omnivores and carnivores provides the nutrition found on coral reefs. Its unique ingredients entice fish to feed with vigor.

Emerald Entrée is a complete nutritional package especially for fish that rely on microalgae and vegetable matter as a main nutrition source. Also contains mysis shrimp, an attractive addition that entice finicky aquarium omnivores and carnivore to eat.

100% Squid is an excellent source of protein and a great supplementary food for carnivores such as Triggerfish and Groupers. Ornamental shrimp and other invertebrates such as crabs and starfish will also enjoy this nutritious treat.

Omega-3 enriched Brine Shrimp, with enhanced HUFA levels, provides an excellent diet for saltwater fish where these special omegas are a must for the overall well-being of your fish.
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Yep you are correct, everyone will have a different opinion on what to feed and the amount to feed.

What to feed - a varied diet is best for your fishes health (just like it isn't healthy for us to eat the same type of hamburger everyday for the rest of our lives, eating a variety of foods helps to stay health)

Amount of food will be based on type of fish and size of fish. Some fish need to graze all day long (high metabolisms) others will be fine eating once a day. Smaller fish eat less then larger fish, smaller stomachs.

Good types of food above posted by Glenn, but if you only have two fish in that tank, I disagree with Glenn on the amount to feed them daily.

How big are those clowns? They still have orange faces so I'd say they are still young and small ~1.5-2.5 inches? Do you have any other fish in the tank?

With small fish and no other fish in the tank, I'd cut the amount of food down, maybe a quarter of a cube a day. Once you get more fish (or they get bigger) you can bump up the amount you are feeding them to a half a cube. You can quarter (or halve) the cubes with a knife and keep the extra in a little zip lock bag in the freezer (cut the cubes when frozen and freeze again before they thaw out).
 

BellBoy04

New Member
I'm trying to find the right food for them, they chase a lot of different types but spit it back out. They still have a little orange on their faces, but I noticed they are labor breathing. Aka heavy breathing...I tested my water last night and everything is sitting at ideal levels...any suggestions?


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Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Post your parameters of the water here.
What is the salinity level. Temp. Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels.
Heavy breathing can indicate high ammonia levels.

Get all uneaten food out of the tank so it doesn't foul the water and cause more issues.
 

BellBoy04

New Member
Salinity 1.025...Temp 77.3 with no lights, 79.4 with lights. 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite 0ppm nitrate...I net all food out of the tank a bout 3 minutes.


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BellBoy04

New Member
I bought flakes, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and the multi pack. Spit everything out except the mixture I made of the multipack...allowed about 3 minutes for them to eat and netted everything else out. I went back to my LFS where I bought them from and noticed all of them was breathing the same. The employee told me this is normal for new fish and it could take a week for them to settle down.


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Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
How are they doing today?
Are they still heavy breathing? It is possible that they didn't acclimate well to the new tank.
Params look fine.
Go with the brine shrimp first, most fish will eat that first before other foods. It is like candy to them.
 

BellBoy04

New Member
Lost one last night[emoji22]...still breathing the same...I set them in the tank for close to 40minutes before I introduced them to the tank. I tried every type of food. The clown chases it and bites it and then spits it out...little discouraged, I have been keeping and eye on everything like I should. Apparently I need some guidance.


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Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Please explain how you acclimated them in more detail. You said you 'set them in the tank for close to 40 mins', is this just floating the bag? Did you acclimate them to the water chemistry?

When acclimating fish, floating the bag only gets the temperature to match the tank, this doesn't acclimate the fish to the tanks water parameters. Either adding a little water every 5 mins or using a drip method would acclimate the fish to the tanks parameters.

If you just released the fish into the tank w/o acclimating them to the water's parameters, then this could very well be the cause for the hyper breathing and loss of the fish.

There is a sticky around here that goes into much more detail, but I can't find it. I thought it was in the beginner's thread.
 

BellBoy04

New Member
That makes perfect sense....apparently I did it wrong and now I'm paying the price for it...if someone can please locate this article I can't seem to find it. I don't want to keep losing fish. My buddy told me that the fish had sunburn on him. Could I be running my lights to much? 3 hrs in the am. And 5 hrs in the evening...


