forrest gump
New Member
what's a good food for a red violtan lionfish? Also, can you house a red violtan lionfish and a fuzzy dwarf lionfish together in a 125 gallon tank. Thanks.
food for lionfish
- Thread starter forrest gump
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demosthenes
Active Member
You might want to try the Aggressive forum, they'll be of much more help to you. Good luck with the tank and welcome to the board.
"Mama always said life is like a piece of LR. You never know what you're gonna get (w/ it)."
"Mama always said life is like a piece of LR. You never know what you're gonna get (w/ it)."
stacyt
Active Member
The best foods for a lion would be frozen shrimp, fish, krill, scallops, and silversides. Do not make the mistake that most do by feeding live foods such as goldsfish, as these are bad for the lion on the longrun.
There shouldn't be a problem with keeping a dwarf with a volitans.
There shouldn't be a problem with keeping a dwarf with a volitans.
carsgirlsnfish
Member
krill and silversides are good. if it absolutely won't eat dead stuff, feed it small feeder fish (not much) to keep it from starving to death while you are still trying to get it to eat frozen. you don't want it to get spoiled on live food cause it will just become harder to convert to frozen stuff and you will always have to feed it live fish.
stacyt
Active Member
I have to disagree about giving it live feeders while trying to get it to eat frozen. A lion can go a long time without eating before starving, and the lion will give in and try to eat frozen before he will starve to death. It will take longer to get him weened if you give in durring the process. He will start to think that eventually something will come along for him to eat. You can do a search in the aggressive forum on feeding lions. Theres been a lot of discussions on this subject there.
carsgirlsnfish
Member
i'm sorry, i must have thought lionfish could starve to death. now i know that it is not possible. what i'm saying is if your fish is on the verge of death you're going to want to feed it something it will eat, while still trying to feed it frozen food.
conogre
Member
OK...at great risk, I'm going to open a can of worms here.
First off, SOME lions WILL refuse to eat dead food and if they don't actually starve to death, will at least become so weakened that they are wide open to infection or parasitic outbreaks.
2nd...IMO, feed them live feeders when you first get them, as many to most wholesalers starve them before shipping, meaning that if the fish is a new addition at the LFS, he's already in a weakened/stessed state. If you feel that you MUST use the starvation method to switch it over to prepared food, fatten your new guy up and at least get him healthy first.
We always give new lions all the live feeders they want, and find that in short order many to most begin feeding on prepared food (cut fish/shrimp) or frozen feeders in a relatively short time of their own accord.
By the way, we have 4 tanks (100, 2-125's and a 300) and have 8 lions (5 species) and 3 scorpionfish, and all of our feeders are caught locally by ourselves in the Gulf of Mexico (we've had no disease in over 5 years)
I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do, but just suggesting that there IS more than one way and often the most used method is not necessarily the best and definitely not the most humane.
We've found that we achieve the best results by training our fish the same way we do our other animals, using the affection method rather than the discipline method (can you say be careful beating your pitbull?)**grin**
First off, SOME lions WILL refuse to eat dead food and if they don't actually starve to death, will at least become so weakened that they are wide open to infection or parasitic outbreaks.
2nd...IMO, feed them live feeders when you first get them, as many to most wholesalers starve them before shipping, meaning that if the fish is a new addition at the LFS, he's already in a weakened/stessed state. If you feel that you MUST use the starvation method to switch it over to prepared food, fatten your new guy up and at least get him healthy first.
We always give new lions all the live feeders they want, and find that in short order many to most begin feeding on prepared food (cut fish/shrimp) or frozen feeders in a relatively short time of their own accord.
By the way, we have 4 tanks (100, 2-125's and a 300) and have 8 lions (5 species) and 3 scorpionfish, and all of our feeders are caught locally by ourselves in the Gulf of Mexico (we've had no disease in over 5 years)
I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do, but just suggesting that there IS more than one way and often the most used method is not necessarily the best and definitely not the most humane.
We've found that we achieve the best results by training our fish the same way we do our other animals, using the affection method rather than the discipline method (can you say be careful beating your pitbull?)**grin**
drakken
Member
Originally posted by Conogre
all of our feeders are caught locally by ourselves in the Gulf of Mexico (we've had no disease in over 5 years)
So you are feeding your lions saltwater feeders, right? The issue with FW feeders is they are unhealthy in the long term for lionfish.
