food for dwarf lion fish
- Thread starter Chadly
- Start date
Dfrontiero89
Non-member
Mine didn't eat anything either. I put live ghost shrimp in tho and he ate those! I bought them at petsmart I believe and they were .39 each or something. I loaded them up on flake food and mysis and stuff like that and then would feed them so that way the fish was getting the nutrients. Eventually I lost him but not sure if it was good related or not. I would deff start there tho.
dannyp02908
Non-member
Lion fish usually have to be weened off of live food.
saltwaterB
Well-Known Member
You do not want to feed Freshwater ghost Shrimp to your Saltwater Animals....not enough nutrition and the shell can damage the stomach of some SW predators....only SW Grass Shrimp should be used as feeders...and yes, gut loading them works best to enhance the nutritional value.
As Danny said most Lionfish and Scorpions need to be trained to take frozen food, but this can be done usually very easy (we do not sell any of our predators until they are readily excepting frozen food) Also, how long has he been in the tank??? most of the time I will not attempt to feed them until they have been in the tank for a few days to a week...to make sure they have settled down (very common for them to not eat for a week or so, after the stress of shipping or acclimating to a new tank) But start with the live shrimp or a green chromis...to initiate the feeding response...then focus on training him off of live...
As Danny said most Lionfish and Scorpions need to be trained to take frozen food, but this can be done usually very easy (we do not sell any of our predators until they are readily excepting frozen food) Also, how long has he been in the tank??? most of the time I will not attempt to feed them until they have been in the tank for a few days to a week...to make sure they have settled down (very common for them to not eat for a week or so, after the stress of shipping or acclimating to a new tank) But start with the live shrimp or a green chromis...to initiate the feeding response...then focus on training him off of live...
dannyp02908
Non-member
When I had mine, I started off feeding him guppies to get him to eat. I let him eat those for about a month. Then I started trying to get him over to frozen. He wouldn't take it. So I offered him nothing for a few days. Tried again. He seemed interested, swam up to it but would not take. Another few days with no food. After a week, he was eating frozen shrimp I would buy at the grocery store.
bdaley
Well-Known Member
I have kept lion fish for years, I always stated out feeding live. Slowly I would train them to eat silver sides by getting a clear rod and glue a very thick/stiff piece of fishing line to that so it hangs off the bottom of the rod 5-6 inches. Make a small cut on the bottom of the line that is why you want a thick clear fishing line. Thaw your silver side, push the line through the tail area of the silver side and then interduce to your fish. I have trained lions and anglers this way. When they strike the silver side will come right off the line.
dannyp02908
Non-member
When I had my lion, he would eat shrimp right out of my hand. Was pretty kool.
saltwaterB
Well-Known Member
Even if he was eating frozen at an LFS...he may not take it after transferring to his new home...that can be enough stress sometimes. But with a little coaxing, should be able to get them to take frozen again... as mentioned start with some live...then work on getting to take the frozen..
And we have a bunch of grass shrimp in stock...and we are working on breeding saltwater Mollys, that will be gut loaded...an amazing food source for your critters..that will reproduce in our tanks and eat filamentous Algae.
And we have a bunch of grass shrimp in stock...and we are working on breeding saltwater Mollys, that will be gut loaded...an amazing food source for your critters..that will reproduce in our tanks and eat filamentous Algae.
