1 Clownfish Won't Eat

Larry101

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I bought a pair of mocha clownfish 6 days ago and only one of my clownfish eat. The bigger clownfish (which will become the female) is a very aggressive eater and literally eats all of the food. There are opportunities for the smaller clownfish to eat, but it just won't. I have only seen the smaller one eat 1 pellet throughout the entire 6 days. I just thought the smaller one needed more time to adjust to the tank, but now I have no idea. I don't want to keep overfeeding the tank just for the smaller one to not even eat and for me to raise my phosphates and nitrates. Any suggestions?
 

Vwluv10338

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Watch for stringy white poop indicating intestinal parasites. I have a pair of clowns that are both struggling with them while I give them medicated food. They will eat one week and then get sick and won’t eat anything. It’s been cycles for both of them
 
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Larry101

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Watch for stringy white poop indicating intestinal parasites. I have a pair of clowns that are both struggling with them while I give them medicated food. They will eat one week and then get sick and won’t eat anything. It’s been cycles for both of them
The poop looks normal to me. I have another pair of clowns and they are as happy as can be so I kinda know what clownfish poop looks like. I will keep my eyes peeled though.
 

Vwluv10338

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With mine being sick it might be different but I couldn’t get them to eat so I tried a bunch of different things. At first the only thing they would eat was baby brine. Then I got them to eat pellets as long as I crushed them up and soaked them first. Then flake as long as I crushed it first. Right now they are in QT and decided they won’t eat flake or pellets but they are taking frozen pods.
 

LxHowler

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When I first got my clownfish they wouldn't touch pellet as they had never been fed pellets before. Do you know what the shop was feeding them before you got them to try that? My smaller clown would only eat mysis shrimp when I first got him and I had to wean him onto pellet and flakes but the female would eat anything that went into the tank
 
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Larry101

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When I first got my clownfish they wouldn't touch pellet as they had never been fed pellets before. Do you know what the shop was feeding them before you got them to try that? My smaller clown would only eat mysis shrimp when I first got him and I had to wean him onto pellet and flakes but the female would eat anything that went into the tank
Thanks for the advise, I will call my lfs and ask them what they fed them.
 

CalebWBrink2000

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Try frozen, flake, pellets. Live brine can be tempting too. Soaking food in garlic can entice appetites.
If you take a shotgun approach with all of the above and the fish still isn't eating while showing no signs of parasites or stressors (being bullied, etc), then you've done all you can do.
 
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Larry101

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I called my lfs and they said they feed brine shrimp. I think I am going to stick with my spectrum marine pellets for another week, and if still nothing I will try different foods such as flakes, frozen and if it comes down to it I will have to buy a brine hatchery.
 

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I wouldn't wait another week. If the fish is not eating its immune system will get compromised. Unless brine shrimp are enriched, the fish will eventually die. I'd start some frozen food right away before the fish isolates itself meaning that it's on its way out.

Also very important, check your tank parameters. I see you're fairly new to the forum and not sure what your reefing background is, but if your tank is new then your ammonia may be creeping up and slowly poisoning the fish.
 
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Larry101

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I wouldn't wait another week. If the fish is not eating its immune system will get compromised. Unless brine shrimp are enriched, the fish will eventually die. I'd start some frozen food right away before the fish isolates itself meaning that it's on its way out.

Also very important, check your tank parameters. I see you're fairly new to the forum and not sure what your reefing background is, but if your tank is new then your ammonia may be creeping up and slowly poisoning the fish.
The fish ate 1 pellet today and 1 pellet yesterday (oops I forgot to mention that). I fed more than I normally do today just to see if the male fish would eat it (good thing I have a couple of hungry narsarrius snails). It still does spit some out but it appears to be happening less and less. I'm hoping once it is more comfortable it will stop spitting out the pellets more and more.
 

LxHowler

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The fish ate 1 pellet today and 1 pellet yesterday (oops I forgot to mention that). I fed more than I normally do today just to see if the male fish would eat it (good thing I have a couple of hungry narsarrius snails). It still does spit some out but it appears to be happening less and less. I'm hoping once it is more comfortable it will stop spitting out the pellets more and more.
I agree with weamdog, I wouldn't wait a week just hoping it will start eating pellets. Id recommend getting some frozen brine so at least it's eating something, they only cost a few £, even if you alternate days to get it healthy. In my experience one pellet a day isn't going to sustain a clownfish of any size, even my 1 inch clown will eat 5 pellets a day.
Also I would check your perameters, although they are hardy they won't eat if there is amonia in the water
 
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Larry101

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I agree with weamdog, I wouldn't wait a week just hoping it will start eating pellets. Id recommend getting some frozen brine so at least it's eating something, they only cost a few £, even if you alternate days to get it healthy. In my experience one pellet a day isn't going to sustain a clownfish of any size, even my 1 inch clown will eat 5 pellets a day.
Also I would check your perameters, although they are hardy they won't eat if there is amonia in the water
Water parameters are all good (only my male isn't eating much, female is eating a bunch). I'll look into getting brine shrimp from my lfs.
 

weamdog

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Sounds good. Likely just settling in and may be facing some aggression from the larger fish as it converts. My males eat significantly less than my females which are all aggressive eaters.
 

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Buy some frozen brine and mysis, they are cheap, less nutrients to add to your tank and it’s the food the fish is used too, it’s a win win.
 
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Larry101

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I agree with weamdog, I wouldn't wait a week just hoping it will start eating pellets. Id recommend getting some frozen brine so at least it's eating something, they only cost a few £, even if you alternate days to get it healthy. In my experience one pellet a day isn't going to sustain a clownfish of any size, even my 1 inch clown will eat 5 pellets a day.
Also I would check your perameters, although they are hardy they won't eat if there is amonia in the water
5 pellets a day?? Isn't that too much. Jake Adams from reef builders says he feeds his clownfish in his red sea 20 gallon a minimal amount of flake food ever three days.
 
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Larry101

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Buy some frozen brine and mysis, they are cheap, less nutrients to add to your tank and it’s the food the fish is used too, it’s a win win.
The think about brine and Mysis is that I go on vacation a couple of times a year and there isn't a brine shrimp auto feeder that is capable of keeping them alive for 2 weeks. I need to eventually adapt them to pellets or flakes. The female is quite all right, it's just the male I am concerned with
 

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The think about brine and Mysis is that I go on vacation a couple of times a year and there isn't a brine shrimp auto feeder that is capable of keeping them alive for 2 weeks. I need to eventually adapt them to pellets or flakes. The female is quite all right, it's just the male I am concerned with

once it’s eating you will have more chance to get it to swap to pellets, worth feeding frozen with the pellets anyway in a rotation, they have for less nutrients than pellets and it gives variety.
 

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5 pellets a day?? Isn't that too much. Jake Adams from reef builders says he feeds his clownfish in his red sea 20 gallon a minimal amount of flake food ever three days.
Yeah it is, that's why I don't feed that much normally, but on the days my other fish don't want as much or I accidentally add too much that is what I've observed it doing. Everyone treats their tanks differently aswell. I know that adding that much to my tank won't cause a nutrient spike, and I feed the smallest pellet size I can find
 

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