I started another trread about why aren't SW feeders readily available at the LFS. In your case you can catch them. I would like to be able to feed my lion whatever he will eat as long as it is healthy for him. I do agree that the starvation method is a little cruel but then again so is feeding the wrong kind of food.
Does anyone know why LFSs don't carry live prawns, silverside etc???
bwets_angel
Member
NIce fish Conogre, what kind of lion is the black one?
conogre
Member
Thanks....the two dark ones are both volitans, while the lighter one is a Russeli.
Yes, we do use a lot of live SW feeders, a solution no available to most, but don't go out every day (especially in winter!**grin**) and most of them also accept strips of fish flesh (mullet, mackeral, grunt, etc.) although the larger species prefer fish, while the dwarves often prefer shrimp or very small crabs.
With the exception of one fuzzy dwarf, who's particularly stubborn, all the rest of our lions feed equally well on either type food, often on the same day.
An alternative food source that helps is mollies as livebearer feeders, which can be kept in the same tank, being brackish to begin with, and if fed marine food, become much better choices.
Of all the feeders available, goldfish are the worst as they often have high ammonia levels and a much better option is bait minnows from the local shop, not perfect, but a step in the right direction.
One thing to keep in mind is that lions, like all opportunistic predators benefit from as wide a selection of foods as possible, and gut-loading feeders and vitamin addaitves DO help tremendously (I've even seen FW feeders individually injected with vitamins with a simple insulin syringe)
Here's a photo of our adult in the 300 that eats directly from our fingers.
Yes, we do use a lot of live SW feeders, a solution no available to most, but don't go out every day (especially in winter!**grin**) and most of them also accept strips of fish flesh (mullet, mackeral, grunt, etc.) although the larger species prefer fish, while the dwarves often prefer shrimp or very small crabs.
With the exception of one fuzzy dwarf, who's particularly stubborn, all the rest of our lions feed equally well on either type food, often on the same day.
An alternative food source that helps is mollies as livebearer feeders, which can be kept in the same tank, being brackish to begin with, and if fed marine food, become much better choices.
Of all the feeders available, goldfish are the worst as they often have high ammonia levels and a much better option is bait minnows from the local shop, not perfect, but a step in the right direction.
One thing to keep in mind is that lions, like all opportunistic predators benefit from as wide a selection of foods as possible, and gut-loading feeders and vitamin addaitves DO help tremendously (I've even seen FW feeders individually injected with vitamins with a simple insulin syringe)
Here's a photo of our adult in the 300 that eats directly from our fingers.
bwets_angel
Member
Are they just regular Volitians? Because All the ones I have seen have been white with black stripes.
conogre
Member
To our knowledge, they are just abnormally dark normal volitans, and this abnormality is exactly why we purchased them, thus there will be red striped, black striped and solid black all in the one tank for as much variation as possible.
I suspect this is merely a melanistic specimen, a condition that occurs in many to most animals occassionally, the reverse of albinism (a black panther, for example is just a melanistic leopard or jaguar).
My wife's infatuation with the genus has gotten us (ok, me **grin**) to the point I'm seriously considering trying to breed them in captivity, and the genetic diversity always adds to the fun, as you don't know in advance what the babies will look like.
By living in Florida and on the coast, we have access to something most others don't have (live plankton) that greatly increases the liklihood of success, so we'll keep you posted.
I suspect this is merely a melanistic specimen, a condition that occurs in many to most animals occassionally, the reverse of albinism (a black panther, for example is just a melanistic leopard or jaguar).
My wife's infatuation with the genus has gotten us (ok, me **grin**) to the point I'm seriously considering trying to breed them in captivity, and the genetic diversity always adds to the fun, as you don't know in advance what the babies will look like.
By living in Florida and on the coast, we have access to something most others don't have (live plankton) that greatly increases the liklihood of success, so we'll keep you posted.
I
irenicus
Guest
Lovely Lions! 
conogre
Member
OK...back to the food issue, and rightly so.
