Feeding the lionfish...

[oranje]

Hey Reefers,

Do any of you have any experience feeding a lionfish? I broke down and got a zebra/dwarf lionfish a day or two ago, and it seems interested in food, but gets amazingly aggravated when I stick food in front of it. I've offered it shrimp, krill, and a couple of frozen varieties.

It might just be because I added it a day or two ago and that's why it doesn't want to eat. It has been eating frozen preparations at the LFS, so I don't think live foods are necessary. I'll take any suggestions for how to fill it's little belly.

 

[dizzy]

oranje

I would feed it live before I would let it starve. Try live brine, ghost shrimp, or feeder guppies. Go to the lfs and get whatever frozen they were feeding it. IME the dwarf lions are much pickier than the volitans and can be very difficult to wean off of live.

 

[EmilyB]

You will also want to guage your feeding to how thin the lionfish is. If he was eating frozen at the LFS, and is in good shape, you may want to try live brine mixed with frozen brine and cut back the live on subsequent feedings and wait it out.

I never had a problem with my fuzzy dwarf, who ate frozen brine at the LFS, he eats frozen tiger prawns now... but have been totally unsucessful to date to switch my zebra dwarf. Picking up 50 ghost shrimp again on tuesday....11 months now. But he's a beautiful dude, and worth every penny I spend on feeding him.

BTW, I feed the ghosts with marine food prior to feeding the lion. He takes them from inside a net now. (to avoid other fish getting them).

 

[FMarini]

Oranje:
did you actually see it eating dead foods at the LFS? Many LFS say that feed these guys dead foods, but in reality they pour dead foods into the same tank and then leave -they never actuall see the lion eat. Usually lions comes from the wild, and take about 2 weeks to 1 month to ween over to dead foods.
I would first feed your new fish w/ live ghost shrimp either use a net to place the shrimp in th face of he lion, or if the lion is the only fish in the tank then place the ghost shimp somewhere near the lion.
Once the lion settles in and is happy in the tank, then you can try to ween it over.
What else is in the tank? i ask becuz maybe the lion has already eaten a bunch of your inverts (like shrimps,crabs) or any of your small fish and is not hungry
frank

 

[oranje]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The tank currently has a flame angel, a hippo tang, a clown(i forget which kind, but he's super calm for the most part), and a couple of damsels. Oh yeah, and a cleaner shrimp, and a coral banded shrimp. I accept the fact that these last two will probably become a tasty treat, although they haven't yet. If they didn't run and hide under liverock all the time, they wouldn't have to live in fear, but anyway...

When I put frozen foods in the tank, the lionfish certainly perks up and starts swimming around far more than usual, however I haven't seen him actually eat anything yet. Eeeh...

I'll head over to yon LFS and see what they have for live foods later today. I want the little bugger to be happy :X

 

[camp6]

my black volitan ate frozen food like mad at the LFS. even fighted off other fish in the tank for silversides. when i got him home he wouldnt eat frozen atall. ive been feeding him live ever since, now every time i open the top of the tank he rears up and gets ready. just one of those things i suppose. I would check your water conditions just to make sure thats not it though.

 

[Anonymous]

feeder guppies(clean ones!) in a 6" net placed in front of the lion just after lights out work very well for getting the dwarf lions started eating in captivity.

don't chase him with the net, but try to position it in front of the lion-if he doesn't eat the first few times, don't panic.

if he doesn't eat the guppy, it can be removed easily.the guppies can also be fed a good marine flake to help it's nutrition.

if the lion tries to snap at the guppy from the wrong side if the net, you've also won the main battle, eventually he'll figger out which side to enter.

once he recognizes the net as the food delivery item(and he will, to the point where the sight of the net will get him 'excited'),put some frozen superba plankton(or other small s.w. shrimp) in the net with no guppies. you may need to jiggle the net a bit to make the shrimp look 'live', but chances are that the smell will be enough.

as long as he was in decent shape when you got him, and your chemistry is up to snuff, it should work-lions usually won't hunger strike when food is available, and they learn fast-i've seen volitans go for broke on flake the same day of arrival, just from watching the other fish in the tank!...

luck!

 

[oranje]

So, I've been feeding the little bugger feeders, and it certainly digs on them.

Is there any reason that I wouldn't want to continue feeding it feeder fish? It's not especially inconvenient to go and pick them up from my LFS, and I still can't get her to eat frozen...

 

[Dewman]

Oranje..

I think one of the main concerns people have with feeding freshwater fish to Lions, scorpions, fuzzys... is that they tend to get a Fatty deposit on their liver. I have heard others say this can be fatal.
I don't know enough to go into it in length, but I do know that I have fed my fuzzy Dwarf guppys for the "WOW" factor once or twice, but not knowing the consequences is too much of a risk for me. Other than that, I feed krill once a day.

 

[Anonymous]

i believe the main reason is that freshwater organisms have different sets of fats and protiens than saltwater org.s-possibly leading to malnutrition, if used long term.there may also be an issue with transmission of internal diseases from feeders to the gut of the eating fish.

fwiw-fish use smell(maybe more than sight)to a large extent in finding food.you can try to make the feeders smell like the frozen food you're trying to wean the lion to, by putting a few drops of the 'juice' from the frozen food on the guppys, before you put 'em in the tank.

then, don't feed for a few days, and use the frozen in the net.(hunger is an excellent motivator, for fish education!)if he does'nt go for it, try the frozen again the next day-don't worry about your lion starving,they're built to go for awhile w/out food, if otherwise healthy.you might want to wiggle the net to jog the piece of food-simulating a live item)

repeat this pattern weekly(going back to feeders after every few attempts)and it's only a matter of time..

 

[FMarini]

Oranje:
if you can get ahold of SW feeder minnows or SW ghost shrimp then by all means feel free to feed live foods. However you are feeding FW fish to a Sw predator. Any idea how many FW feeder fish lionfish eat in the wild?
I don't have enuf time to list all the reasons why continued feeding of FW fish (especially carp or guppies) is detremental to SW fish, however Vitz hit on two main points (Bob toonen has a article in the reefs.org library on the fat composition of Sw and FW fish). Another point is FW fish are sickly, and if you see how they keep FW feeders then you'll reconsider.
Now i will say that out of the FW feeders ghost shrimp are prolly the safest and one which i will say is the least of all evils (notice i don't say their great)
So to me i will say this, why not feed a lionfish what it eats in the wild....
until Sw feeders are easy and routine in the LFS (and believe it or not there are a few SW feeders fish available, just real expensive) I will feed Sw foods to my lions. I particularly like gulf shrimp w/ shell on, squid, scallop meat, crabmeat, SW silversides, and a number of others.
Anyway if you email me i can send you my lionfish info sheet which has weening tips and lots of husbandry on these fish (soon to be published)
frank