I do have 2 other carnivores with him. One is a catfish that'll eat just about anything that hits the bottom of the tank. The other is another clown knife that's maybe 7". And he also will only eat live.
Still havin' issues with CK
- Thread starter Dirty Old Man
- Start date
The starvation method is the best way. Ill share a personal experience with another type of fish: Lates calcarifer (barrumundi). When I got these fish they almost died on the way home, they were both floating upside down in the bag and were about 15cm long. After putting them in the tank they revived after about 5 minutes or so. The problem was that they would not eat anything. I just kept putting food in the tank and they just ingnored it. They did not eat anything for about a month or more. They soon got hungry enough and decided to eat.
I give this as an example because its basically the same for all predatory fish. If you expect your knife to be hungry after a few days of not eating then you are mistaken, It could not eat for two weeks and not even start to get skinny.
Go with the starvation method, fish like this forget what they can and cant eat and it takes them time and hunger to remember. When starving it just keep an eye on how skinny its getting.
Note that this is most easily achieved if the fish is kept by itself in its own tank. If your catfish eats all the food first it wont get a chance to check it out. If it is smelling the food then it atleast is interested.
Just dont starve it to death, I dont want the blame for that.
Oh and a stick with a nail on it has potential to cause injuries to the fish, you get a stick with a nail on it, stick it down your throat and then bit on it and see what happens! I cant say it is a good idea to put food on such an object as the fish might accidently do the same thing.
I give this as an example because its basically the same for all predatory fish. If you expect your knife to be hungry after a few days of not eating then you are mistaken, It could not eat for two weeks and not even start to get skinny.
Go with the starvation method, fish like this forget what they can and cant eat and it takes them time and hunger to remember. When starving it just keep an eye on how skinny its getting.
Note that this is most easily achieved if the fish is kept by itself in its own tank. If your catfish eats all the food first it wont get a chance to check it out. If it is smelling the food then it atleast is interested.
Just dont starve it to death, I dont want the blame for that.
Oh and a stick with a nail on it has potential to cause injuries to the fish, you get a stick with a nail on it, stick it down your throat and then bit on it and see what happens! I cant say it is a good idea to put food on such an object as the fish might accidently do the same thing.
I definitely think that using a stick with a nail or a staple on it can cause some serious injuries, especially with how fast clown knives can strike. What I used to try to hand feed is I just took the little plastic tube u can find inside undergravel filters (the little one that attaches to the airstone) and pushed a silverside or etc. on the end of that. A lot less potential to damage your fish. Right now I'm in the same boat with my clown knife other than feeders all I've gotten him to take is nightcrawlers and once he ate a piece of market shrimp
