New Lionfish wont eat

[Mike7744]

I bought a small volition lionfish 3 days ago, I can't get him to eat anything. Whenever I go near him with food he swims away, like he is afraid. I've tried offering him fresh deli shrimp, and Krill, on a piece of fishing line . He still won't go near it. Any ideas?
I'm worried

 

[cloak]

Sometimes it just takes awhile before a fish starts eating. All you can really do is be patient and keep offering different things.

What was it eating at the LFS? They may have just fed it live goldfish.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

I had to offer mine live freshwater minnows at first. Not the best diet, but better than not eating, imo. Then weaned him to frozen food. Now he’s a beast at a foot long. But maybe the #fishmedic will have other ideas as well.

 

[Slocke]

I bought a small volition lionfish 3 days ago, I can't get him to eat anything. Whenever I go near him with food he swims away, like he is afraid. I've tried offering him fresh deli shrimp, and Krill, on a piece of fishing line . He still won't go near it. Any ideas?
I'm worried

Mollies or guppies. They often need to be started on live food

 

[FUNGI]

Try some small silverside (defrosted)

 

[Slocke]

I would also suggest looking at threads by @lion king

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I bought a small volition lionfish 3 days ago, I can't get him to eat anything. Whenever I go near him with food he swims away, like he is afraid. I've tried offering him fresh deli shrimp, and Krill, on a piece of fishing line . He still won't go near it. Any ideas?
I'm worried

Take a look at post #7 on this thread. I recently posted about training predatory fish over to non-living foods.

Any opinions on rhinopias frondosa, the weedy scorpion? Current owners?

Naturally the fish is a big investment, but it seems suppliers who can get them on a somwhat regular basis Anyone had recent experience with them? I've done a lot of research on how hard they are to keep but there's a lot of mixed opinions. To me it's sounds like the can be a lot of issue...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[nereefpat]

The other one besides fish would be live feeder shrimp or the cheapest FW shrimp you can find at the store.

It will eat live guppy or feeder shrimp. If it doesn't, then treat for internal parasites.

 

[Karl122]

Would suggest using something small and clear like fishing line to make the food look alive without the aversive of tongs or other feeding implement until it's reliably eating, I've had this problem with tons of lionfish so not totally abnormal!

 

[littlefoxx]

I soaked my food in garlic for my lions when I kept them so they could recognize the smell as food. You can also use a fishing line to dangle food so it isnt scared of your hand. Agree it might need live foods though