So this happened. 2 new lions

[jasonrusso]

I have been looking for another medium sized lion (I had a mombasa years ago) for a while. I then decided that I was going to get 2 medium lions (I have a 210). I was looking at Radiatas and Antennetas.

Live Aquaria had some Radiatas so I ordered 2. I have to give it to LA, plenty of water in the bags, plenty of heat packs, etc. Both arrived active.

Well, I didn't get 2 Radiatas, I got 1 Radiata and what I think is a Mombasa. What do you think? I read that Antennetas only have 1 row of spots in the pectoral fin. This guy has lots of spots. That's why I think mombasa.

The mombasa is doing well, very active in the QT tank. He ate a few minutes after acclimation. The Radiata looks good, but is less active and isn't interested in eating yet. I've read that they are more reserved, so I am not worried yet.

The Radiata is absolutely stunning in person.

 

[lion king]

At 1st glance it looks like an antennata. The antennata will have longer filaments on the pectoral fins than a mombasa, while the mombasa's are shorter than the pectoral fins overall. The spots on the pectoral fins and tear marks on an antenatta are black, while the mombasa's are red.

I would not wait too long for them not eating before treating with gc or paracleanse. A healthy lion will usually eat right away, they are usually starving. Providing you are offering live foods, ghosties and guppies.

My current radiata at 6.5", it took him a while but he has come into his own and is a pretty aggressive hunter.

 

[jasonrusso]

At 1st glance it looks like an antennata. The antennata will have longer filaments on the pectoral fins than a mombasa, while the mombasa's are shorter than the pectoral fins overall. The spots on the pectoral fins and tear marks on an antenatta are black, while the mombasa's are red.

I would not wait too long for them not eating before treating with gc or paracleanse. A healthy lion will usually eat right away, they are usually starving. Providing you are offering live foods, ghosties and guppies.

My current radiata at 6.5", it took him a while but he has come into his own and is a pretty aggressive hunter.

I think that is an Antenneta as well, I go back and forth, but the spots threw me off. It doesn't have the huge eyes my Mombasa had.

I put in some gambusia and the antenna gulped them right up. I put a shrimp in today, but I'm not sure who got it.

If he doesn't eat by tomorrow I'll treat the tank. I have GC. He is alert because he fans out when I approach the tank.

Do you recommend a CP treatment for parasites? I usually treat all my fish with CP, never copper. Lions included.

 

[jasonrusso]

At 1st glance it looks like an antennata. The antennata will have longer filaments on the pectoral fins than a mombasa, while the mombasa's are shorter than the pectoral fins overall. The spots on the pectoral fins and tear marks on an antenatta are black, while the mombasa's are red.

I would not wait too long for them not eating before treating with gc or paracleanse. A healthy lion will usually eat right away, they are usually starving. Providing you are offering live foods, ghosties and guppies.

My current radiata at 6.5", it took him a while but he has come into his own and is a pretty aggressive hunter.

What do you feed the Radiata? Did you wean him to occasional frozen?

I've been able to wean all my lions and anglers. Some are more stubborn than others.

 

[lion king]

I only recommend using treatment for internal parasites, all other meds have proven to be detrimental to their liver. Healthy lions will always be resistant and even recover from any protazoan disease, so there really is no need for the use of cp. Unless the lion is very weak and in poor condition, they will just shed it away, it's their natural defense; also pr0viding tank conditions are optimal.

My radiata eats ghosties and mollies. Supplementing with dead food is ok, but rarely works out in a dead only diet. Just make sure thiaminese is at a minimum. Hikari and Gamma brand silversides, none of the others would tell me which species of fish they use as their silversides, the ones those 2 use do not contain thiaminese. Thiaminese binds vit B1, and proves deadly; krill is the #1 culprit, advised to feed very sparingly if at all. For a dead food diet you would need to include shell on shrimp and fatty fish, salmon is a good choice. Mussels are also a good addition, so the problem is most of them will never eat the dead foods needed to achieve proper nutrition, and usually don't make it pass a 1.5 years or so before dying of nutritional deficiencies. Dead food also need to be fed within the shelf life to get optimum nutrition , for most frozen seafood that is less than a year.

