Clown diet .. suggestions ?

Hey there guys -

I have been poking around your forums for a while now and just wanted to let you know that for a newbie the information gleened has been absolutely priceless. Thanks so much for providing such great info!

On to my question - I have looked all over and couldnt find a satisfactory answer anywhere. I have two percula's, and they tend to be picky eaters. I have been using Tetra marine flakes, and they do eat them ok, however come feeding time they get all excited, swim around and go after the flakes, swim right up to them - then it is like their bubble is burst when they realize what it is and they swim away. They do eat, but it seems like just enough to live on. So - to keep my little guys happy, I just wanted to take a pulse on what your clowns seem to like to eat.

Thanks in advance -

Shane

To add to the above list (and give my support to the varied diet), you can also feed blended fish (e.g. cod, halibut, salmon, etc.), squid, crab or most anything else from the ocean that hasn't been processed. I also feed freezed dried krill, seaweed, brine shrimp, 3 kinds of flake food (Formula 1, 2, and Brine) and something called Shark Formula found at the LFS (Kudos to Adam for this stuff). This is all blended together (save the seaweed) and frozen using mini ice cube trays. At least twice a week I feed about 2 cubes and a block of brineshrimp+sprulina. All my fish love it and they can pick what they want from the buffet. My clowns also pick at the seaweed I place in the vegi clip. (Even my trigger fish picks at the seaweed)

By the way, next months meeting is on "Feeding a Reef". Come if you can and you will get the true expert opinion!

Yo Yo Yo,

I'm not sure if I would say expert opinion, but certainly an experienced one.  I think your flake food for your perculas is not a good idea.  Cortney and Crazy summed it up well.  Please attend the next meeting, and until then use some frozen foods like mysis and brine found in any local store.

Adam

One more thing.  I did say feed your fish 7 times per day, however I will also say only feed your tank once every 7 days.

Confused yet?  Wait for the meeting.

Adam

I agree with everything said thus far. My view on it is, "I'm doing the cooking tonight and you'll just have to wait and be surprised"! I do feed some flake, rehydrated shrimp pellets, rehydrated blood worms, brine, silversides, chopped macro, snickers, twix, cheesecake, cheesecake...... I'm hungry!

I think the idea is, if you ate spinach every day, would you like it anymore? Also, remember that omnivorous fish will graze. They might find some algae that is yummy and they might find something that someone dropped or some poor little pod swimming around. I have finally realized that scheduled feedings as are published do not take into account snacks. Hence, feed fish regular, but not too regular. You'll figure it out.