Lionfish not eating - help!

[celticreefer85]

hey guys,

got a dwarf lionfish from my local fish store recently. looks like it is full size dwarf (probably year or two old). he is not eating anything i feed him. i have so far tried both frozen krill and frozen mysis shrimp. he looks worse each day with his color. what is the go-to food for lionfish? best thing alive that i can feed him? any recs? thanks!

has been in my tank since saturday and hasnt eaten. just hangs on a rock and breathes heavily. there is also 4 chromies in there with him. its a 93g.

 

[StephLionfish]

Well, most of the time when you get a lionfish, it's not weaned onto frozen food. Try feeding it a live Ghost shrimp. Super cheap, and he should gobble it up. You can keep a small freshwater tank of them and feed them high quality foods, if you need to. ( That's what I did when I was weaning my lion over to frozen).
Not sure on the breathing heavy...

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Other than the breathing heavily, staying in rock and not eating right away aren't unusual. Did it eat at the fish store and how much light do you have on your tank? You should provide low lighting for a while. Also, in addition to live foods, try putting a piece of seafood on a stick and waving it in front of him. Use the very thin hard airline tubing.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Here is some more info while you are waiting for responses:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2033497

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

http://www.lionfishlair.com/feedingtechniques/toolsofthetrade.shtml

 

[namxas]

I'm more concerned about you describing the fish as "gilling", which is not normal for lionfish at rest. Also, if you say the fish's coloration looks worse each day, and IME with several different lion species, I suspect that the fish is ailing. It could be getting ready to shed its cuticle, but I'm not thinking that's the case here.

You say you think the fish is on the older side...how big is it?

Did you QT the fish? If so, was it treated prophylactically? With what?

What are your tank parameters? (temp, pH, SG, NH3).

Don't fret...lionfish can go quite awhile without eating. However, as mentoned, I'd offer it a couple of ghost shrimp and see if it shows any interest. In fact, if it shows interest and eats one, I'd try gutloading them with beta glucan to boost the fish's immune system.