Dwarf lion that wont eat frozen food

[jlinzmaier]

I bought a dwarf lion to put in my reef tank and I can't get the darn thing to eat frozed food. I spent 3 times the amount of money on live feeder shrimp than I did on the fish and he really enjoyed them but he still won't eat frozen food. I've tried mysis, brine, squid yums, prime reef, silversides, and krill over and over and over again. I've tried wiggling the food in front of it and just letting the food sit and nothing has worked. Finally I gave up and decided he'll eat frozen food when he gets hungry enough - that was 2 months ago and he's still alive but still won't eat frozen food. Surprisingly he hasn't bothered any other inverts in the tank but I'm beginning to feel sorry for him.

Does anybody have any suggestions about how I can get him to eat frozen food? I'm really beginning to like him - he's got a lot of spirit and very determined.

I truly have no idea what he could be living on right now other than copepods or other tiny critters. I've never seen him actually eat anything other than the expensive live feeder shrimp but like I said it's been at least 2 months since I've had any - just can't afford it. Does anybody have any ideas what he might be eating and maybe I could try to accomodate his tastes if I can grow it in my fuge.

 

[gregb1]

Soak the frozen food in garlic juice that should fix him.

 

[jlinzmaier]

Tried garlic several times and multivitamins several times with all the foods and still no response. I use garlic extreme which is 99% garlic juice (allium sativum extract)

Any other suggestions????

 

[EmilyB]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Some just won't. I spent a year with a dwarf zebra and never did get him to eat frozen. He cost me about $30 a month to feed live gut-loaded ghost shrimp. The only thing I can offer is to get him plump enough, then starve him a week or so, and try again with holding the feed in tongs, then releasing. You may then be able to release dead food in the flow and he may be hungry enough to grab.

 

[Anonymous]

It just takes a while. My Dendrochirus brachypterus took about a year to figure it out, and now it will eat flake. Just keep feeding frozen mysis and live ghost shrimp at the same time.