False Percs not consuming food

[dinki]

So I got my first fish today, two false percs. The lady at the LFS feed them and they ate well. After about four hours in my tank I noticed that they looked hungry. They were sucking in pieces of 'junk' floating in the water. I purchased some Spectrum pellets which are very small. I'd say they are the size of a mustard seed. The LFS lady told me that I should feed each fish two little pellets. When I tried to do this, they did hit on the pellets, but they would suck it in then spit it out then suck it in then spit it out. They did this over and over again until they finally stopped.
When at the LFS, the lady was feeding some food that had previously been frozen. I purchased some of this stuff too (brine shrimp), but was told that that was more of a supplement and that the pellet would be more like the 'real food' .
Any ideas on why they are spitting the pellets back out? Is it that they'd prefer the brine shrimp and aren't overly hungry so they are passing on the pellets? They appear to be hungry, but I may be mistaken.
Many thanks.

 

[sly]

The pellets are too big for them. Mine will do that when I feed them certain foods... I feed mine either flake or frozen mysis shrimp mostly. I have a few frozen algae that they like also.

 

[renogaw]

it's common for new fish to not eat. give them time. brine is horrid food to feed btw

 

[dinki]

Originally Posted by renogaw
it's common for new fish to not eat. give them time. brine is horrid food to feed btw
You must be right. I tried to give them a little brine this morning and they did the same thing. When should I be 'concerned' that they are not eating? I sure don't want the little guys to starve, but I don't want to overfeed them either.

 

[dinki]

This may be painfully obvious, but should I be turning my powerheads and protein skimmer off when feeding? The food seems to be blasted to and fro.
One of my clowns seems to have a very healthy appetite, but the smaller one does seem as interested in eating. In fact, he tends to stay in the same place a lot. This is pretty much right up against the glass on either side. He doesn't seem to venture out very far. The active (and bigger) clown plays around with him and sometimes does a little drive by but never really nips him. Is it that this guy is having a harder time adjusting?
My water conditions have remained constant throughout. The only real reading I'm getting is 10 on the nitrates.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[mikeyjer]

It usually takes a few day for a new fish to adjust. Don't worry if they don't eat for a few days. IF they start don't eat after a week is when you should worry.....IF you do like what I did, it would drive you insane....lol....I tried ALL kinds of food to the point my freezer was getting stocked up on fish food until I find something they like, I kept feeding the same food for quite sometime before I give them something else. I guess to gain their trust, then they usually accept any other type of food from me.....

 

[dinki]

The fish moved in on Saturday so we're closing in on a week.
Just for kicks I shut down the powerheads and the skimmer and feed them some pellets. Both of the fish ate although the larger fish ate much more. It definitely seemed to help when there was no flow in the tank to disrupt them.
The thing that really confused me is that the little guy started swimming in the middle of the tank and was exploring the surface as well. I left everything off for about ten minutes and he kept on exploring. He proceeded to go back in his favorite places when I turned the circulation back on.
This makes me think that maybe I've got my powerheads aimed in a way that makes it hard for him to swim with ease. I'm running two maxijet 1200s. I've got one on either side of the aquarium in the back corners. They are aimed at about a 45 degree angle to the backglass shooting towards the front glass. Is there a better way to situate these? Also, how turbulent should the surface water be? I've got a fair amount of wave action on the surface.

 

[mikeyjer]

My first set of clowns from over 2 years ago, the smaller one did the samething, hiding in the corner. Took him a longgggggg time before he decided to explore. Now my next set of clowns, the baby was about the size of a dime is doing exactly the same as well. It does explore off and on, but for the longest time, it just stay by the vortex pump since day one. It scares me since day one he sleeps beside it, I was afraid he was going to get suck in and be gone...It would be one year next month since I got them, he's still playing around that pump....I wish he would just sleep somewhere else, but for the time being, I want him by the pump because there's a large Coral Banded Shrimp and a Sally Lightfoot that's just getting bigger and bigger. He's still small enough for them to consider....

 

[renogaw]

you shouldn't have to turn the powerheads off (unless of course your flow is so strong they cant catch the food). once they get used to what you're feeding them, start with a couple powerheads on and move up to all of them. make em work for their food

 

[dinki]

Unfortunately the little clownfish didn't make it. When I got home this evening he was very lethargic. He was practically flat on his back when I found him. When he did swim he swam vertically. He lasted about two more hours and then died. I'm thinking he may have been wild caught and just couldn't handle being in the tank. My other clownfish has been happy since day one so here's hoping he doesn't perish as well.. *sigh*

 

[sly]

How did you acclimate your fish? That is the number one cause of fish death...