I occasionally feed silversides when I don't have enough live, I have alot mouths to feed, but I mostly feed live.

 

[jasonrusso]

I only recommend using treatment for internal parasites, all other meds have proven to be detrimental to their liver. Healthy lions will always be resistant and even recover from any protazoan disease, so there really is no need for the use of cp. Unless the lion is very weak and in poor condition, they will just shed it away, it's their natural defense; also pr0viding tank conditions are optimal.

My radiata eats ghosties and mollies. Supplementing with dead food is ok, but rarely works out in a dead only diet. Just make sure thiaminese is at a minimum. Hikari and Gamma brand silversides, none of the others would tell me which species of fish they use as their silversides, the ones those 2 use do not contain thiaminese. Thiaminese binds vit B1, and proves deadly; krill is the #1 culprit, advised to feed very sparingly if at all. For a dead food diet you would need to include shell on shrimp and fatty fish, salmon is a good choice. Mussels are also a good addition, so the problem is most of them will never eat the dead foods needed to achieve proper nutrition, and usually don't make it pass a 1.5 years or so before dying of nutritional deficiencies. Dead food also need to be fed within the shelf life to get optimum nutrition , for most frozen seafood that is less than a year.

I occasionally feed silversides when I don't have enough live, I have alot mouths to feed, but I mostly feed live.

Did you get the radiata to eat silverslides? I read they can be tough.

These are what I use. My lions also like to eat jumbo mysis out of the water column. I put vitachem on all my food anyway.

 

[lion king]

Yes the radiata will eat silversides, but I really only feed it very occasionally. The trick is also to get them eating enough and consistantly.

 

[jasonrusso]

Yes the radiata will eat silversides, but I really only feed it very occasionally. The trick is also to get them eating enough and consistantly.

What is your opinion of "enough?" Daily? Big meals once a week?

 

[jassermd]

@lion king
Need your advice...
I recently picked up a dwarf lionfish about 3 weeks ago. He's healthy and has been cruising around my DT.
I feed all my fish 2x per day... I have several large carnivores, so I feed large mysis, carnivore cuisine and squid daily in addition to regular mysis (all varieties) as well as brine (all varieties) and stuff for my herbivores.
I haven't seen him eat, however, he's clearly out during feedings, hanging out on the rocks, etc.
Although he comes out during the day, he's mainly cruising around after lights out.
Do I need to feed him directly? The challenge with feeding live foods is that I have a Harlequin Tusk and a Tahitian yellow hawk fish, both of which will easily out compete anyone for the live foods...
Any advice?
Thanks!

 

[jasonrusso]

@lion king
Need your advice...
I recently picked up a dwarf lionfish about 3 weeks ago. He's healthy and has been cruising around my DT.
I feed all my fish 2x per day... I have several large carnivores, so I feed large mysis, carnivore cuisine and squid daily in addition to regular mysis (all varieties) as well as brine (all varieties) and stuff for my herbivores.
I haven't seen him eat, however, he's clearly out during feedings, hanging out on the rocks, etc.
Although he comes out during the day, he's mainly cruising around after lights out.
Do I need to feed him directly? The challenge with feeding live foods is that I have a Harlequin Tusk and a Tahitian yellow hawk fish, both of which will easily out compete anyone for the live foods...
Any advice?
Thanks!

My fuzzies have always taught themselves to eat out if the WC.

