Is it possible to overfeed a lion

[am3gross05]

I'm just wondering here... since I am new with a lion... can they be overfed? I'm still trying to wein him off of live fish but for right now that's all he's eating. This dude ate 30 feeder guppies in one sitting... a few days later he's had 8 rosies. His stomach bulges after each time I feed him and he usually just chills up in the corner of the tank. After about three days his stomach returns to normal.. and then I feed him again. Is this normal? One concern for me right now is all this eating he's going to outgrow my tank ( a 55 gal ) before I am able to get a bigger setup. Any suggestions?

 

[gamedawg]

Yes! Any fish can overeat, because really, I don't think they have a "full" level! 30 guppies??!?! That's way too much! Unless this guy is full grown and huge, this is too much food! If he bulges that much to take 3 days to go back down, I'd cut back a lot. Feed him little amounts everyday. I feed mine frozen krill, and he gets about 4 whole krill per day. He bulges, but only a little bit, to where he's still active, and he's hungry again by the next day.

 

[ophiura]

Please also do some research on more appropriate diets for your lionfish. IMO, the path you are on will not lead to long term health for your lionfish, and is also unecessarily complex. There is no need whatsoever to feed live feeders for example, and if you looked at a tank of feeders you would be a bit wary, IME at least, of risking a lionfish to a diseases .10 cent feeder (which isn't a normal diet for them anyway). Consider silversides, krill, squid, shrimp...lots of options and diversity is great. Don't let them eat so much, IMO. If you want live foods consider saltwater feeders or ghost shrimp for a treat.

 

[lion_crazz]

Ghost shrimp always worked well for me. I am currently weaning my two baby lions over to frozen right now (volitan and fuzzy dwarf) and they both love the ghost shrimp (and it will not give them a disease, like fatty liver disease, which comes from using feeders). I usually do 3 to 4 ghost shrimp every 2 days. My volitan is converted over to frozen, and my fuzzy is just about there.

 

[jer4916]

dont feed your lion freshwater fish, its really bad for him...it will take awhile to get him on dead food...but its something you have to do, lions are like children,..if they're hungry they'll eat anything...unless they just want to snack! ...mine LOVED small frozen shrimp from Sams...cost me $15 ..and it fed him for about 3 months...and that was half the bag ...then i moved and he died ...i miss him.
~chris

 

[shark bait]

I totaly agree with the above. Only use live fish on a feeding stick for the first few times and go to dead, and the rest is easy from here. The deal with live foods is it can cause the fish to learn to act that way in the tank, and from then on any fish that can fit in his mouth is game. Further I know for a fact that a large reason for many new people in the hobby to loose a Lion is from the fish to have the head os a gold fish stuck in the mouth, killing the Lion in time. I have read some reports that lions are as hardy as blue dams, and could be used to cycle the tank, but thats mean, and $$$. The same report belives that 40% of all lions in tanks that die, choke on a gold fish.!!! WOW!!! :thinking:

 

[seahorse11]

HI,
I want to get a lion for my SW tank. How do I acclimate it without getting stung?
Do the LFS's just put it in a bag with some water? Is there a chance that one of the stingers will poke thru?
Thanks

 

[shark bait]

Not if it is baged real well. I like to bring my 5 gall tank and use it in place of a bag, this way i avoid the extra stress of moving it from the bag to a tank. I put the fish under mt tank in a dark cubby and slowly drip water in to the tank and remove small cups of water until the temp and salinity are the same. I use a digital temp and Refractometer. I have 100% survival rate. I also p/u my fish at about noon, and spend the next 3-4 hours doind the drip cycle and when the lights in the tank go out for the night and the fish in the tank mellow out, theyy wake up to a new friend. the way you get the lion in the tank can is the last of 4-5 time this has been done, it is best to make it a good one, as the better you do it the sooner he will eat, and live long.

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by shark bait
Not if it is baged real well. I like to bring my 5 gall tank and use it in place of a bag, this way i avoid the extra stress of moving it from the bag to a tank. I put the fish under mt tank in a dark cubby and slowly drip water in to the tank and remove small cups of water until the temp and salinity are the same. I use a digital temp and Refractometer. I have 100% survival rate. I also p/u my fish at about noon, and spend the next 3-4 hours doind the drip cycle and when the lights in the tank go out for the night and the fish in the tank mellow out, theyy wake up to a new friend. the way you get the lion in the tank can is the last of 4-5 time this has been done, it is best to make it a good one, as the better you do it the sooner he will eat, and live long.

I just wanted to say that you have excellent acclimation practices. It does seem a little odd though that you bring a 5 gallon fish tank to a store to pick up your fish. I usually just use a five gallon bucket, but hey, whatever works, works. It's still great that you put so much thought and time into it.

 

[shark bait]

The tank is a hermit crap pertable tank, Round buckets some times often slosh around alot. But its not a TANK per say. Thanks for the Above.

 

[seahorse11]

Sharkbait,
How do you get the lion out of the 5gal tank and into the big one? Do you just dump the water in, even with the LFS water, or do you use a net?

 

[shark bait]

Never net a lion, or a puffer puffers hate nets. I never dump LFS water in the tank I use a plastic pooper scooper put the small tank in the big one and scoop the fish out in tothe big tank. easy to do

 

[chris24]

I have a question shark bait. I got a porc puffer in yesterday and dont think I acclimated him right.

When I woke up this morning he wasnt moving very much. When I feed my other fish he didnt come out and didnt eat. Any suggestions?

 

[shark bait]

well puffers can be moody, and just not eat. try garlic extrem. If he still will not eat talk to the LFS and see what to do. Did you have the store feed him befor you bought him?

 

[chris24]

I ordered him from this site. I've never had any problems when I have gotten fish from this site. I will try the garlic and see how that goes. Thanks and will let you know.

 

[seahorse11]

Thanks Sharkbait, excellent idea. I am going to go with that method too...seems to be the best for the fish. :happyfish