How an what to feed clownfish?

[b a g u e t t e]

I’m planning on starting a nano reef but I couldn’t find anything on the nutritional needs of clownfish. Any advice?

 

[WIReefer]

I feed brine shrimp and they love it, once in a while they get live blackworms too!

 

[LiveWire]

Welcome to the REEF!! They will eat just about any marine fish food on the market. Which one you feed will come down to how much time and how much money you wish to put towards feeding them. If you are someone that does not have a lot of time on your hands then a high quality marine flake or small pellet food will work very well.

If you have more time and feel like spending a little more you can feed many different frozen foods. There are so many different ways to feed them its just up to how you would like to do so. just about any Marine food on the market will have the required nutrition that they will need to thrive.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Welcome!! Any meaty food should do them just fine. I prefer the LRS food because I can break off the perfect size for my tank. Frozen foods are the best IMO but pellets work just fine as well, I understand it’s hard for some people to source frozen foods. Just nothing for something like a tang (like nori, algae pellets, etc) they’re okay once in a while but your clowns may not like/eat it. Mine have no reaction to algae pellets or nori.

 

[ichthyogeek]

^^ I personally like PE Mysis pellets, and when small, feed the fish frozen copepods like PE Calanus and Hikari Cyclopods. And if you feed brine shrimp, make sure you buy the spirulina brine shrimp, since those are gut loaded to be more nutritious!

 

[BlennyTime]

With any fish, a mix of foods is good to have. Some fish like ones better than others. I alternate PE Mysis, calanus, new life spectrum pellets and chlorella flakes.

 

[LeftyReefer]

For pellets, I feed PE Mysis pellets and TDO Chroma Boost pellets, which are a staple among clown breeders.
I also feed a variety of frozen foods like Rods and Ocean Nutrition Formula One.

 

[Memisis]

My Itty bitty clowns like the frozen (thawed) brine shrimp and Hikari tropical pellets. Frozen mysis was just too big for their small mouths. Once the female gets bigger im sure she will eat the mysis, its just too big right now.

@footgal Mine also will not touch nori

 

[Peace River]

Another common diet for clownfish that is used by many of the commercial clownfish breeders is the Chroma BOOST pellets from @Reef Nutrition. I also use frozen food from LRS as well as the occasional live food snack for all of the clowns in my tanks.

 

[KyOsIBa515]

I feed my fish a variety of frozen brine shrimp and mysis. My clowns will eat both. However, if you are starting a nano and depending on your livestock list whether just clowns or other fish. Sustainable Aquatics makes a great pellet food for clownfish and fish in general. When I started off with a nano cube many years ago I found I liked using pellets more because in the event I over fed and the fish did not consume it. I could net the pellets out and not gain waste from food in the tank.

 

[Nightsent]

Mine love garlic marine pellets and brine shrimp. I also give them flakes occasionally, but they don’t seem to go for those with as much gusto as the shrimp and pellets.

I used to feed them frozen mysis shrimp, but they were much smaller then and seemed to have a hard time eating it unless I chopped it up for them. They loved it, it was just a big hassle for me.

Almost forgot! They like stealing crustacean pellets as they’re sinking. I’m not sure if fish can choke, but the pellets are rather big so I would be careful about that. I always keep an eye on the clownfish and make sure they’re okay when they manage to snag the pellets.

 

[Bubbagump69]

Does the type of food you feed determine how susceptible they will be to being their typical ich magnets?

 

[leighla wolf]

For pellets, I feed PE Mysis pellets and TDO Chroma Boost pellets, which are a staple among clown breeders.
I also feed a variety of frozen foods like Rods and Ocean Nutrition Formula One.

Does TDO impact their coloration? Do you have pictures. I’m thinking of switching it up since they’re always fed sustainable aquatics pellets and maybe want to give them different things to mix it up.