clownfish

[thanew]

ok, I'm a little lost on this subject.. i've been looking for information on clownfish and their diets (and nothing states anything about seaweed/nori except that they live in kelp in the wild.. )... would some seaweed / nori be great for them.. right now i'm feeding them the prime reef, them and the crab seem to love it, but i'm looking for maybe something to leave in there for them to nibble, or just something to change up their diet really..

thanks,
thane

 

[Phyl]

My clowns don't touch my nori. I think they'd actually spit it out if they ate it by accident. If you want to change up the diet you could try some formula 1 and formula 2. My clowns love the 1 but will also eat the 2. I aslo throw some mysis in there or some cyclopeze.

 

[thanew]

alright thanks, you just saved me a couple of bucks on wasting it on food no one in my tank would eat (did that with a few times with the cichlid pellets, trying to find the right size)

 

[JamesR]

on top of the above mentioned items, mine love marine cuisine.

Jim

 

[quarryshark]

Agree, mine never touch anything green but will try all meaty items I put in.

 

[ZoozFishMaster]

I definitely think you are on the right track. Fish, esp. marine fish need a varied diet in order to receive all of the essential nutrients they need to stay healthy. I think it is important to feed a variety of frozen, dried, and live foods.

According to Joyce Wilkerson in her book "Clownfishes," carotenoids are "pigments that give clownfishes their range of bright, attractive hues." In summary she says that fishes must obtain carotenoids from the foods that they eat. However, only plants, yeast and microalgae can manufacture carotenoids. So fish must consume plants or microalgae directly, or eat animals that consume plants or microalgae. Although she recommends feeding nori to clowns in her book, from experience, I have found that the clowns will not touch the nori. They should however eat spirulina algae (flake or frozen) which is high in carotenoids. She also states that because of their natural diet of algae, krill is high in carotenoids (clownfish should accept krill). If the clowns are housed in a reef, copepods and amphipods may also become a good carotenoid source.

So IMO, just feed the clown a variety of foods and they should get all of the nutrition they need! HTH

 

[something_fishy]

When I first started with my clowns, I was feeding them "meaty" things, like bloodworm, chopped krill and such... but as tiem went on I switched them to marine flakes, it is easier and creates less of a mess in the tank, less water changes due to the lack of meaty debris. Also, remember that a clownfish has an extremely slow metabolism, so you need not feed them every day, 1 time every 2 to 3 days is sufficient. Other than that and it is just wasting the food and your time changing the water.

 

[afilter]

I have never seen my Maroon clowns actively eat the seaweed/nori I put in the clips for my tangs. They do love a frozen product called green life line though which I use as a daily staple in addition to cycloeeze and occassional mysis shrimp.

HTH,

 

[lziarek]

huh my clowns eat from the tangs seaweed clip all the time... odd maybe they are watching their deit

 

[afilter]

huh my clowns eat from the tangs seaweed clip all the time... odd maybe they are watching their deit

Yeah, I do not think my maroons care about their figure to much since they ignore the nori and go straight for the protien. Of course they could be trying the atkins thing.

 

[klam]

Also, remember that a clownfish has an extremely slow metabolism, so you need not feed them every day, 1 time every 2 to 3 days is sufficient. Other than that and it is just wasting the food and your...

Interesting...where did you get this information from?

It would be good if the diet is supplimented with spirulina algae.The brand I use is OSI Spirulina flakes.

 

[tbrock]

sorry to change the subject, but ive got a deifferent question about clownfish. How do your clowns sleep at night? i have had a false perc for almost a week now and ive noticed that at night he almost lays completely on his side at the very top, almost like hes dead. he does fine during the day i was just wondering if anyone elsa's clowns do this.

 

[Phyl]

My WC true perc sleeps the same way. Hosts the side of my baffle. I thought he had some sort of swim bladder problem one day when he looked like he couldn't get off of the surface. Turns out he was just goofing on me, trying to get me to post stupid questions, lol! It worked. The night after I posted my concern he was swimming like a champ. Always returns to the surface to rest though. Weird little fish, IMO.

 

[Ayesha97]

I thought that one of my clowns may have had a swim bladder probelm and they suggested feeding peas to my clowns. They love them! (my mom thinks its funny that my fish eat more peas than me!) Might be a nice treat for them every so often.

 

[klam]

Are these cooked peas? I've never heard of this before. Who suggested this?

 

[Ayesha97]

I've been feeding thawed frozen peas (I dont' do it often- maybe a few times a month). You remove the other shell of the pea and then mash it up to fit into the litttle clown's mouth.

Steve-S recommended this to me, read the link below....

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=27580&highlight=clownfish+peas

Steve-S said...

Peas are pretty much the best thing when there is this kind of problem. It doesn't need to be every other day but you won't hurt the fish at all feeding the peas. They are very high in vitamins and usuable protein. No matter the species, it's always good to be sure the fish gets a well rounded diet. If you where to make your own blender mush and incorporate a good marine vitamin and nori or other source of spurlina algae, it might be a little less mess than preparing the peas.

 

[klam]

Interesting. So did the peas solve the swimming bladder issue?

 

[JG]

Mine will eat just about anything. Marine Cuisine, live brine, dried brine, blood worm, pellet, flakes, algae pellet. But the don't seem to like Nori.

 

[X the Outsider]

Mine love marine cuisine. They eat it right from my hand. They also eat off the LR. Once in awhile I drop in some spirulina algae for them. But I've never been able to get them to eat anything green.

 

[kwan]

I have a Clarki and Maroon, and they both eat nori from the tang's seaweed clip.