Food for a Clown Knife

[Milet]

So far ive tried feeding him frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, flakes and cichlid pellets but to no success. He just stays in the big cave, even at night.

Anyone found a good food for their knifefish and a good way to encourage him to eat? I was thinking about chucking in a few guppies.

Also, is there a sort of lighhtbulb i can buy that it will make it think its night time but allows me to view him? Thanks

[Tsarmina]

i would also be interested in the food part, as my black ghost won't eat. he was eating guppies for a while, but has stopped.

[Milet]

Hmm, how big is yours? I might throw in the guppy at lights out.

[HaNs]

Try granumeat by sera and frozen shrimp

[Milet]

Frozen shrimp - do they have to be cooked or fresh or not really matter?

[Tracey]

What was the lfs feeding him? Live food pretty much always works with a Clown, but it can be very hard to get them to eat anything else once they start on it.

I was never able to get mine to eat flake or any frozen foods. He's obsessed with the sinking carnivorous catfish pellets I feed my Mystus, gobbles them up like there's no tomorrow. I'll get the brand when I get home. Other than that, I'd try him on pieces of defrosted shrimp or prawn, maybe a bit of liver or heart, something nice and bloody that he'll be able to smell easily.

[Milet]

Thanksss Tracey. I aint too sure on what the LFS what feeding him, i forgot too ask.

Im just defrosting a prawn now to cut up and ill try that.

[evil_elmo]

i never see my black ghost knifes eat nor feed anything special for them but they both still grow at a very fast rate

i've just got two clown knifes today and going to do the same thing, if they are hungry enough i'm sure they will eat whatever they find in the tank

[coelacanth]

clown knife: ox-heart (freeze it then grate off what you need as you need it), fish (as in from the supermarket), earthworms (these are excellent!) are all good. Don't feed too much of the ox-heart though. They like live fish but not necessary, but they're good disposal units for munted fry if you're breeding stuff.

For Tsarmina, I feed my ghost knife on mysids (live and dead), bloodworms, earthworms (LOVES those!), zucchini, glass shrimp (dead are better coz he has trouble catching live). In fact its hard to feed worms to the fire eel because the knife is such a pig he just keeps barging in and eating everything he can!

[HaNs]

On a side note is feeding frozen shrimp to fish every day as their staple diet bad for them? Shrimp is all my datnoid will touch

[Milet]

Thanks coelacanth. i might go have a look for some worms now, its raining for the first time in ever.

Can someone please tell me about clown knives eyesight? Are they blind? Because it sits in the darkest part of tank, and i just turn the lights off, and i shun the light from my video camera (very bright) and he stuck his head out of the cave in the light, and wen i turned the light off, he went back home. So can someone please clear their eyesight up for me lol. Thank you all:)

[markoshark]

Try and handfeed them bloodworm outside their cave, and slowly move it further away each night.

Then they get used to the entire tank

Way cool

[coelacanth]

they have very good eyesight. They hunt by sight when fed during the day (at night I assume they use their lateral line and sense of smell). He's probably just still a bit shy. In the wild they live in shoals, so being all alone in a new environment would probably be a bit scary. He'll settle down all right. Once he starts feeling better, he should come out whenever you appear with food

[coelacanth]

with regards to earthworms, some fish find them a bit slimy. If you drop them in a glass of boiling water (the worm not the fish lol!) it will kill them instantly and simultaneously strip all the slime off the body. But of course when the worm is alive the wriggling is what attracts the fish, especially if it hasn't been fed them before.

[Milet]

Thanks lol how do you learn all this coelacanth you should write a book on Knife fish .

I clearly have a lot of researching to do.

i just checked the pieces of prawn, they have been moved but doesnt really look like any is eaten. I will put in a guppy or two at bed time.

[coelacanth]

I've just been keeping fish a long time...plus I read a lot

[coelacanth]

I just re-read the original question. A red light will enable you to watch the fish at night but during the day the tank would have to be in a darkened room for this to work. I wouldn't bother, he should tame up fine and then you'll see him more (at least at feeding times!)

[Milet]

Ohh ook thanks

How do i catch earth worms? Lol i havnt tried since i was at primary school..

[HaNs]

Millet: I hand feed my shrimp in small bits

Personally i wouldn't leave it in the tank

[Milet]

lol my hand got too tired holding it there too long

[coelacanth]

no need to worry if he doesn't eat for a few days. If the shop had just got him in they probably hadn't had to feed him yet, so if you want to know what he's been eating you'd have to find out which importer they got him from then ring them up and find out.

To find worms either dig a hole, or look under plant-pots, bits of wood, whatever is lying around the garden.

[A.PROPHECY]

try the large grade cichlid pellets, the one with the oscar picture on the front.

also shrimp ,shrimp pellets , live feeders

thats some of the stuf mines loves

[Milet]

yay he ate a guppy lol

[snookie]

good to get them on pellets when young ,

[Milet]

what sort of pelllets?