first time lionfish owner

[canzures]

hi all,

I just brought home my first lionfish last night. it is small right now maybe 4'' from head to tail. well I only have frozen krill and silversides. so far I have not seen it eat any krill and have not touched the silversides. From reading the posts I know not to feed it any FW feeders and to feed them frozen SW critters. How long should I wait for it to start eating as I don't want it to starve if it wants to eat feeders. the salesperson told me that they feed their lions rosies so I'm assuming that is what it is used to. So how long should I wait to try rosies if it doesn't touch my frozen foods? thanks

 

[Petstorejunkie]

roseys are a freshwater feeder fish. i would incorporate the rosies into the diet until he will take the silversides. when i first got my russels lion he would only eat live ghost shrimp and guppies, and now only 2 months later, he eats silversides, krill chunked shrimp, mussels, and even zuccini! (although the last on is an occational accident, when he steals food from my other fish)
so yes longterm usage of live freshwate feeders is very BAD, but for the short terrm, it really isnt going to cause any damage.

 

[canzures]

thanks petstore, I will feed it some rosies for now so at least he will not starve.

 

[Petstorejunkie]

glad to hear,
it should only take about a month max to make the change.
they are attravcted to the eyes of the fish, so if silversides are too big, try chopping of the heads with a bit of torso and putting them in wiggly before the rosies every day, eventually he will ahve such enthousiam tha the silverside heads will become dinner instead of the rosies.

 

[VolitanLioness]

canzures in case you missed it here is the Lion Info Sheet.....

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/fm/feature/index.php

Kaye

 

[stykthyn]

try some glass shrimp, they are small enough for him to eat, and I have yet to see a carnivore turn them down

 

[MacnReef]

I just picked up my first Black Volitan last night and he immediately ate silversides. Good luck with yours.

Mike

 

[White Tiger]

If you are really worried about the lion, and don't want to feed him a fresh water fish, you can buy a damsel. The damsel should temp the lionfish into eating it.