I'm Stumped.....Dwarf Lion

[JENnKerry]

Well it's been a month and a half since I got my zebra dwarf lion. I've tried to be patient with weening him off live foods (ghost shrimp). I've tried feeding him silversides, frozen krill and prawn and he turns his nose up at everything except the ghost shrimp. I even starve him for almost a week, and still nothing.
At this point I am open to any suggestions you expert lion keepers might have. I do have one concern though. Because I am starving him for almost a week at a time, at this point he is only eating the live shrimp once a week. Is this something to be concerned with? Thanks

Kerry

 

[LukFox]

Once a week feedings are fine for a lion, so long as it is still getting its food.

One thing you can try is putting a piece of krill and a ghost shrimp on the same feeding stick. However, put the ghost shrimp on the stick before the piece of krill. The lion will therefore see the moving ghost shrimp, but it will also have to eat the krill to get the live shrimp. After doing that a few times, it should learn that krill tastes good as well and eat it even if the ghost shrimp isnt there. From this point, you can try other foods. I cant guarantee it, but it's worked ime.

 

[JENnKerry]

Very interesting. I'll give it a try.
On a side note.....Jen just got home with his weekly feeding of ghost shrimp. He has twon in his mouth at the same time. Anyone ever hear of this?

 

[VolitanLioness]

It is just being greedy with the food while it can......LOL

Dwarfs can be tough to wean over sometimes, some start eating fast & some take months. Good luck with the Live Ghost shrimp & krill method, hope it works for you. I can feed the ghost shrimp to my fish I just can not put them on a feeder stick...... LOL

Good Luck & let us know!

Kaye

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Drop a small live "Rosy Red" (FW feeder fish) in the aquarium and see what happens.
(Not the best of foods to feed a Lionfish all of the time, but it will put some meat on it's bones.)

 

[slowECUdiver]

my 2 cents

my 2 cents

i too just got a dwarf lion, but fuzzy variety. i had the same problem but came up with a modification to the solution Gary wrote. (thank you VolitanLioness who helped me in my time of need).
i starved mine for a few days after he was first introduced to the tank. when he was in the corner near the top last night i took a rosy red and holding its tail, wiggled him in the general direction of the lion to get his interest. once he was looking, i took the rosy out, and introduced the acrylic feeder probe with a small hunk of frozen shrimp. he was immediately on the shrimp and swam off to a rock crevace to digest it with a big "smile" on his face.

persistence is the key with these guys. after only a few days i got mine to take frozen shrimp but i may have gotten lucky, as he was eating well (live rosys) at the LFS for over a week before i brought him home. you may also want to dim lights or cut down on the flow to make him more at ease. i cannot stress enough the use of some type of feeding probe. no need to get yourself stung just to get him to eat.

best of luck,
eric