Clown not eating

jzimmerman32 · 02-21-2008, 06:25 AM

I just bought a Yellow Stripe Maroon Clown fish. Its pretty big so it must be a female but she won't eat. It has only been a day so I guess that maybe normal since she is getting used to the tank. I have frozen brine shrimp and flake food which she isn't interested in right now. I have only had her for about 12 hours and I was wondering how long of her not eating before I get worried and do you have any ideas on how to make her eat?

Tangster · 02-21-2008, 06:32 AM

You can't make them eat and don't kill the tank with food I'd assume its a rather new set up ? But just wait and give it a few days it will eat.. Don't throw a ton of frozen meat in to pollute the water either. Just wait it will come around if its totally healthy and I'd guess it is as they are rather tough fish and very very aggressive you may rue the day you put it in there.. They get rather large and will become a finger biter (: all I ever kept did..Scaers the hell out of me every time..

jzimmerman32 · 02-21-2008, 07:17 AM

Yes it is a new tank. Its been running for over month. The water checks out fine. Yesterday the water was at .25 Nitrate .50 Nitrite 0 ammonia 8.3 pH. Its pretty much coming to the end of the cycling process I believe. Got some green slime algae which I hope the snails I got will take care of it. I'm thinking about running the lights only a few hours a day to help out.

Tangster · 02-21-2008, 07:33 AM

You are nowhere near the end of the cycling of that tank at one month ): in about 3 months it will be stable and another 12 months on top of that then you will have a somewhat stable and fully cycled system. Just wait a couple of days before you feed again and then just a few flakes. Or a pinch of brine shrimp.. They are totally worth nutritionally but But like candy to a kid the fish love them and they are good to keep feeding interest tweaked.

But take the frozen meat stuff if you feed it and rinse it will under some R/O water in a little brine type net to wash out the NO3's and NO4's that stuff is loaded with them. Also just wait a couple of day the fish will settle in and start to poke around and it wil be fine..It just takes some longer then others

jzimmerman32 · 02-21-2008, 08:23 AM

Thanks for the information.

clownfish · 02-21-2008, 11:11 AM

Go to your LFS and see if they have this: GarlicGuard it worked for me, I had a new clown that wouldn't eat, it would just hide under the rocks...I put a few drops of this in the food, the clown could not resist the smell of it. Besides, it's good for them. Give it a try. It should run pretty cheap. If there's a PetsMart near you, they will surely have it.

Scubagator87 · 03-24-2008, 02:44 PM

ok, so i'm having a problem with my clownfish eating also. I have a mated pair of false preculas that I purchased about a week ago. I just recently got the male to eat some frozen brine shrimp, but the female will still not eat. She gets excited from the smell of food and darts up to it, seems interested, but in the end will not eat. I've tried giving them these foods:

Flake algae
blood worms
a frozen food mixture containing algae as well as shrimp and fish
frozen brine shrimp (male will eat this)
Live brine shrimp with concentrated garlic (male will eat this also)

any suggestions?

bmshehan · 03-24-2008, 07:41 PM

Might be stressed from dumping too much crap into a tank that is too young and is still cycling. Patience is a virtue, "go slow and let it grow."

Scubagator87 · 03-25-2008, 04:06 PM

yea, im taking care to remove any uneaten food (with a small plastic tube) so as not to pollute the tank, and will probably not feed them today. Although it does appear that they have settled into their "territory", so maybe she'll eat sometime soon.

Bogie · 03-25-2008, 05:46 PM

----yea, im taking care to remove any uneaten food (with a small plastic tube) so as not to pollute the tank----

Get yourself some hermit crabs to do that for you!