Just another dwarf lion feeding question. PLEASE HELP!!!

[leftyblite]

About 3 weeks ago i bought a dwarf lion. The LFS had him eat while I was there but unfortunately it was guppies. I know these are not good for it. I tried for about a week, every other day to get it to eat different things. I tried clams out of the shell, silversides, cut up shrimp, etc usually soaked in garlic to help. No luck.

I then tried a couple of guppies but put a silverside on a feeding stick and tricked it into eating that. I thought I was going OK, but since then I yet again haven't been able to get it to eat anything. I've read on several threads here that it is tricky to get them to eat but I didn't think it would be this hard. It has been 8 days and I'm getting concerned. He is such an awesome fish and has started coming to the front of the tank when I'm in the room and following me around and I just want it to be happy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[thoroughbred]

Feed it some Ghost Shrimp for a while. I fed them to mine for 2 weeks, just until I knew he was healthy and strong, then I started to switch things up and try different stuff. Or just keep the ghost shrimp on hand so if he doesn't take any food from you you can always toss him a shrimp so hes not hungry.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by Thoroughbred
Feed it some Ghost Shrimp for a while. I fed them to mine for 2 weeks, just until I knew he was healthy and strong, then I started to switch things up and try different stuff. Or just keep the ghost shrimp on hand so if he doesn't take any food from you you can always toss him a shrimp so hes not hungry.

Good advice. Ghost shrimp usually gets a fish eating; and once comfortable, should eat most normal lion foods. Keep using the feeding stick; I like a piece of rigid airline tubing that's been tapered a bit., he'll go into a funk when the live food isn't there; but wait him out. Also, lions like pretty big chunks of food that look alive. Some will disagree; but a few guppies , as a last resort are ok. Lions need to consume a lot of FW feeders before iver damage develops.

 

[leftyblite]

Would I be able to get the ghost shrimp at an LFS? And are they sold live?

 

[v-lioness]

You can pick up Ghost shrimp from your LFS (they are in the FW section), they are live, feed the ghost shrimp something nutritional (Flake, Pellet, meaty foods and so on) before feeding them to your lion.
Are you sure the chunks of meaty food you are trying to feed are not to big? Some lions are just stubborn, and take time to wean.
Kaye

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by V-Lioness
You can pick up Ghost shrimp from your LFS (they are in the FW section), they are live, feed the ghost shrimp something nutritional (Flake, Pellet, meaty foods and so on) before feeding them to your lion.
Are you sure the chunks of meaty food you are trying to feed are not to big? Some lions are just stubborn, and take time to wean.
Kaye

This thread is a good example of why these forums are so valuable. Every lion I've ever had has been a bit different; but they all got weaned on rather big chunks. That's just my experience and I know others have had to go a complete opposite direction. This hobby has evolved so much in the years I've been in it; I just can't believe what we did "back when". I think its important that we don't forget that the hobby is still in relative infancy. We're dealing with critters, from one of the most complex habitats on earth, and we're adapting them to aquarium environments. To make it even more challenging, they have pea size brains and aren't practically cloned, like chickens or goldfish. I think the real keys to success in this hobby are; patience, research, patience,willingness to listen, patience, common sense, patience, and the ability to take an occasional loss without an emotional breakdown. )I guess today is one of my philosophical, gabby days.)

 

[leftyblite]

I'am currently trying different sizes starting with large and working my way down. So are ghost shrimp a freshwater shrimp? I thought I read on this site somewhere not to feed freshwater to saltwater fish. I could be wrong but just want to double check. I agree with srfisher17, this is a great site and has been invaluable for good info for this challenging but very addictive hobby.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by leftyblite
I'am currently trying different sizes starting with large and working my way down. So are ghost shrimp a freshwater shrimp? I thought I read on this site somewhere not to feed freshwater to saltwater fish. I could be wrong but just want to double check. I agree with srfisher17, this is a great site and has been invaluable for good info for this challenging but very addictive hobby.

