new lionfish will not eat

M

murph1083

New member
I just bought a new lionfish this weekend but he wont seem to eat. I tried feeding him plankton on friday and krill yesterday but he doesnt seem interested. Any ideas?
 
In many cases, the lions will have to be taught to eat dead or frozen fish. Go to the aggressive fish forum for additional info. It is best to get them weaned from live food - especially do not use feeder gold fish. I usually let them fast for a few days and then try to feed get them interested in silversides by presenting the silversides close to them or by using a feeding stick with a silverside that I move slowly by them to see if they are interested. Good luck and be patient. I usually will not get a lion from the LFS until it is eating frozen or dead foods
 
It might take some time for them to eat frozen foods. You might have to feed it live foods a few times. As stated above, DO NOT feed it goldfish or other freshwater fish. Live ghost shrimp are a favorite for lions. I feed these to mine several times a week. So far I've had mine for a month and he still won't even look at frozen. Be patient.
 
Goldfish has no nutritional value and it messes up their digestive system. It will lead to a premature death,
 
Another problem with goldfish is that the lionfish can choke. But JENnKerry is also correct - feeding lions goldfish results in the development of a fatty liver which can ultimately kill the lionfish.
 
hes pretty small, i dont know if he could even eat something that big. I know that Lions can eat alot bigger then then looklike but are you guys sure he will be able to eat ghost shrimp?
 
When I bought my Volitan, he was not yet eating frozen, prepared foods.

I first kept him on a diet of Rosy Reds (Pimephales promelas) from the LFS. I'd feed one or two each feeding time. I kept him with this for about two weeks.

Then, I started to switch him to frozen. With one of those clear acrylic feeding sticks, I would impale a piece of food and then wiggle it around in front of him to make it look like living food. It took another week or two before he finally went for it. It's important not to continue feeding any live foods while making this switch. That extra hunger can also help you make the switch to frozen.

I moved the Volitan to Formula One and Formula Two as his main diet. Once in awhile, squid or other meats can be a nice treat. The Formula cubes would have to sit out a couple of minutes to thaw before the cube could be cut into quarters or halves and impaled on the feeding stick - you don't want the lion to choke on the food.

Good luck.
 
i didnt feed mine for a week, got some frozen prawn (krill too big, mysis too small) and after a week, if the prawn (thawed) went within 6" of him hed go right after it.
 
well I went to the LFS and got some guppies and he ate them right up....now I have to get him off those...any ideas how?
 
Most LFS feeds predatory fishes live feeders (goldfish) since they don't really care a whole lot for it because they know someone will buy it down the road. in nature lions don't eat FW guppies or goldfish, to get him on frozen silverside or anything else stop feeding him for a week and feed him whatever you want to feed him and he'll know who's the boss. -devil
 
I heard that it is actually better to feed them live foods. I read that its actually good for them since they are Predator fish
 
Actually, if your lionfish is small, it would be more beneficial to feed it some form of crustacean-based foods. Live ghost shrimp for a non-feeding individual is a great choice. The reasoning behind this is that the vast majority of stomach contents of smaller lions (maybe other scorpaenids) consisted of smaller shrimp and other crustacean.s
 
The folks are right about the guppies and gold fish, i had a lion fish that would not eat either, so we took some advice here and started feeding them guppies, and sure enough he died, There is some good advice here, on the next one, cause they are hard to start feeding and especially getting them on dried krill, but we used ghost shrimp in the beginning just to get some food in him, then i used squid, and believe it or not, he loved that, so then i would soak the squid and krill in a glass of water, and finally he just eats krill now.

hope this helps
 
I have found that the risk is reduced by feeding the lion regularly - there is still a risk but if fed regularly, he will be less tempted
 
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