New Lion Fish Not Eating

[Brady Curotto]

I recently got new Lionfish, he's very small and I don't think he will take the sardines that I feed my other fish. Does anyone have any Ideas on what I can feed him? Im not big on live food, other than that i'm open to really anything. Thanks!

 

[lion king]

They almost always come in eating live food only. If you are not willing to offer him live food, you should not have gotten him. He needs to be offered live ghost shrimp or live guppies. There is never a guarantee that he will ever be weaned to eating a dead only diet.

 

[Brady Curotto]

They almost always come in eating live food only. If you are not willing to offer him live food, you should not have gotten him. He needs to be offered live ghost shrimp or live guppies. There is never a guarantee that he will ever be weaned to eating a dead only diet.

I didn't mean to sound that was wasn't able to feed live food, i just men't to say i'm not a fan thats all, I made this seeking opinions from others.

 

[welsher7]

How big is the lionfish? I have had luck feeding mysis shrimp to small lions. I kept the lions in acclimation boxes and used a turkey blaster to move the mysis around, so it would appear to be live. Eventually it ate the mysis as it came out of the turkey baster. Then you can move on to larger items like small silversides and shrimp.

 

[Crazyfishguy]

Yea I’ve owned a lot of lions before. They are one of my favorites. Your going to have to bite the bullet and get live fish to feed him. I have always had success with converting them over to frozen fish. I feed them frozen silver sides and they loved them.

 

[Brady Curotto]

How big is the lionfish? I have had luck feeding mysis shrimp to small lions. I kept the lions in acclimation boxes and used a turkey blaster to move the mysis around, so it would appear to be live. Eventually it ate the mysis as it came out of the turkey baster. Then you can move on to larger items like small silversides and shrimp.

My Lion is relatively small, he's about 2.5 to 3.5 inches, I think I can use what you said, it generated some ideas of my own thanks a ton!

 

[Brady Curotto]

Yea I’ve owned a lot of lions before. They are one of my favorites. Your going to have to bite the bullet and get live fish to feed him. I have always had success with converting them over to frozen fish. I feed them frozen silver sides and they loved them.

Im planing on getting live fish to start but how exactly did you go about converting to frozen fish?

 

[welsher7]

What kind of lion is it? At that size you might be able to move up to small silversides. I used a feeding stick to get my lions used to frozen. It was made from rigid airline tubing with a heavy fishing line on the end. the fishing line was heavy enough to hold the silverside. I would push the fishing line through the tail of the silverside. Then you kind of move the silverside around near the lion to simulate is swimming.

If you are going the live route get the lion healthy and eating well on the live foods. Try things like always dropping the food in the same spot so the lion gets used being fed at the same spot. Pretty soon the lion will associate that spot with food. Lionfish will beg for food once that starts you try to feed to feed a silverside in that same spot. The lion will most likely eat first ask questions later.

 

[Crazyfishguy]

Well I would take the frozen silversides and thaw them out to room the. Then I would grab them with kitchen tongs and wave them in front of them. Some times they would go for it and sometimes they wouldn’t. But eventually they just started eating them everytime. You have to do your best to convene the lions that the fish your feeding is alive.

 

[Brady Curotto]

What kind of lion is it? At that size you might be able to move up to small silversides. I used a feeding stick to get my lions used to frozen. It was made from rigid airline tubing with a heavy fishing line on the end. the fishing line was heavy enough to hold the silverside. I would push the fishing line through the tail of the silverside.

I Have a Antenna Lion, thats a good idea i'll definitely try it

 

[welsher7]

I edited the post to add some more info.

My lions eventually ate NLS large pellets or whatever I dropped in the tanks. I had to feed him in one spot and drop the rest of the food in another spot so the other fish could eat.

 

[lion king]

I didn't mean to sound that was wasn't able to feed live food, i just men't to say i'm not a fan thats all, I made this seeking opinions from others.

I would love to hear a success story of keeping an antennata long term on dead food. I've had my antennata for 6 years and he will eat dead food, but he still needs live food to keep him stimulated. I then drop the krill I get from the asian market and silverside heads to appear live for him to eat. The tricks of feeding dead are many and can be found easily with a little research. Regardless they must be establshed with live food, then with patience and perserverance you may get him to eat dead.

 

[welsher7]

I have never personally kept them so I can’t give personal experience. I’m going off my experience with Russell’s, fuzzys and a red scorpionfish that I kept along the what I have read from other lion/scorpion fish keepers. There was a really knowledgeable person over on RC, “lionfishlair”, and a good website is www.lionfishlair.com . Lots of good feeding and weaning information on that site.