Fuzzy lion troubles or not?

[jgemperline]

I have two fizzy lions and a ghost eel. One fuzzy is not like the other in that it only eats the small chunks of frozen brine, worms, and whatever else in in the LFS food. The other eats silversides great. When I got them, the skinny one was the big one ( over a month). Should I be worried? I bought them as a pair but.... Are they compatible? I think they are both female. Is that correct? Do I need a male to keep them happy. Thanks

 

[DoubleM 10]

I had a set about a year ago. One got stupid big and the other stayed smaller bit they ate exaclty the same.

In the end once one got size on the other he one day went postal. What size tank u have them in?

I would not worry to much. The small one is the same size now. i got another one 6 months later that is now bigger. Sometimes its not ment to be

Sent from my Eris using Tapatalk

 

[jgemperline]

Thanks. I will keep trying. They are in a 55gal with a 25 gal sump. My water shuld be good but I will check my numbers.

 

[nonstopfishies]

How long have they been in there together?

I would think if they are eating silversides they would eat other marine food like squid, clam, scallops, etc. Soak all the food in a vitamin supplement like Selcon and they will start to relate the "smell" of the food they like with the food they haven't tried yet. Getting some diversity in foods should keep them healthy. Keeping them well fed will help prevent any aggression issues too.

 

[jgemperline]

Thanks! I will pick some up on the way home today!
They have been together in the tank for 6 weeks.

 

[namxas]

It's hard to sex the fish from your photos, but based on pectoral banding, you could have either sex, as there's a crossover between the sexes at 6 bands. We'd need to see some clear photos showing the sweep of the pectoral fins to make the distinction.

Since you're saying "chunks of frozen brine, worms, etc." does that mean that you aren't thawing the food? If that's the case, you need to start thawing it. BTW, there are lots of better foods for your fish than frozen BS and worms. Lions should be fed 3 times a week, just until they have a nice little "belly bulge", but not to satiation, as lions have a tendency to overeat if you let them.

Give THIS ARTCLE on weaning and feeding predatory fish a look.

HTH

 

[jgemperline]

I will get some better pictures tomorrow if I can. I feed Mon. Wed. Fri. I do typically thaw the food. But in a sorry attempt to get a belly on this girl I turn off my pump and let the chunk float and let her take chunks at a time. This is the only food I have seen her eat. I use the fishing line in acrylic tube trick to spot feed my blind eel. This lion show no interest with this method. The other lion eats anything before it hits the water! I do worry I'm over feeding one in attending to feed the other. If attempts fail should I separate them? I'm thinking about using a divider for an hour or two during feeding. What do you think?

Thanks every one
Joe

 

[namxas]

Since they're in the same tank, you could try Frank Marini's "weaning basket" method or as you mentioned, you can separate them and bring the other "up to speed".

Oddly enuff, the two juvie fuzzies we currently have together were like that...one was a pig, the other took a bit of time, but now the smaller fish is the stronger feeder in terms of getting to the food first. They're fed with a stealth stick also.

Frank's weaning basket is described in his LIONFISH CARE ARTICLE.

Don't fret...lions can go awhile without eating, and remember: a hungry lion is a brave lion, so use that to your advantage.