feeding a lionfish

[steelrain]

Alright, I bought a 2 1/2--> 3 inch Black lion on friday, I did not try to feed it until sunday. I tried placing a piece of beef heart for the lfs on a wooden skewer, the kind fot shiska-bobs, it was not interseted I then tried a silverside the same way and it was still not interseted.
Am I feeding it correctly or is there another way to present the food?
I know it is not a problem for a lion to not eat for a few days so I am not really worried I would just like to know if it is something I am doing wrong.
p.s there are 2 small damsels in the tank also but the lion shows no intersest in them, YET!!!!
Steel

 

[fishymissy]

You are going to have to train him to eat "dead" foods.
Start out with live (freshwater) ghost shrimp. For his size, feed him 3 shrimp at a time. Only feed every 3rd day. (Not every day!) After awhile, he will learn to associate you with food. This may take as little as a week, or as long as a month. You will know when he is ready to be switched by his reaction to you. When you approach the tank, he should come to the front glass and start looking up for the shrimp.
Once he is at this point, stop all feedings for a full week. Go to the LFS and buy the frozen food for marine fish. Silversides are a good choice, as is squid, or clams. When you are ready to start training, take a piece of the "dead" food and thaw it out. Never feed them the food still frozen. Take a live ghost shrimp and give it to the lion, as soon as he gets it and comes back to the surface, offer him the dead food (use a silver spoon to give this to him as the flash of silver stimulates him to strike) as soon as he takes the food, offer him another live shrimp.
Then, stop all feedings for 5 days. Repeat the above, only instead of the 2nd shrimp, offer another piece of dead food instead. After that he should start eating anything that hits the water.
One thing I need to mention, never feed your lionfish, any freshwater fish, or any terrestrial meat! These foods are high in the wrong kind of fat and will eventually kill your fish!
Good luck!

 

[guppie]

You are going at it the right way, I would find out from the place you bought it what they feed it. It is always a good idea to see what it is eatting first, if the lfs had always feed it live then you will have a problem getting it to eat dead food, if ever. Good Luck

 

[fishymissy]

Hate to tell you this but goldfish are the absolute worst thing you can feed your fish! They contain way too many of the wrong kinds of fat, and don't have any of the fats that marine fish need.
In one of the fish mags (can't think of which one off hand) anyway, the guy found a study done where it showed that goldfish had the highest concentration of saturated fats, with all freshwater fish coming in a close second. Freshwater shrimp were actually very close in composition to saltwater shrimp, so unless you have access to live saltwater shrimp, the freshwater ghost shrimps would be your best choice. All marine fish require HUFA's (highly UNsaturated fatty acids) in their diets which is why it is best to switch them over to prepared foods. It really isn't that hard to do, you just have to be firm about it. And it is better for their overall health....they will live longer, have better coloring, and be much, much healthier.
Have to strongly disagree with the beef heart statements! Even worse than the goldfish!

 

[fossilcrab]

Can I feed the lionfish with freeze dried krill ? you know, the one they sell in a jar ?
thanks,
Ray.

 

[fishymissy]

Ray,
yes you can, but not as it's only diet. Variety is important, not only with us, but with your fish too. Silversides, krill, brine shrimp plus, squid, clams, shrimp, shrimp pellets, basically anything marine are all good for your fish. As long as it's raw, no cooked foods, and it's also better if the entire animal is present, like shrimp with their heads. Believe it or not, my lionfish also eats flake food and small pieces of seaweed selects meant for the tang!

 

[underthesea]

I also have to agree that using goldfish to feed marine fish is not a good thing to do. Once you do get your lion on freez dried or frozen food instead of going to the lfs all the time for your food you can go to the local grocery store and pick up all different types of food there for him. Go to the fish counter and get a couple squid, shrimp, clam, and also fish chunks. bring these home and wash them real good. Then take them and cut them into bit size pieces for your fish. Then take them and put them in freezer bags in individual feeding sizes. You can also add some of you vitamens to the food before you freez them for more nutrition. Or you can add the vitemens when you are unthawing your food. Make sure you unthaw the food totally before you feed your lion.

 

[skirk]

TIME OUT TIME OUT!!! Are these people serious or just trying to work someone up. Someone stated they never weened there lionfish and he eats goldfish everyday? MY goodness. Then I see something about beef heart? Wow! Fortunatly I think that was from someone seeking advice on how to feed properly. But for someone to suggest goldfish daily...I highly disagree with that. Whoever does this, if you have a Volitan then try to let him go a week without any food and then put frozen fish in with a feederstick and chances are he will eat. I've never had a lion not successfully weened to frozen food and I have had 5 of them. So chances are you can ween it. As well as you should, for the sake of your fish. HTH
P.S. Lay off the beefheart and try krill, silversides, clam, shrimp, oyster, etc. Good luck.

 

[crissykat9]

Before I sold my Dwarf Fuzzy Lion, I used to feed him, rosey red minnows, they stay alive for quite a while, compared to gold fish.
My lion was in with a grouper, so I had to feed somewhat heavily.
I bought my lion, when he was tiny, I feed him live brine shrimp, unitl he started growing, then switched to ghost shrimp, then onto minnows, never could get him to eat frozen, not even frozen brine shrimp,( I tried to get him to eat frozen at a very early age), basically, if it did not move under its own power, he did not want it.
Anyways, I am about to get a radiata(sp?),
medium size, and with all this talk about fat and nutrition, how does the rosey red minnow stack up?
Thanks
Crissy

 

[fishymissy]

Sorry, but rosey reds are freshwater fish, so they are still bad for your fish. It really isn't that hard to train them to eat "dead" foods. YOU must be the one in charge and stay firm. If they go without food for a week or better, it really won't hurt them. And once they are trained, they will eat anything you give them. It's alot easier too, you don't have to keep buying live feeders and setting up a seperate tank for them. You don't have to worry about disease being transmitted either......