Clown Food

[JeffDubya]

What's the best food for clowns?

Currently I am feeding mine a mix that I made from a recipe show on Reefcast/Melev's Reef and some flake. They are not very hearty eaters at this point, and I want to make sure I am feeding them stuff they need/want.

[fat walrus]

the best answer is alway as large a variety as possible. i think i own every single food and food additives that my lfs sells. clownfish are generally not very picky eaters. if your water quality is good, the clowns will become more hardy eaters as they become more settled in the tank.

[CarmieJo]

Mine eats frozen mysis and Formula One. I soak both in garlic.

[JeffDubya]

The food I so proudly made contains: SFBB Marine cuisine, blood worms, mysis shrimp, nori and some finely chopped seafood mix that contains clams, octopus, squid and mussels. Oh yeah... and a LOT of garlic.

When I drop in a cube, the darn thing just sinks!

If I thaw it first, it just kinda explodes all over the tank. Even thawed, it just pretty much sinks. Rgh!

I have a small system (29 gal) with no sump, so I am really worried about overfeeding the tank and bumping up those nitrates.

I was so bummed. I made the food while I was cycling, and I was just so sure the fish would dig it. I guess making fish food is harder than it seems.

[JeffDubya]

Aside from the food mixture of my own concoction, I am feeding with Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef flake and Formula One Pellet.

I have kinda small fish. Two Percs and one Royal Gramma.

They all seem to like the pellets, but they are too hard. In the mouth, chomp, chomp, spit. Then they go for the flakes ok.

[Rob]

you might want to cut back on the food.. start with just the formula one, and some mysids shrimp, and maybe some brine here and there...

as noted, clowns are not usually picky eaters, mine do just fine on formula one as there primary food source

[JeffDubya]

Rob, as I mentioned, they seem to like the formula one, but they can't eat it. The pellets are too large, or too hard, or sink too fast...

And I agree. My next trip to the LFS I was going to pick up some mysids...

[Rob]

try formula one flake, i find this is the best for my clowns

[JeffDubya]

ok, I'll see if my LFS carries that. If not, I will order some.

[CarmieJo]

When I feed cyclopeez I kind of shave it off the stick of food with a knife. You might want to try that with your homemade food. (Which, by the way, sounds like your fish should LOVE!)

[JeffDubya]

Here's another question.

The books I have say to feed the fish 2-3 times per day. This, combined with my other feeding issues is clearly hurting my water quality. My pH is down from 8.2 to 7.8 and my Nitrates are up from 5 ppm to 10.

I had a conversation with a guy in my local club who said... "change the water and then feed them once every three days."

There's a lot of difference between 3 times a day and once every 3 days.

I'd love your opinions.

In the meantime, I am going to warm up some water and do my 10% weekly change a couple days early.

[Koby!]

i just feed my clowns formulas one and two once a day

[wildeone]

My fish get a variety, and I feed them whenever I think of it. So they get fed a little cyclo in th AM, and some F1 flake in the PM. Maybe next time they get some mysis, Nori in ithe PM. I try to mix it up and feed different stuff multiple times a day if I can. I also sometimes skip a day, like yesterday.

[Rob]

JeffDubya, what book was this from?

[gwen_o_lyn]

Originally Posted by JeffDubya

The books I have say to feed the fish 2-3 times per day.

I'd love your opinions.

Rob- the Scott Michael Marine Fishes book says that for most the fish.

I feed every 2-3 days.

[Rob]

ok, well i wasn't sure what they said, i know that i feed every other day for my fish..

my clowns are different, they get fed 2-3 times a day, but thats because they are a spawning pair and im rearing the young.