How much to feed Clownfish

[coralalien117]

Hi all. I got a clownfish yesterday and was wondering how much to feed it.
My food is this:

I just wanted to know how many pellets to feed it per day, and a good feeding schedule for my clownfish.
(currently only one)
pellets are 1mm to 1.5mm.
How many pellets would be suitable?

 

[blaxsun]

A few pellets per fish per day.

 

[coralalien117]

A few pellets per fish per day.

about how many would you say?
3-4? 5-6? etc.?

 

[vtecintegra]

I wouldn't feed only pellets. But if you are going to, I would count how many it eats in one feeding, then give it that much three times a day. If you see it not eating all of them during all three feedings, then reduce the number by a few until it is. I would expect maybe 5 pellets per feeding depending on the size of the clown.

 

[coralalien117]

I wouldn't feed only pellets. But if you are going to, I would count how many it eats in one feeding, then give it that much three times a day. If you see it not eating all of them during all three feedings, then reduce the number by a few until it is. I would expect maybe 5 pellets per feeding depending on the size of the clown.

what else should I feed it?
So give it like 6 and see how many it eats? and then reduce that number and feed that amount three times a day?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

what else should I feed it?
So give it like 6 and see how many it eats? and then reduce that number and feed that amount three times a day?

Do you have any clean up crew members that DON'T primarily eat algae? If so, a little overfeeding won't hurt.

 

[coralalien117]

Do you have any clean up crew members that DON'T primarily eat algae? If so, a little overfeeding won't hurt.

im not sure, i have a turbo and two Astraea snails. And an emerald crab if you count that

 

[coralalien117]

id just want a solid number or a range

 

[PeterEde]

My clowns have decided to fight my foxface for nori.
Fish need a diverse diet. My fish get nori, pellets, flakes, brine shrimp.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

id just want a solid number or a range

There is none. You'll have to use trial and error like everyone else. Hypothetically I could tell you exactly what I did in the same situation, but your fish are not my fish and may be different sizes, have slightly different metabolisms, etc. You'll be fine though. It's just a learning process

 

[PeterEde]

im not sure, i have a turbo and two Astraea snails. And an emerald crab if you count that

bristleworms are good CUC. They will hunt down any remaining pellets and mostly you wont even know they are there untill you touch one

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

what else should I feed it?
So give it like 6 and see how many it eats? and then reduce that number and feed that amount three times a day?

I believe they're essentially saying to feed it a bunch of pellets once to see how many it will eat in one feeding - that should give you an approximate, soft-maximum number of pellets that the clown will eat each feeding. From there, watch during each of the next few feedings to see how many of that maximum number of pellets the fish is eating; if it eats less than the approximate maximum number every time, then you can subtract from the number of pellets you're feeding. For example, if you feed the clown and it eats 6 pellets the first feeding, but it only eats 4 of the 6 you offer it during the next two feedings, you should be safe to lower the number of pellets you're feeding. On the other hand, if the clown eats all 6 of the pellets offered at second and third feedings, then you should probably try offering it some more pellets to see if it needs more food/a higher soft-maximum.

Personally, I'd make sure to feed an extra pellet or two at every feeding with this approach (at least while the clown is growing/breeding) to monitor if the amount of feed they need changes so that I wouldn't end up unintentionally starving the poor thing as it grows.

That said, for feeds, you want to consider the nutrition of the food offered both in terms of ingredients, and protein/fat content (by dry weight/on a dry-matter basis). Generally speaking, from what I've seen, you want a good variety of ingredients with high protein (~50% or more) and low to moderately low fat (~10-15%).

The best feeds I know at present are frozen feeds: LRS Reef Frenzy and Hikari's Mega Marine line of foods would be my suggestions; offering some nori as well is always a good idea. The best pellet feeds I know at present are good, but not as quite good as the frozen feeds: TDO Chromaboost, Otohime, and NLS pellets are the best I've seen (checking the guaranteed analyses and ingredients of each today, Otohime seems slightly better than TDO, but both Otohime and TDO offer a good amount of protein and fat with plenty of meaty ingredients; NLS offers a good variety of algae). If I were to feed pellets, I'd supplement any NLS pellet feedings with some higher protein and higher fat meaty foods (like mysis shrimp for protein and something like blackworms for fat) and some nori (the nori just to be safe), and I'd definitely supplement Otohime and TDO with nori too (to my knowledge, these wouldn't need a higher protein/fat supplement, but I'd probably still feed some mysis shrimp and blackworms on occasion).