Lionfish not eating!
- Thread starter eareyes
- Start date
Wolverine
Premium Member
Maybe it's just me, but I would only feed Lions live food. The purpose for keeping a predator is to watch him do what he does best.
One problem with that is if you want to add any other fish later on to keep. You will have trained your lion already that anything you put in the tank that moves is food. You have a slightly better chance if they're used to eating non-live food. Plus, with a feeding stick or fishing line, you can make them do their predator thing anyway.
Long term, feeding them live freshwater fish is not good for them.
JohnnyB in SD
New member
I had to start my radiata on FW ghost shrimp. They primarily eat crustaceans in the wild. I've been told by many sources that guppies and FWfeeder fish are bad for marine fish's livers or something. Thought I was never going to get him off live foods, started planning a shrimp propagation system.
In a couple/few weeks I eventually got him to take krill on a steek as he was eating the live ones - kinda fooled him into it as first. Had to use a thin invisible acrylic rod and subtly wiggle it to gain his interest. This was all done in a QT where I had close control.
After a few weeks in the main system, he's become part of the feeding frenzy, grabbing larger mysis from the water column.
Fed him 2-3 times / week when he was eating the ghost shrimp. He would gorge and have no appetite for a couple days. Now he eats 2xday with everyone else.
He gets along fine with all his neighbors, but I wouldn't put anyone that could fit in his mouth in there with him.
Very cool fish, GOOD LUCK.
In a couple/few weeks I eventually got him to take krill on a steek as he was eating the live ones - kinda fooled him into it as first. Had to use a thin invisible acrylic rod and subtly wiggle it to gain his interest. This was all done in a QT where I had close control.
After a few weeks in the main system, he's become part of the feeding frenzy, grabbing larger mysis from the water column.
Fed him 2-3 times / week when he was eating the ghost shrimp. He would gorge and have no appetite for a couple days. Now he eats 2xday with everyone else.
He gets along fine with all his neighbors, but I wouldn't put anyone that could fit in his mouth in there with him.
Very cool fish, GOOD LUCK.
