16 inch clown knife feeding ideas

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fishhooked

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 27, 2010
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kansas
I recently acquired a 16 inch clown knife. He's in with 3 oscars. 9.5", 11", and 7.5". He's very active and wonderfully marked. I feed the oscars only a variety of frozen food and occasionally pellets. The Clown was fed only small goldfish by the previous owner. And theyre the only thing he will eat so far. I dont like feeding live becuase of parasites etc. Especially not to my oscars. Which currently snag most of the golds when feeding...

If anyone has any ideas on how to switch my clown to frozen or other foods I'd really appreciate it.
 
He needs to go on a starvation diet ... you keep introducing him every day to foods such as massivore pellets.. and krill and shrimp,silversides etc until he is hungary enough to eat something you offer.. it may take a week or two.. but patience is required and as long as he is healthy and well fed before you do this he will suffer no ill effects from the fasting.. what i would do though ...is get one of those long thongs that you can reach him easily ... put the food on the end of the tongs and bring it right to his cave and drop it near his mouth...other wise your oscars will gobble it up every time..
 
Thank you for the advice. It sounds like a good idea. He usually eats 4-6 small golds every 2 to 3 days. How many days should i powerfeed before I try the diet? And how long should i try the diet if he doesnt go with it quickly? I wouldnt want to go to long as id be devistated if I lost him.
 
fishhooked;4840643; said:
Thank you for the advice. It sounds like a good idea. He usually eats 4-6 small golds every 2 to 3 days. How many days should i powerfeed before I try the diet? And how long should i try the diet if he doesnt go with it quickly? I wouldnt want to go to long as id be devistated if I lost him.
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there are many fishkeepers here to give you a good time frame on how long you should go...but i know they can go quite a long time.. it is harder on the keeper then it is for the fish... i have a clown knife that is around 17 inch. too.. when i say feed well before this..i do not mean power feed but just that he is eating well and in a healthy state.. not under any stress ..like new to the tank or new tank mates... etc ..wait until he is really comfortable in his new home.. then begin..and once you start..be tough... he will come around ..but like i said the time frame is different for all but the keepers out there will fill you in on what they went through.
 
Oh i thought you meant i should feed more right before. My bad. But he's very comfortable. Ive had him for a month and a half maybe two.
 
Just starve him. I Luckily have had no problems with my CKF being hooked on one food he eats everything Even Fire Eels :D
 
Starve him!! It always works for unpicky fish. He'll start eating nonfeeders after a week or so. patience......
 
fishhooked;4840713; said:
Oh i thought you meant i should feed more right before. My bad. But he's very comfortable. Ive had him for a month and a half maybe two.
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no i just meant that he should be eating well ..everything showing you he is healthy.. and you are so right to get him off gold fish..not only the parasites etc but also very little nutritional value compared to pellets that have all the vitamins and minerals etc in them.. you could even try some of these foods now before you fast him.. let him get a little hungry and try some other type of food ... if at any time he should eat something then it is time to start his fast from live foods.. and continue to offer the other food... some adapt very easily...others are stubborn as can be.. but they all come around..http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111249 here is a thread about getting ck off feeders..
 
my CK went from live to tilapia cut up then finaly over to massivore.i ended up lucky that he only missed 2 meals changing over.i used tongs and wiggled the tilapia in front of his cave so he thought it was live to get him to strike.
 
i got my florida gar to eat massivore pellets he used to just eat raw shrimp
 
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