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IanReefer

Member
General rule regarding feeding frequency. Two fish of similiar species and size may require different amounts of food. Mostly depending on activity levels. Fortunately, fish get fat and skinny based on food demands. Shrimps do not, if they are getting more than enough food, they look regular, if they are starving to death, they look regular.

Shrimps have a much higher metabolic rate than fish, thus, require much more frequent feeding than fish.
With fish, when in doubt, slightly underfeed. With shrimp, when in doubt, slightly overfeed.

It's a challenge, and being able to determine this comes with experience - along with some unfortunate and painful trial and error.

Ian
 

Dracko

Well-Known Member
p_12020_FS20909D.jpg

Mine love this... one cube every other day, is what I would suggest - most lfs carry it

Marine Cuisine is a blend of natural seafood ingredients, spirulina algae, color enhancers, and added vitamins. This complete diet for your marine omnivores and carnivores provides the nutrition found on coral reefs. Its unique ingredients entice fish to feed with vigor.

Emerald Entrée is a complete nutritional package especially for fish that rely on microalgae and vegetable matter as a main nutrition source. Also contains mysis shrimp, an attractive addition that entice finicky aquarium omnivores and carnivore to eat.

100% Squid is an excellent source of protein and a great supplementary food for carnivores such as Triggerfish and Groupers. Ornamental shrimp and other invertebrates such as crabs and starfish will also enjoy this nutritious treat.

Omega-3 enriched Brine Shrimp, with enhanced HUFA levels, provides an excellent diet for saltwater fish where these special omegas are a must for the overall well-being of your fish.

I bought something similar but not the multi pack. The thing is that the cubes don't melt the same way as the brine shrimp. They stay cubed, and if I try to separate it becomes mush. I have been cutting into small chunks, which float on surface. Not all the fish seem to be getting some. Am I feeding this correctly?
 

NJ Reefer

Active Member
PREMIUM
BellBoy, hopefully your clown is eating now, but I wanted suggest trying Hikari Marine S. Most LFS carry it. I prefer to limit pellet feeding to a once or twice a week (usually when I am late from work and my son feeds the tank), or when I am on vacation and I need an auto feeder. But these have been part of their diet for a long time and all of the fish (and shrimp) in my tank love it.

I have also been feeding frozen PE mysis (rinsed in RODI) a couple of times per week. But lately I have switched to LRS Reef Frenzy. I thaw a piece of it in either tank water, or RODI, and then drip it into the tank. My fish go nuts for it.
 

newo11

Well-Known Member
But lately I have switched to LRS Reef Frenzy. I thaw a piece of it in either tank water, or RODI, and then drip it into the tank. My fish go nuts for it.

+1 on using LRS reef frenzy. Larry (the "L") is a local reefer here in NC and I've been using his foods for almost three years, essentially since he first started out. I won't use anything else. His food is very clean, unlike the pack pictured above) so you do not have to rinse it. A little bit of his food goes a long way though!
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
I would not say it's the "correct" way to do it, but I just hold my frozen cubes in front of my circulation nozzle or my Vortech - in about 15 secs, it thaws & is blown all over the tank.

When I am target feeding corals, I drop the cube in a cup of tank water, let it thaw for a few minutes & then feed select corals with a turkey baster.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I would not say it's the "correct" way to do it, but I just hold my frozen cubes in front of my circulation nozzle or my Vortech - in about 15 secs, it thaws & is blown all over the tank.

When I am target feeding corals, I drop the cube in a cup of tank water, let it thaw for a few minutes & then feed select corals with a turkey baster.

Likewise, I know this isn't correct, but what I do is put some tank water in a cup, let the cube unthaw for maybe 15 minutes, and then then dump the cup of tank water plus thawed cube in my tank. Seems to work well enough.

I know the correct method is to rinse with RODI water (although there was some research suggesting that isn't necessary). Regardless, my life is really, really pretty full with my boys. So, I take every shortcut I can that isn't critical. My parameters seem fine and the cubes break apart nicely so everything can eat them without them being mush.

I rarely target feed corals, but when I do I do the same process as Glenn.
 
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