 

[noah's nemo]

Sorry to hear you lost one.I also have 2 clowns.I started with one, and for 2 days he did just as you said your little one did.I went back to the store and got one more from the same tank the first one came from,and instantly he was a new fish.The 2 are like peas in a pod.I am just wondering if now that the one left in your tank will become lonely.I heard they prefer to be kept in pairs

Like i said mine are inseprable.

 

[sly]

Mine are inseparable also. They do not need to be kept alone.

 

[dinki]

Originally Posted by Sly
How did you acclimate your fish? That is the number one cause of fish death...
I floated the bag for about 20 minutes then drip acclimated for about an hour. I'm pretty sure it was a bad fish. Still sad though.

 

[mikeyjer]

Since you had it for over a week, I really feel that he starved to death. Next time it would be wise to pick up some frozen cyclopeeze to feed. I had the same issue with my baby clowns too, they wouldn't eat anything to start with and was getting really thin until I started feeding frozen cyclopeeze, that's when they started eating for me. Then later on they can be changed to other types of food.

 

[dinki]

Thanks for the advice. I'll surely try that with the next one.

 

[dinki]

Originally Posted by Mikeyjer
Since you had it for over a week, I really feel that he starved to death. ... I had the same issue with my baby clowns too, they wouldn't eat anything to start with and was getting really thin until I started feeding frozen cyclopeeze, that's when they started eating for me.
Mike, how small were the baby clowns you had? The fish that died was about an inch long.
The surviving clown did something today that concerned me. I feed him some pellets and he hit on it and then spit it out, sucked it in then spit it out again. He then moved on to the other remaining pellets doing the same thing. I feed him some frozen brine shrimp last night and he ate it right up. Is he just being picky in regards to the pellets? I've feed him these pellets before and he swallowed them whole. Should I add flake to his diet as well?
I'm a bit gunshy now that I've had one casualty and I want to make sure that the surviving fish eats well.

 

[dinki]

Hrmmf.. No advice given, no advice taken .. .*sigh*
BTW, the clownfish did not last a week. More like five days. I read in Fenner's book that fish can go around two weeks without eating. I'm guessing the fish wasn't eating well at the LFS either.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by dinki
Hrmmf.. No advice given, no advice taken .. .*sigh*
BTW, the clownfish did not last a week. More like five days. I read in Fenner's book that fish can go around two weeks without eating. I'm guessing the fish wasn't eating well at the LFS either.
Sorry for your loss. I recommend in the future to buy from a reputable store that will let you see the fish eat and hold it for at least a week so you can see it's behavior before you purchase.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by dinki
Hrmmf.. No advice given, no advice taken .. .*sigh*
BTW, the clownfish did not last a week. More like five days. I read in Fenner's book that fish can go around two weeks without eating. I'm guessing the fish wasn't eating well at the LFS either.

Its always recomended to ask the LFS feed the fish before you buy them. Acclimation shock can still affect a fish up to 3 days after introducing them into you aquarium.
I believe your fish are being picky although depriving them of what they like isnt recomended the problem is brine shrimp isnt nutritional enough for them to be sustained on. Formula 1 is a good food IMO and is readily accepted by most fish. Also garlic juice is another way to get finiky fish to eat. But REAL garlic juice fresh squeezed if you can. Soak the foad in it, it has worked for me in the past.
Bob Fenner has a really interesting article on acclimation and the effects it has on fish. All depending on how long they are kept in their holding bag for, pH depletion oxygenation exchange in the water along with Co2 equilibrium between the 2. The longer the wait between fish store and aquarium the more difficult it becomes to match water quality and stress becomes a bigger factor. Trying to bring evey thing back up to sync with your bagged water can create more issues in some circumstances. And just adding them to your tank could actually be the way to go. In other cases exchanging the water with your tank water is recomended rather than drip acclimation is. Testing your bagged waters pH, temp and salinity is always recomended just to get an idea what your up against. Its a pretty involved proceedure and to get it spot on seems as though you need a degree in biology but interesting none the less. Just food for thought