Lion fish eating??

surffer227

New member
I have a baby lion fish, about 1 1/2 -2 inches and I NEVER see him eat. I feed PE mysis and he will literally swim right over it during feeding. But he's been in my tank for almost a month so he must be eating something. I'm thinking he has a stash somewhere where all the uneaten food settles and he hits it at night? Mabey? I mean how else would he make it this long, will he eventually start eating when I feed the tank?
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Following along curios to see what the advice is, always been interested in a lion. Gorgeous fish !
 
I went through the same thing with my dwarf lionfish. I know they are not the best, but I started feeding it live rosy minnows from petsmart. He is now feeding regularly so now Im going to start trying frozen foods.
 
They tend to like moving food which sparks the hunting instinct. I've trained lots of lions to eat frozen and it normally starts with live foods. In my case river shrimp or if it's as small as yours then live brine often works (worked well for fu machu lions which are harder). Failing that wiggle a mysis in the current with some small tweezers or feeding stick, or the way I got my betta and scorpion onto frozen was gently blasting a mysis/krill with a pipette in a low flow area (as soon as the food moved it was demolished).
 
He is probably not eating. You will have to probably start him out on some live food. If you can find some live ghost shrimp which I have never seen a Lionfish turn down. Also I would do Mollies instead of the Minnows as they are known to carry diseases.
 
You might also try really small goldfish. Having the gold flashing around as it swims might triger his instincts to eat. (Simular to fishing for bass). I had the same problem when I was trying to get my gar (freshwater) to eat. eventually my gar started taking floating pellets.

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So if I feed ghost when I feed the tank frozen do you think he'd eventually go for the frozen?


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At first he'll probably just go for the live food but eventually he should start going for Frozen to and then you can slowly start weaning him of live food

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There's not guarantee he will, but when you feed the ghost shrimp to him, the shrimp with the some tongs for a few feedings (let the shrimp go right in front of him). The shrimp will die in about 5 minutes in the saltwater. Then get some PE Mysis Shrimp (frozen and it's a good size, looking like the ghost shrimp) holding it with the tongs also. Take the same approach feeding frozen every time just like when feeding live food. It make take awhile, first objective is to get him eating.
 
When I switch from live to frozen using ghost shrimp (or river shrimp as they are called over here) I feed live and get it used to them so it is hunting strongly. I then chuck in a dead one and see if it will take it. If it does great, if not then you need to make it look alive by wiggling it on a stick or blowing it with a pipette or in the flow. If it doesn't eat it, starve the lion for a day or twould and try again when it is hungry.
Mature lionfish could easily go a month without food (not that they should and I'd start worrying after a couple of weeks) but I would have thought such a small specimen wouldn't survive for as long as it has without eating. It might be eating pods at night and if that's the case then small shrimp would be a good choice to start with. I wouldn't use live fish as gut loaded shrimp are an easier catch and they can live for weeks in saltwater (well at least the ones we get can as they come from estuaries, but just saw Scooter above hasn't had the same experience so perhaps they are a different species) , whereas goldfish can't.
 
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I have 4 dwarf lions(well one is an antennata), my fuzzy for over 4 years. I feed them live; gut loaded ghost shrimp mostly, molly babies, and a peppermint shrimp once a month. He is not eating and it would be best to pick up something live asap.
 
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