Clownknife feeding issue

[mx4ever]

Hey guys,

I just recently bought a clown knife (app. 4 inches in length). I'm cycling my other 90 gallon to house him in in the future, but for now he's in my 90 gallon community with a few pictus catfish, a BN pleco, and some tetras. I'm having a problem ensuring he is getting enough food. I've been trying to feed him bloodworms at lights out, but there's no way for me to be sure he's actually eating anything because he just hides in his cave all day long.

Do you have any suggestions for possibly sinking foods? Any alternatives? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Red Devil]

First ask if you can... LFS store what he was eating..they are caught in the wild...so most of them this size eat only live food... so if you have small tetras in there he maybe eating them at night... what i did with my boy when he was 4 inches is to keep him in a small tank by himself.. and i threw in quarenteened guppys... small ... once he was acclimated to the tank.. and getting healthy and grew some .. i weaned him off the live food .. started giving him an eye dropper full of blood worms and then eventually he ate small cichlid pellets and then eventually since he is 17 inches now.. massivore pellets...

 

[MeiTnerium109]

I've tried this with my needle nose gar, and it's been somewhat successful (he tends to spit out the food anyway, but occassionally takes it):

Take a piece of fish fillet, krill, or other intact fish flesh (preferably that doesn't float) and thread a needle through it with some string attached. Make sure to do it so that the flesh can easily slip off. Then, submerge it in the water and wave it around in the knife's face. You'll probably have to turn the lights off. If he eats it, the flesh will slide off the thread. Eventually, he'll recognize the flesh itself as food and you won't have to wave it around.

But the success of that depends on how he was fed before. Did the previous owner drop in one every night or keep a steady supply of feeders in the tank?

 

[sbuse]

mine took to market shrimp in small chunks with in the first week...try the live food as Red suggested, to make the switch off live easier when you go to do it...put in 1 or 2 live with 4 or 5 dead (freshly killed ones) and it will more then likly eat all of them after it is excited by the 1 or 2 that are alive...i use this way to ween alot of fish off live and they seem to take to pellets faster with this same method ex. 1 or 2 dead/ non-live food sorce with 5-6 pellets...

 

[moneygetter1]

When they are small like that they are often shy to start out. Theres a lot of compition in there that migt have the little guy spooked. Suggest seperating him till he gets accustomed then put him back when he can hold his own. "T"

 

[benzjamin13]

How long have you had it? I usually give it a week before you have to worry. It just needs to adjust to it's new environment. Bloodworms have always worked for me. Check and see if it has a lump on it's side. That's where their stomach is located. If it has a lump, then it's eating.