Got my clowns today!

[excited_newby]

Yay! I got my two clowns today at lunch. Two tankraised perc's and bou are they good looking. Here are the descriptions first and then I will have a few questions:

Fish one:
Oh it is a beauty. They are both moderately small, but i think this one maybe be a smidgen bigger. It has amazing colouration, perfect fins, didn't look stressed at all during the trip or the acclimation. When added to the tank he swam like mad all around and I was worried for a bit that he was freaking out, but after five minutes or so of fast and furious searching of the tank it slowed down and continued to swim but not at the same breakneck speeds. I will continue to watch tomorrow at lunch and before school but I think that he isn't too stressed as there are lots of places to hide, the water parameters all zero or perfect, and a long (50 minutes) slow aclimmation into the new tank. Boy I wish the other was identical to this one.

Fish two:
Not as nice as the other but looking decent none the less. He was picked on a bit in the bag, and was "swooped" some by the other clown in the tank. He looks all around healthy but has had his fins nipped aparently in the LFS tank. Is that a problem? He did a lot less fast swimming around in the tank on first arrival but after 10 mins he pick a little area of the tank as swam there for until I left except for a few little explorations. I sure hope that he is ok tomorrow.

Ok so here are a few q's for you:
I tried to give them some tropical flake food and fish#2 grabbed a piece but spat it and ate it a few times and then let it sink. What is the best method of feeding them when I am not serving fresh clams/muscles/shrimp etc. cause I will not be able to serve up something nice like that everyday.

Well actually that is my only question for now but assuredly there will be more.

 

[quarryshark]

Get some frozen food. San Fransisco brand makes a nice assortment. Easy to use cubes. You can soak it in Selcon for added vitamins.
The fin should heal fine, now that he is out of that environment.
Good luck,

 

[dralarms]

They might not eat for up to a week. 8O That's just something clowns do. Just watch them close and maybe get some garlic extreme to get them started eating.

 

[sicklidkid]

My pink skunk clown ate a day after i put huim in my tank.

 

[MarkW19]

I'm using the frozen cubes for my fish...gamma, mysis, brine, and "vegetarian diet". I'm planning on putting half a cube of each (each cube is about 1/2" square) in each day, fed twice a day (ie. half of two cubes in the morning, and the other at night), for all my fish.

But, I'm also putting 2 ocellaris clowns in as the first fish in my 35gallon tank - how much would you guys feed them over the first few days, and then how much would you increase it to?

Whats the best way to defrost the cubes before I put them in, how much should I defrost them, and if they leave some food after 5 mins, should I scoop it out?

 

[Guest]

My percs ate within 5 minutes of being added. Yet I hear from others they may go for a week or two before eating. As far as feeding I have a pair and the female will eat flakes, and mysis shrimp. The male won't eat the mysis but he eats the flakes and new spectrum pellets which the female ignores. So you may want to exiprement with different foods to see what they like. The spitting out is normal, it will take a while for them to actually feel comftable and eat it. Best of luck

 

[MarkW19]

OK so, it's just trial and error how much to feed them? Since they may eat all I give to them (and I don't want to overfeed...) how much, of the 2 cubes a day, would you feed in the morning and at night, both at the start while aclimatising, and when they've settled in?

How can I tell how much is a good portion?

Should I net the un-eaten food, or just leave it?

 

[excited_newby]

Well I just wrote a massive reply and then accidently deleted it so I will keep this short.

Both fish are happy, eating like mad, and the fins are looking much better. They see so happy and not stressed at all. They are good buddies, but one has established dominance (the one with the better fins) and if the other pushes it a bit he puts him in his place. I have just been feeding them tropical fish flake but will get some frozen stuff this weekend.

Water levels are much better than I was expecting, with just FO and no LR I was expecting a miny spike of the ammonia but it did not come (or not yet). Even after a few days all of the tests have come back zero and pH is a nice 8.2. Temperature is setting steadily at 79-80 with the lights off, but I have a sneaking suspision that it may get 1 or 2 degrees lower with the lights off.

Anyways alls well and thanks for the great feeding advcie everyone!