Lionfish refusing to eat

[titi59]

Hello everyone ! I bought on Tuesday a dwarf zebra lion fish and he is very shy and remains all the time in the back of the set, is this normal?

Then I gave it to the syringe over her mouth frozen Artemia, frozen krill and Artemia alive but do not eat anything ... is that he needs time to adapt before eating? Thank you !

 

[Jlobes]

was it acting normal at the store? did it eat before you purchased it?

@Lionfish Lair would be much more help than I

 

[Duke4Life]

Have you tried ghost shrimp?

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Try live ghost shrimps for the next two weeks or more ... ensure the live shrimps is released (one at a time) in front of the lionfish. After the 2 weeks or so of live ghost shrimps feeding ... slowly introduced Tetra's Krill (pre -soaked with Selcon) and you'd have to hold the krill with a pair of tweezers or your 2 fingers. I fed with my fingers ...

I've tried this on my Fu Man Chu lionfish with success.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Can you get a couple more pictures of the face and possibly one where I can see the fins like the picture below?

Zebras are the touchier of the dwarfs and have a harder time acclimating.

The lion isn't going to go for artemia. The best place to start as already said would be ghost shrimp. The progression would be live shrimp then freshly injured slightly kicking, freshly killed, frozen and then thawed and finally to regular frozen fare. Sometimes you can skip certain steps. Some need no coaxing at all.

The best feeding stick can be made with a clear rigid stick, 50lb fishing line and some tape.

But the first question I guess should be, can you get live ghost shrimp?

 

[rayn]

Being as it is in the tank with a yellow tang, I am guessing QT wasn't done. However, with lions it is especially helpful.

Zebras are a tricky lion to get to eat. They can be stubborn at best. Live ghost shrimp are a good way to entice them to eat. Lionfish beat me to it.

QT is a great place to start a pred. Even if you don't worry about possibly disease, it still gives you a place to wean them to frozen and they learn you as the bringer of food

 

[titi59]

First thank you all for your answers, I did not ghost shrimp, where can I find it?

I hope that this will work as your Fu Man Chu lionfish!

As I told you the scorpion never leaves the bottom of the tank, so I do not have the train to swim photo, but is she going to one day swim in open water or show? because it is all the time and not hidden :-( I have not ghost shrimp I will try to find, there is not another way to get her to eat? It will not die without eating?

Ok thanks but what is "QT"?

For the pictures i have this:

 

[titi59]

If i give red cherry shrimp is it good or not ??

 

[rayn]

QT is quarantine. If you are using it to get it to eat it can be observation tank.

What scorp besides the lion?

Any shrimp might work. Ghost shrimp are fresh water and cheap feeder food. You can buy a couple and throw them in, or set a small holding tank for them and buy a bunch. Don't get anything to large whatever you get.

 

[titi59]

Ok but i don't have an other tank for her...
no i mean lions
ok now i buy live shrimp

 

[rayn]

Maybe try to section off the tank a bit to give her a area to hunt at feeding time.

 

[Duke4Life]

How big of a tank is this in? Btw if you plan on adding more fish a quarintine tank is vital to making sure fish are eating to making sure no disease is introduced.

 

[TomatoSauceTy]

I think it should be stated that krill isn't the best food and shouldn't be the staple of it's diet. I know lions / scorps can have a large mouth and eat larger prey items, but another thing is maybe the krill is to large. Try frozen mysis shrimp; it's small and is very good for fish.

Also try putting the food in to a net away from the fish and jiggling it and slowly approach instead of putting the food instantly in front of the fish.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

May I ask where you live?

I've put a couple arrows on some of the pictures so you can have a closer look. I'm wondering if these white dots are still there.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

And no, they won't be hidden all the time once we get them settled away.

If you can't get shrimp, can you get feeder guppies?

 

[titi59]

Maybe try to section off the tank a bit to give her a area to hunt at feeding time.

i don't have section off i have a skimmer

How big of a tank is this in? Btw if you plan on adding more fish a quarintine tank is vital to making sure fish are eating to making sure no disease is introduced.

It's a 70 gallons yes but the problem is I do not have another tank for the quarintine

I think it should be stated that krill isn't the best food and shouldn't be the staple of it's diet. I know lions / scorps can have a large mouth and eat larger prey items, but another thing is maybe the krill is to large. Try frozen mysis shrimp; it's small and is very good for fish.

Also try putting the food in to a net away from the fish and jiggling it and slowly approach instead of putting the food instantly in front of the fish.

ok i will try this thanks for the trick !

 

[titi59]

The zebra is now hide so I can see if it still has white points or not !

Yes i have bought 10 guppies i hope that she will eat

 

[rayn]

Has she eaten yet?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I seem to miss a lot of updates to a thread. I need to figure that out. Hoping your update brings good news.

 

[TomatoSauceTy]

I seem to miss a lot of updates to a thread. I need to figure that out. Hoping your update brings good news.

At the top right of this thread above the first post you can click "watch" or "unwatch" which will give you an e-mail and or alert you when on the forum. Hope that helps.