It's actually a very common practice among inexperienced or ill informed hobbyists. Fresh water feeder fish are not healthy for salt water predators, so weaning a lion to frozen preparations soon after purchase is important.
My lion would not eat when i brought it home so i tried gold fish and he loved them. They are not healthy for them but was better then letting him starve. once eating i weaned him off them.
Like Joey I always start mine eating on feeder fish. After about a week and acclimation stress is over, I let him go 2 weeks without any live food but regular feedings every other day. By the 10th day I found the lion is getting hungry and usually has given into mysis shrimp.
Years ago, pre-internet, I fed a lionfish on a diet of only feeder goldfish and it lived for 18 years. I didn't know any better and got lucky -- I wouldnt recommend that diet now.
I've always fed my lions feeders (gold fish), I tried to ween them off but after a few days of not eating I went back to the feeders, maybe I need to wait a little longer.
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