Why can't I keep clowns?

OK, I took the living clown back to the LFS and exchanged it for an unmated one that has been there for a month or more. I saw it eating and it is very allert. I had wanted a pair, but if I can just keep one that lives I will be happy.

 

So the one I bought home, won't eat!!!!
All he does is fly up and down the front corners of the tank like a maniac. He is exhausting me just watching him.

He swam straight though the food in the tank and never ate a thing...
What do i do now?

 

He's still new to the tank, so give him time to adjust. Hopefully he will start eating in a couple days. Try soaking the food in garlic.

 

if an LFS refuses to show a fish eat i personally would not buy from them anymore.
For that new fish that you just got i would just wait 2-3 days and soak food in garlic to entice eating.

 

is it a stocking problem? as in, perhaps too many fish in the 29gal?

 

he has about 3-4 smaller fish so i think he is ok when stocking is concerned, maybe the flasher a little big but i think its ok.
Do you have a skimmer?

 

to have good success with fish you should consider placing them in a QT tank, in the dark for a few days, with only twilight from the room at best. here you can watch him feed, get it accustomed to you, and give it a chance to relax a bit. I used to really struggle keeping fish, and ever since I went to QT/isolation tank, my odds really improved. 10g kit at wal mart works fine, I think that is something like 600 liters if my math is correct.

 

10 gals = roughly 40 litres.

 

Mine did the same thing for the first 2-3 days. Then he started eating things that happened to be passing by him on the current, at first only 1-2 pellets, and gradually more. About 2 weeks after I got him, he started swimming around the tank for short periods away from the glass. A month later, he'll eat regardless as to where it is in the water, and doesn't do the cornerstroke anymore.

I'm not really sure if this is natural for clowns, but it seemed to be an adjustment thing. A relatively long adjustment, to be sure, but it may be a symptom of tank-raised clowns, considering they likely don't have much stability in their tanks until they're at a person's home.

 

i can relate to the need for the clown to adjust itself. i had two clowns recently and one died because it had an unfortunate run in with a powerhead (it was dumb and got its head stuck in the inlet) anyway, since then the other clown took shelter in a back corner. two weeks later its finally coming up to the surface again when i feed and starting to explore again a bit more. its really odd how it behaves dependent on its environmental changes. its buddy died and he went into depression i guess heh