 

[jassermd]

So nothing to worry about? My first lionfish, so don't want to starve the poor guy to death. All my others are hogs and extremely healthy...
Also, your profile pic... you have frog fish and anglers? I really want to get one, but so not sure about the care and feedings. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

@lion king
Need your advice...
I recently picked up a dwarf lionfish about 3 weeks ago. He's healthy and has been cruising around my DT.
I feed all my fish 2x per day... I have several large carnivores, so I feed large mysis, carnivore cuisine and squid daily in addition to regular mysis (all varieties) as well as brine (all varieties) and stuff for my herbivores.
I haven't seen him eat, however, he's clearly out during feedings, hanging out on the rocks, etc.
Although he comes out during the day, he's mainly cruising around after lights out.
Do I need to feed him directly? The challenge with feeding live foods is that I have a Harlequin Tusk and a Tahitian yellow hawk fish, both of which will easily out compete anyone for the live foods...
Any advice?
Thanks!

Start with live such as guppies or other livebearers that can tolerate salt then wean to frozen such as Krill.

 

[jasonrusso]

So nothing to worry about? My first lionfish, so don't want to starve the poor guy to death. All my others are hogs and extremely healthy...
Also, your profile pic... you have frog fish and anglers? I really want to get one, but so not sure about the care and feedings. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

I mean at some point he is going to have to eat. I made a feeding tool that has always worked for me. It's an acrylic rod that I drilled a hole through and put 100lb fishing line. I put whatever I want to feed on the end. I usually keep them in a QT until they get the hang of it. My goto move is to bait the stick, put in some live food and then dance the stick around.

That was a wartskin angler. He was beautiful. Anglers are tough to keep. They can't compete with fast fish. I have a HT also, and a puffer who is a vacuum. Honestly, I think they have a short lifespan, like 3 years. That's the longest I've kept one. If you get them small, 3 years. If they are big, maybe 1.5 years. I think that is because they are already 2 years old. I have no scientific proof of the lifespan, just my experience.

 

[lion king]

Lions eat on a gorge/fast cycle, feed them their full until you see a nice little bulge in the belly. Them give 2-3 days between feedings, smaller lions every other day. If you feed too frequently they will develop fatty liver, their metabolism is designed for larger more infrequent meals. Unless you are target feeding by dropping food directly to them, they will never eat enough from the water column. It may take a while but they will slowly starve to death. They grow very fast to full grown if fed properly, as an example, that radiata went from 2.5" to 6.5" in 1.5 years, It is best to target feed them when in a larger community tank.

 

[lion king]

Getting them food in a community tank with aggressive eaters is always a challenge. 1st whatever you do, you must establish your routine with them in the qt before they go to the dt. Stick feeding, target dropping, or even baster feeding. I've had some come up and almost suck the PE mysis right out of the baster. Once in a dt with fast aggressive eaters it becomes almost impossible to get them live food, but there are tricks, like net feeding, again, established in the qt. You put the live food in a net and drop it in front of them, open up the net and let the prey just leave the net right to the lion. You can use a feeding stick or another net to block the other fish away in the dt.

 

[jassermd]

Thanks guys! Very helpful. Appreciate the insights and will definitely try those tricks.

 

[Dolphins18]

I usually feed mine this. Its a nice little mix, and I will also try to feed any fresh SW fish that I am having for dinner. Nothing eats the clam strips is the only downside.

 

[jasonrusso]

I usually feed mine this. Its a nice little mix, and I will also try to feed any fresh SW fish that I am having for dinner. Nothing eats the clam strips is the only downside.

That's a nice mix there. Where do you get it?

My puffer would surely eat the clam strips.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pmlLkSo4ZTk?feature=share

 

[Dolphins18]

That's a nice mix there. Where do you get it?

My puffer would surely eat the clam strips.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pmlLkSo4ZTk?feature=share

This is at my LFS, its tough to find online. I think that nearly any LFS could get ahold of it though, maybe show them the photo and see if they can get it! I had to request the last batch I got.

 

[jassermd]

I usually feed mine this. Its a nice little mix, and I will also try to feed any fresh SW fish that I am having for dinner. Nothing eats the clam strips is the only downside.

This looks like something I would use to make a good seafood stew... hmmm!
My guy is a dwarf, and is only about 3-4 in. Some of those pieces look to be about his size...
That said, my Harlequin would greatly appreciate that mix!