Feeding Volitans Lion

[mattsilvester]

Hi All,

So I have been trying to train my lion to get dead food. I put a bit of squid on a long skewer, then gently / slowly wiggle it in front of him. But he is not interested - in fact he is afraid of the skewer. I end up "chasing" him to shove the food in his face, which is obviously the wrong approach..... so I have stopped.

What to do next? Persevere in the hope he becomes accustomed to the skewer?

It's been a few weeks now without food.

 

[eastlake]

you could sharpen a bit of rigid airline tubing to use as a skewer if you haven't already. It wont be invisible but maybe it'll be low vis enough that the lion wont pay any attention to it. "Swimming" dead food had always worked for me when I was working at a local fish store, but if yours is being reluctant, I've had good luck feeding live ghost shrimp then periodically "swimming" frozen krill with a skewer or fingers and they took to that fairly quickly.

 

[mattsilvester]

I'll go buy some ghost shrimp tomorrow and try that. Can I keep ghost shrimp alive for a few days? If so, how?

Thanks.

 

[anbosu]

I have never had a lion take squid. Shrimp or silversides should help get him eating, although you may need live food at this point. If it's big enough get some bait fish or even a few small feeder goldfish, then worry about training him to eat frozen.

 

[eastlake]

you can keep them alive in any container large enough to house them along with a bubbler. On the up side you can also gut load them with spirulina flakes and other high quality foods before you give them to the lion.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Will he eat live food?

I have weaned a few over and my strategy was always just feed live food for a few months until they get to the point where they are trusting and just hit anything that you drop in the water as soon as it hits the water. After a few weeks of feeding them live food they usually will swim up to the top and beg for food if you walk up to the tank, then you can just drop in whatever you want and they eat it no questions asked...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[carrots]

Small feeder guppies to start. Then follow "LobsterOfJustice" advice. It has always worked for me too. You'll have him jumping for dog biscuits in no time

 

[cougareyes]

Get him settled in and strengthened up with some live food. The starvation method of training lions ends in death alot of the time. Once he is settled in and fattened up, then try to train him. Get some fishing line and thread a sliver of shrimp or silversides through and try that.

 

[mattsilvester]

Thanks everyone for you replies.

I have a clownfish in my overflow, which can be seen by the lionfish. Last night I noticed the lion stalking the clown so took the opportunity to "throw" a piece of squid in front of him while he was stimulated and in hunting mode. If worked. He took it.

I'm still going to get some shrimp and silver sides, and feel optimistic that he'll be trained in soon.