I Finally Got Fishys
 

Okay, I finally got a pair of clowns into my tank. The tank is a little over 6 weeks old and everything is going pretty good - a little too much algae, but what the heck. I know I'm probably just being overly concerned but the clowns are not eating. They are swimming well (although they seem to be sticking to one part of the tank), their colour is good, but they aren't eating. I didn't feed them the first night, but the next morning and then tonight. They saw the food (mysis shrim), sort of went after it a little, but didn't eat any of it. Any ideas, or am I just expecting too much too soon. I really want them to do well. Thanks for any help.

Try a garlic enhancement product... or if that doesnt work, the mysis may be a little big for them, could try brine.

Any idea where I can get a garlic enhancement? And is this like a garlic extract -so just a liquid, or something else? I have some brine shimp and krill, so I'll try the brine shrimp. Thanks for the help :biggrin:

If you happen to have fresh garlic you can crush the juice out of that too :)

If you did not quarantine the fish in a QT you should definitely be soaking your food in garlic extract which you can buy at a health food store.

If the fish are new, give them a little food move away and watch them from a distance. They are probably stressed with you present but will get used to you very soon.

You can get Kent Garlic Extreme at J&L, Ocean Aquatics, probably Big Als, but I would try the first two. And as stated above use a few drops let it soak for a few minutes and back away froom the tank when you place the food in. You may want to try some brine or cyclopeeze. Cyclopeeze is the only food that every fish I have ever owned loved!

Good luck!
ShrimpSkin

Thanks for the advice ShrimpSkin. Fed them again this morning, and again they didn't eat. It's obvious that they want to eat, and they are checking the food out, but they appear to be rejecting it. I'll be getting some of that garlic extract today for sure. I hope that helps.

Gotta ask...How big are they??...What are you trying to feed them with??
I have mine eating lots but they like Formula 1+2 fish food as well as frozen mysis and brine shrimp...

dsaundry - they are a good size. I'd say they are at least two inches long. So far I've tried mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, and krill. The krill seemed to bring the best response, but there was no obvious feeding. I've been staying back from the tank when I feed them - and with the krill I used a turkey baster and waited until one of them was up in the water column before shooting the food into the current. He got excited, but didn't actually eat anything. Of the two, one is quite a bit more active while the other one has found one corner of the tank at the bottom and stays there most of the time. I'm a little worried because I thought I had bought tank raised fish (and I still may have) and so expected them to be familiar with this type of food. I'm hoping this is just new tank stress, and that it will pass quickly.

Were they eating in the lfs when you bought them?
Never buy any fish unless YOU see it eating.