Our lions are fed FW feeders for about 3 months out of the year, as here in the Tampa area, water temps drop to the low 60's in mid-winter (LOL! that's about 90 days, for you Yankees...eat your heart out!**grin**) and at that time all feeders move out into deeper water.
Once your lions have started feeding on cut food or silversides, feeding becomes much easier as ANY SW fish are acceptable, and strips cut from fish available at the local grocery store work very well.
A TIP: if you are feeding goldfish as occassional live feeders, the orange color of strips of salmon makes the transition easier...simply cut a strip off a filet in the appropriate size and voila...lunch! Most lions will attack salmon strips with gusto after goldfish and show very little hesitancy in doing so WITHOUT resorting to long term starvation to get them to do so.
Drop in one goldfish to get his attention, followed by a similar sized strip of salmon and his "feeding frenzy" will usually do the rest.
Dwarf lions can be harder, but that's because many feed primarily on ghost shrimp in the wild (yes, they are much more common in the sea than in freshwater), but here again, give him a live ghost shrimp, followed by a thawed frozen krill and you can usually make the switch with little effort and again, without resorting to starvation to do so.
On dwarf lions, my suggestion is to get FW ghost shrimp (available at most LFS) and put them in a 5 gal. bucket (aereated) with a sheet of marine algae, which they will attack ravenously, then when they are out into the marine tank they are "gut loaded" with nutritious food and much higher in nutrients.....an added advantage is that they will live in the marine water for up to several hours, and as the ones not immediately consumed upon introduction die off, it gets the lions used to eating non-living prey, then the switch to krill is half way made for you.
You can also acclimate many ghost shrimp over to saltwater, by gradual addition of same to the bucket, in which case you can end up with marine ghosties, the food of choice for dwarf lions.
And don't forget, mollies from the FW section of the LFS will often thrive in marine tanks if you want to keep some live food available for snacks......in my experience, a 6" sailfin green molly is also quite a pretty fish in its own right, and the greens are often found here in marine environments (they also grow much larger than you would suspect in a marine tank, sometimes double the size they will achieve in FW)
Our lions are fed FW feeders for about 3 months out of the year, as here in the Tampa area, water temps drop to the low 60's in mid-winter (LOL! that's about 90 days, for you Yankees...eat your heart out!**grin**) and at that time all feeders move out into deeper water.
Once your lions have started feeding on cut food or silversides, feeding becomes much easier as ANY SW fish are acceptable, and strips cut from fish available at the local grocery store work very well.
A TIP: if you are feeding goldfish as occassional live feeders, the orange color of strips of salmon makes the transition easier...simply cut a strip off a filet in the appropriate size and voila...lunch! Most lions will attack salmon strips with gusto after goldfish and show very little hesitancy in doing so WITHOUT resorting to long term starvation to get them to do so.
Drop in one goldfish to get his attention, followed by a similar sized strip of salmon and his "feeding frenzy" will usually do the rest.
Dwarf lions can be harder, but that's because many feed primarily on ghost shrimp in the wild (yes, they are much more common in the sea than in freshwater), but here again, give him a live ghost shrimp, followed by a thawed frozen krill and you can usually make the switch with little effort and again, without resorting to starvation to do so.
On dwarf lions, my suggestion is to get FW ghost shrimp (available at most LFS) and put them in a 5 gal. bucket (aereated) with a sheet of marine algae, which they will attack ravenously, then when they are out into the marine tank they are "gut loaded" with nutritious food and much higher in nutrients.....an added advantage is that they will live in the marine water for up to several hours, and as the ones not immediately consumed upon introduction die off, it gets the lions used to eating non-living prey, then the switch to krill is half way made for you.
You can also acclimate many ghost shrimp over to saltwater, by gradual addition of same to the bucket, in which case you can end up with marine ghosties, the food of choice for dwarf lions.
And don't forget, mollies from the FW section of the LFS will often thrive in marine tanks if you want to keep some live food available for snacks......in my experience, a 6" sailfin green molly is also quite a pretty fish in its own right, and the greens are often found here in marine environments (they also grow much larger than you would suspect in a marine tank, sometimes double the size they will achieve in FW)