Best way to get a lion to eat?

skate020

skate020

Member
hello

yesterday i bought myself a lion to go into my QT whilst my tank cycles

hes about 4" long, (its a volitans).
he seems fine swimming around occasionally as lions do.
he hasnt eaten yet, which im not to worried about. but i know that they can be annoying to tr and get to eat!
so im posting in advance.
i went to the lfs were i got him today and bought 6 mollies, the guy insisted that there werent to big for him to eat so i got them, put one in, wat do you know, he went for it, head butted it but decided it was too big.....
the mollies are only about an inch long, and about 1cm fat.
so should i give like a small guppy a go?
i would love to get him to eat ASAP as he is quite skinny.
would like to fatten him up:)
also, how often should i feed?
thanks
 
garick

garick

Member
Ghost shrimp fed shrimp pellets soaked in selcon would be really good I think. I know for fact these guys will eat shrimp. I have a dwarf that simply loves them.
 
erifish3

erifish3

Member
I feed mine store bought shrimp soaked in Garlic Guard every other day. I'll mix in squid and pieces of catfish every now and then.
 
garick

garick

Member
thats me with my flame tail Blenny. Every time I go to clean its tank. It hides around the rocks and randomly comes out to pinch me normally on the back of my hand or side of my pinky. It feels like an electric shock! and when I feed it, it gives me big puppy dog eyes... its evil I tell you EVIL.
 
srfisher17

srfisher17

Active Member
Originally Posted by erifish3
http:///forum/post/3197905
I feed mine store bought shrimp soaked in Garlic Guard every other day. I'll mix in squid and pieces of catfish every now and then.
Catfish is awful fatty; I'd switch to a SW fish. Over time, FW fish flesh can do real damage to SW fish.
 
srfisher17

srfisher17

Active Member
Give the new Lion some time. I assume you saw him eat at the lfs yesterday, what were they feeding? He shouldn't have to eat the next day. A hungry Volitan will usually scarf any live food you offer, but he still needs to settle in to your QT. If the lfs was feeding frozen and you can get him to eat the same thing, you'll save the hassle of having to wean him off the live stuff- which you will have to do.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
if he doesnt eat for a week then you need to start getting concerned. Never seen one pass up ghost shrimp.
To train them off of live and onto silver sided get yourself a live silverside or a live goldfish and let him munch on that. then the next time you feed kill the same type of fish and hold it in a pair of tongs (the thinner the tongs the better so they arent intimidating) and wiggle it around. when he eats that then you are ready for frozen silversides. unfeeze a few so they go a bit limp and wiggle it around jsut like the dead fish you had before. one he gets used to eating from the tongs you can feed him any lion healthy food from them. Mine sees me go for the tongs and he bumps the glass with his head!
I also feed dried krill for snacks in the tongs and if Im at the lfs that carries the ghost shrimp I usually pick up 10 of those and throw them in there too. Just for fun.
 
skate020

skate020

Member
ok thanks guys:)
he ate a molly today:)
when i bought him i didnt ask wat they fed him stupidly, but he had a lump in his stomach to suggest he had ate. that LFS usually feeds ghost shrimp as live food or muscles as frozen, so i can try both.
i do want to try the tongs with him because when eventually my tank is stocked i cant really just drop the food in because some of the fish in there will just take the food before him and he will eventually starve.
im not going to feed him goldfish, cranberry told me there very rich in thaimine or something? which eventually leads to a shorter life.
i will get some to eat a few guppys.
he ate last nite. i put the fish in in the day light but he didnt go near it, but as soon as i turned off the lights he was ready to take it, so if i leave him tonight, and then put a guppy in tomorrow night and turn off the lights he should eat again:)
then im going to try get him onto lance fish, then i'll vary his diet between muscles, cockles, lance fish and anything else meaty they like. once hes on frozen im going to soak everything in garlic.
i want to try get his colour out abit more, his body isnt quite as thick as most lions, so im going to try get him abit bulkier:)
yeh my LFS sells ghost shrimp at 10 for £1, their dirt cheap, but they go in about 10 mins, can barely buy 10 at a time because they get sold quick!
thanks for the replys guys:) will post a pic of him soon:)
 
skate020

skate020

Member
i set up a small tropical tank, put 6 guppys, 6 neon tetra's, 6 pollys? and 1 male and 3 female fighter fsh for show,
although i've lost the male and 2 female fighters ? lol
anyways, point of this is im getting alot of fish which will need to be on live food before going onto frozen, so yeh.
the lions actually get quite plump already, seconde night i got him he ate that molly, then i tried him on frozen but he didnt take it, i left it infront of him when i went to sleep and when i woke up it was gone, i think he took it, and then just today he ate a guppy:)
im not going to feed him again untill monday.
 
bpro32

bpro32

Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3198013
if he doesnt eat for a week then you need to start getting concerned. Never seen one pass up ghost shrimp.
To train them off of live and onto silver sided get yourself a live silverside or a live goldfish and let him munch on that. then the next time you feed kill the same type of fish and hold it in a pair of tongs (the thinner the tongs the better so they arent intimidating) and wiggle it around. when he eats that then you are ready for frozen silversides. unfeeze a few so they go a bit limp and wiggle it around jsut like the dead fish you had before. one he gets used to eating from the tongs you can feed him any lion healthy food from them. Mine sees me go for the tongs and he bumps the glass with his head!
I also feed dried krill for snacks in the tongs and if Im at the lfs that carries the ghost shrimp I usually pick up 10 of those and throw them in there too. Just for fun.

I used this technique on my dwarf lions a while back. The trick is to get them used to the tongs. Get your fish to think tongs=food and they'll eat just about anything.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
If he's as skinny as he appears in the pic in your other thread I would of course offer him frozen, but I wouldn't use the starvation method. He needs some grub. Now. I would fatten him up with shrimp if you can get them. If not, go with the guppies/mollies temporarily.... but get some food in him.
Feed the FW fish a nice marine diet before feeding out... but enriched shrimp really is the way to go.
 
skate020

skate020

Member
ok, cranberry in that pic the fat lump is his belly, lols, he ate about an hour before the pic,
i am currently feeding my guppys and mollys formula one pellets for marines, crushing them up for them, they go mad for it, has added garlic too, so he will be getting a little bit of nutrition,
although, when i first bought him he was as skinny as you expected, no bulk on him at all so im going to try feed him a little bit more often to fatten him up. atm he's got a belly full, but still doesnt have much meat on him, i have frozen lance and frozen cockles atm, so i can feed him them untill i get him some shrimp. i dont have any garlic yet but im going to crush my pellets into powder and stick them onto the meat.
 
jam1e

jam1e

Active Member
Try freeze-dried krill. I fed my Volitans and my Fuzzy Dwarf freeze-dried krill soaked in a mixture of water, garlic, and other vitamins. These guys love crustaceans!
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
That's still indicated he hasn't been eating well. The bulge means he just ate... the depression that you see means he hasn't seen much of that in awhile.
Don't feed dried krill, it has been linked with lockjaw and nutritional issues
 
skate020

skate020

Member
ok, i've got cockles and lance fish, are these nutritionally ok for the lion?
im going to bash up some formula one pellets with added garlic into a powder, mix that with some water and thaw the cockle in that,
i'll keep doing this untill i get that garlic guard stuff:)
 
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