well mine didnt eat for a bit while he adjusted, but slowy he started eatin the freezedried stuff off the bottom and now he is just fine...he didnt really like the guppies but the knife at where I worked loved them when he was a lil guy....so I guess just try a lot of different things.....then once he is eatin regularly you can start training him to eat outa your hand and stuff......I sold more knife fish after showin the one we had at the store eating out of my hand (what they didnt know is that he had to be trained, but they ate it up) good luck with your new purchase, and I hope ya got a nice big tank...cause tank size will not limit the growth of the clown knife....