feeding clowns

monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
I have a pair of false perc clowns that I've had for less than a week now...but boy do I like them.
Anyway, I've been feeding them some flake food, and I would really like to find out what kind of food I can give them as a treat once or twice a week.
side note: I have some great frozen seafood with scallops, octopus, squid, etc., etc. that I would like to treat them to, any ideas how to go about doing this?
Thank you,
Lisa :happyfish
 
it's_fishy

it's_fishy

Member
don't know if this is any help (cause all fish are different) but my percs seem to prefer granules over flakes. they also never touch seaweed (like i said, mine at least). tubliflex worms are so-so with them and bloodworms and brine shrimp they seem to have no interest in either.
Just my experience....yours may vary. my suggestion would be to just try several different types of food and see what their preference is. you never know.
also, someone mentioned that i should mix my food in with some water before i feed my tank so it gives it a chance to re-hydrate. this keeps it from floating on the top of the water and introduces it into the mid levels.....and i must say the advice seems right on. my fish definately do not eat from the top, nor do most marine fish in their natural habitat.
hope this helps and good luck with your percs...they really are great fish!
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
One of the most tempting is always live brine shrimp.
Cyclopeeze and similar stuff is also very popular.
Your frozen foods are fine as well. Just cut off a little piece of the frozen food, thaw it out (eg it a bit of tank water) and pour it in.
Just be careful not to overfeed with some of these treats :) Actually, I would consider them more additions to a balanced diet than treats...none are "junk" foods.
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
Mine love frozen mysis shrimp and cyclopeeze.... let it thaw in a cup of tankwater and add it slowly. :D
 
monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
Yeah Ophiura, my thinking is mostly that I would like to give them a little variety from time to time. Like I said, I've had them less than a week and from me they've only gotten flakes. I will take the advice from another post here to mix the flakes with water, that make great sense to me, and I will definitely give it a go. :yes:
Thank you,
Lisa :happyfish
 
gfk

gfk

Member
i have some formula 1, it comes frozen, i put a little in a shot glass full of tank water. get it nice and broken up, and then spot feed my stuff that needs spot feeding with it, and my clowns grab what they want from it.... cleanup crew eats whatever the clowns dont like thats in there
 
ant

ant

Member
Hi Lisa,
So glad you're enjoying your new babies. I feed mine flake too and on special days I give them frozen shrimp that I get at the LFS. Comes in little square blocks. I cut it in half usually, put it in a little tupaware bowl, put a little tank water and let it thaw. It thaws very quickly. Then I get a tooth pick our wooden skewer and stick it in the bowl. The shrimp stick to it then you can put it in the tank and know excatly what is eaten. I have others to feed too and they all come to the stick. I don't pour all of it in. They LOVE the shrimp treat! HTH. :joy: Ant.
 
monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
Ant,
That's exactly what I'm looking for!! I know I can do that, and I'm thinking that something like that will get them to trust me and start eating out of my hand. Do you just skewer a piece of seafood and hold it in the water on the toothpic/skewer) and wait til your fish are done eating? Do I need to soak that stuff in garlic? (heard about that somewhere on the board).
Thanks,
Lisa :happyfish
Ps, I am SO enjoying my new little babies and I just want to make sure they're happy and healthy.
 
ant

ant

Member
Well, the shrimp I buy are the frozen brine and they are tiny shrimps, come in about a 24 pack or so, and frozen in one inch blocks. I cut the frozen block in half, but you will probably use less since you only have two fishies right now. Then I put them in the plastic bowl and dip it in the top of the tank so a little of their water goes in. You can soak it with garlic powder or garlic salt, i've heard. I read and heard it was good to keep the ick away. I haven't done that yet. Then when they are wet and thawed stick the toothpick or skewer in the water and the little shrimps will just stick to the stick. Your fishies will shy at first but once they figure out what a treat it is, eventually you won't even be able to stick the tooth pic in before they jump at it. It's really neat! I probably told you more than you needed to know but I hope that helps. I'm looking forward to seeing your pics when you figure it out. :D Ant.
 
malounsbury

malounsbury

Member
The formula 1 is made by ocean nutrition, same people that make Prime Reef. Should be able to get it from the LFS, I know mine carries it. Pic below.
I picked up the hikari mysis shrimp for mine, as well as OSI shrimp pellets. They weren't really touching the prime reef flakes I had, even soaked in garlic. They love the mysis shrimp. I got the 3.5oz cubes, I just take a cube and cut a little piece off of it and stick it in my tank, don't really prethaw it. My two clowns go crazy for it. They like the pellets too, but I think its hard for them to find those all the time because they sink right to the bottom. also, I made up some shrimp and garlic in the food processor, and they seem to like that also.

 
gfk

gfk

Member
ya formula one just has a bunch of different stuff mixed into little frozen cubes... the clowns will eat wahtever they choose out of it, and then whatever they dont want gets eatin by everything else (feather duster, flame callop, sally light foot and crabs
 
ant

ant

Member
gfk, I'd like to get a feather duster but I'm concerned my emerald crab will eat it. Do you think he'll do that?
puffer, I'll try to get a pick tonight for you. Need my husbands help for that one.
Ant.
 
monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
Ant,
I have a rock just strewn with little fds and my emerald is very careful to eat around them. I was a little worried too at first, but after seeing him reach around to get the tastey morsel that he wanted, it was fine, and they're all still there and growing every day.
Lisa :happyfish
 
malounsbury

malounsbury

Member
The emerald should be fine with the feather duster. He may clean the outside tubes of the duster, but will not actually harm it.
 
monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
I have that frozen seafood that I talked about earlier. I took Ant's advice and thawed a little shrimp in some tank water and held it in the tank on a toothpick...they went for it right away. I've not even tried the garlic thing...is that a certain type of garlic that I need for this? As I've said in earlier posts, my clowns are NOT shy. They ate until full and off they went for more exploring. :joy:
Lisa :happyfish
 
ant

ant

Member
Lisa, Good to know about the feather duster. I bought a pretty one today and I'm trying my hand at a xenia too! I'm very excited. I also bought some more crabs and snails to help with the algae bloom I'm getting. I'm so happy the feeding went well. I'm glad it worked for you. It really is fun. Now every time you walk by they will follow you and look for a feeding. It's hard not to feed them!
Ant.
 
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