2 clownfish wont eat at all, any suggestions?

[rylin]

i got 2 wildcaught false percula clownfish from a big LFS and they will not eat.. i called the LFS to see what they were being fed so i could try feeding that and they said they had just been feeding brine shrimp, wich is what ive been trying to feed them with.. i was just pouring the brine into the tank and they just float around the fish, the fish are totally uninterested in eating.. and then today (day 3) i got a turkey baster and tried to target feed.. but the fish just totally ignore the brine.. does anyone have any suggestions on how to get them to eat? theyre in a 20g w/ about 10 lbs of LR and no other fish just a CB shrimp and a starfish. the food just floats right past them. i tested water, everything seems fine.. they just wont eat. i thought it was stress but this is day 3!

[MalHavoc]

You could try a high quality marine flake food. I'm not a huge fan of flake food because of the phosphates in it, but I've yet to see a fish that didn't like the stuff.

for what it's worth, a friend of mine had a small false perc that he moved to a different tank. That perc would not eat until the BTA it was hosting in was also moved to the new tank.

You should find out if your fish were attached to any particular coral or anemone at the LFS.

[rylin]

yes i tried good flake food at first because thats most convinient.. i had another clown that would eat anything so.. i know they usualy love it it just seems to be these fish.. they wont eat.. i tried covering their tank to lessen the stress on them if maybe that is it.. and i got 1 of the fish first and had it alone.. but when it wouldnt eat i got the other fish thinking maybe a friend would lessen the stress.. but now they both wont eat..

[MalHavoc]

Well, clownfish are normally solitary unless they are a mated pair. And they take a while to become a mated pair, so right now, the fact that you have two wild caught fish in your tank that generally like to be kept alone, in an evironment that is new to them, is probably why they aren't eating.

Is there any way you can separate the fish?

[rylin]

well theyre cuddling and stuff already.. and stay right around eachother all the time.. should i really seperate them? i dont have any way to seperate them.. plus in past experiences.. having more than 1 clown has always worked better for me.. i didnt ever think of them as solitary.. esp. false perculas.

[MalHavoc]

Well, if they aren't fighting with each other, then I'd probably venture a guess and say that perhaps they aren't hungry. My tomato clown doesn't eat that often, but when he does, he gorges himself pretty well.

Give it another day or so. If they don't start to eat by the weekend, you may want to think about returning them for some fish that you have actually witnessed eating.

[absolut]

Here is a fairly lengthy post that may not really answer your question.

I have nearly the same tank as you, I started a 20 gal tall tank with about 10-12 lbs of live rock and the first two fish I put in was a domino damsel, and a yellowtailed blue damsel. After about a week of being set up I went out of town and my roomate watched the tank. I guess he thought there wasn't enough to watch cause when I came back he had bought me a false percula. I was fine with that, but I knew my tank was kind of overstocked for the cycling period. I had the same problem with this one as you do. I tried feeding brine, bloodworm, flake, and this food called Marine S made by Hikari. The damsels would go crazy eating, but the food would just float by the clown as if he didn't even see it and he just swam in one corner of the tank and was pretty inactive. He died after about a week and I let my tank completly cycle for about a month and a half.

Then I bought 3 false perculas and took my yellowtail back to the store because the domino terrorized him, but didn't mind the clowns at all. I had made sure all specs were right, mainly that my water temp was about 77-78 degrees and my specific gravity was about 1.023. I asssimlated them for quite a while, about 10 minutes with the bag still sealed and another 10-15 min after putting some of the tank water in the bag. I initially tried to net them out of the bag so I wouldn't have store water in my tank, but gave up and hurried them out of the bag leaving about half the water in the bag. After I observed them for a few, just for the hell of it I put in some marine S pellets and they ate immediately along with the damsel. I was quite happy after all the sort of desparate attempts with the first one. I dont know what changed, but I assumed 1. that my water was in better condition now than with the 1 clown and 2. That the clowns were more comfortable in a group of 3 because they swim together all around the tank and like to bicker over the food coming in to the tank.
I'm almost positive that my 3 clowns are tank raised because I got them at a trust worthy place and that may have something to do with how well they feed. I hope you can get them to eat, but I dont know after 3 or 4 days if you'll be able to turn it around without changing something.
How long has your tank been running?
If you do get them to eat commercial pellets mine devour the marine S stuff I was talking about and it's much easier to feed than brine all the time. Sorry its so long, but good luck;)

[rylin]

no, thats a good post thanks.. i actually have a fairly large reef tank as well that ive successfully kept clowns in very easily, this is a tank at a different house.. its been running for quite a while.. about a year. there was a blue and yellow damzel in there for quite a while.. and it died suddenly about a month ago.. so decided to put clowns in there.. the only thing i can guess is that because theyre wild caught theyre just not adapting very well or something. the water parameters are right on.. i was worried about the water because the damzel died unexpectedly.. but since then ive done several water changes and its all good. i thought the only logical thing would be that the fish would eat if they were hungry but.. i dunno.. they seem to just let the food float right by and ive had a clown fish in the passed from the same store die the exact same way. just wouldnt eat... thats why im cautious that these wont just eat when theyre hungry.