My F$*#%@ clown wont eat

I have a 40gal tank with 40lbs of LR and i just added my first 2 fish a clown and a yellow tail damsel. My damsel eats like a champ but i cant get my clown to eat he just looks at it and swims away. I'm feeding him New Life Spectrum Optimum Salt H20 Flakes. I used the freshwater version on my other tank and I've never had a problem with this type of food before. Any suggestions on what type of food? Should i feed him frozen food only? My god i don't even get this worried if my daughter doesn't eat

 

LOL Try a veriety of things. It's possible they just don't know the flake is food. I would give brine shrimp or mysis shrimp a try


J

 

I'll second the shrimp, get it live if you can.

 

What were they feeding it at the store. I always ask to see a fish eat before I purchase it. Try brine shrimp and mysis as most fish will readily eat this and most stores feed this as well. Then advance to other frozen foods. Once eating frozen foods then advance to dry foods as the first feeding of the day when the fish are hungry. Eventually most fish will take some type of dry food. After a few weeks of trying I finally got my Moorish Idol to take flakes and pellets.

 

I have never seen a fish other than a manderin say no to frozen copepods

 

you could also try soaking your flakes in garlic so your clown will be more attracted to it

 

Finally

Thanks, he's eating finally. I thought it was bad to feed fish frozen food such brine shrimp and bloodworms everyday something about to much protein. Is it ok to feed them that everyday?

 

As far as I know it's not going to kill them or anything. Varitey is best, that's for certain. My fish get formula 1 flakes, formula 2 frozen, raw (uncooked) shrimp diced up into tiny pieces on an alternating schedule with formula 1 fed more than anything b/c im lazy sometimes It may be helpful to toss in a couple flakes when you feed the frozen food, see if that interests them at all.

Let us know how it goes

 

I try not to use dry fish food, I have some on hand for my girlfriend to use when I'm not there. My fish get fed every two to three days. I give them brine, krill, mysis, fresh squid and shrimp, and some generic brand of frozen fish meat stuff. I mix at least two of the above together and feed the fish using a plastic updraft tube. The updraft tube makes it much easier to make sure everyone gets their fair share, the fish are so in tune to the tube feeding, that when I vacuum the sand they go to the siphon tube waiting for din din.

 

I've always relied on ocean nutrition flakes. I mix formula's 1 and 2 together. I feed once daily, throwing in spirulina enriched brine shrimp (frozen) every third day. All my fish have bellies!