Feeding the lions

[tyrfing]

I have an antennata lion about 6 inches long and a brand new Russell's lion abour 1/5 inches long. The Russell's will be going into a tank I just started.
How can I get these bads boys to eat? The antennata was really faded until I threw some feeder guppies in, then he went to town. His color is back, a really rich cinnamon striping, but he won't take any shrimp or scallop offered on a feeding stick.
I really want to get these boys off feeders but don't know if I should starve them until they will take anything. The antennata is a pretty good magician, all three of my Green Chromis have disappeared since he got in.null

 

[fred the fish guy]

For the antennata maybe try silversides and drop them in front of the power head so they appear to be alive. You can also try doing this with mysis shrimp. You may even try wigling the silverside on the feading stick to give it some life like appearnce. Lions can go several days without eating so be patient. When he gets hungry enough he'll start to eat. It is a good thing to ween him off of live because it can teach him to always go after fish which can cause injury to new tankmates and it is bad for their diet. As for the russell's I have never heard of one but I think it is some type of dwarf im guessing. I havent ever heard of one quite that small but maybe you can chop up silversides and use the power head method as well as mysis. If it is that small it might be able to get some nutrition from live brine if you can get them. I still wouldnt recommend live anything but live brine would probably be healthier than guppies.

 

[tyrfing]

The Russell's tops out at about 11 inches so it is quite a bit smaller than a regular Volitans. He's just tiny, but he slurped those guppies down like pasta. I'll try the powerhead method. Thanks!