Ghost shrimp are FW, but not as fatty as guppies or goldfish. IMO, again IMO, it not dangerous to feed a lion an occasional FW fish. But, they should be used only when all else fails. I admit to giving my lion a goldfish, maybe once a month; and a betta on Christmas. These fish are too fatty as a steady diet, and, over time, destroy the lions liver. But I don't think the occasional treat; watching them hunt is incredible, is going to hurt him anymore than an occasional martini will give me cirrhosis of the liver. I know there are lots of people would never give their lions FW fish under any circumstances--and I respect their opinion too.

 

[usc932000]

I am in the process of raising my 3rd Lion (1st Dwarf) and he's being a little stubborn about eating too. I had a piece of krill and squid float right in front of him and he gave it the whatever

look. So after 2 days of playing the waiting game I put some guppies in and he came right to life. So I will keep trying with various foods until he gets hungry enough to eat whatever I give him....great thread btw

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by USC932000
I am in the process of raising my 3rd Lion (1st Dwarf) and he's being a little stubborn about eating too. I had a piece of krill and squid float right in front of him and he gave it the whatever

look. So after 2 days of playing the waiting game I put some guppies in and he came right to life. So I will keep trying with various foods until he gets hungry enough to eat whatever I give him....great thread btw

A little garlic really excites some lions; worth a try.

 

[leftyblite]

I tried some small silversides tonite soaked in garlic and he came over and looked at them. If a fish could turn up its nose and frown, really I think that is what he did tonite, I'm not kidding!!!

He didn't touch it but swam all around it. I guess it's back to the guessing game again. I went to 2 LFS today and nobody had any ghost shrimp in stock. Hopefully this is not a trend.

 

[thoroughbred]

Try using a clear feeder stick (if your not using one already). Wiggle it around the lion and try to make it look alive. Usually once they eat something frozen they will do it again so keep trying, just don't let him starve. A FW fish is better then death IMO

 

[leftyblite]

I used a clear feeding stick tonite with the silversides and still no luck. I had that thing looking like it was swimming for its life but no luck.

 

[thoroughbred]

Keep trying. BTW what are your tank params? When I first got my lion he didn't eat for about a week till I realized my tank was at 72 degrees. I turned up the heater and by the next day he was really interested in food and ate that night.
But ya keep trying. If it goes more than maybe 5 days feed him something live just so he doesn't starve.
Post the Parameters!

 

[leftyblite]

Water Parameters are temp-78 degrees, amonia-0 nitrites-0 nitrates-0 ph-8.2 salinity-1.022
His tankmates are foxface, bicolor angel, blue tang, plus assorted hermit crabs and snails in a 150G.

 

[thoroughbred]

They all seem fine except you should probably bring your salinity up to about 1.025 or so (for your inverts). And who knows, that may help the lion issue too. Just keep trying, as long as hes showing an interest in live food your on the right track.

 

[leftyblite]

Thanks, I fed him some ghost shrimp today after I fed them flake food for 2 days. It was really cool watching him hunt them down. I'm still working on frozen and will try again in a couple of days.

 

[thoroughbred]

Watching lions hunt is the best. When I first went to feed my lion ghost shrimp it was tough cause the damsel I had in the tank would kill the ghost shrimp before the lion could find it. So what I did was take some tweezers and grab the shrimp by the tail then put it right in front of the lions face so he could get it. After a few times i switch the ghost shrimp with some krill and the lion ate it no problem because he thought it was a GS. If your having trouble try that out. Worked for me.
Good Luck

 

[leftyblite]

Thanks Thoroughbred, I hadn't thought of that. I'll try it here in a couple of days. This is one of the reasons this site is so great, a lot of good ideas that only people with experience can share.

 

[leftyblite]

I tried holding some frozen brine shrimp with my fingers that I had thawed out and soaked in vitamins today. At first it didn't want anything to do with them. Finally I got one to swim away as if in a panic using my finger, he circled it and at the last second I released it, and it immediately attacked and ate!!!! I did this with 2 other shrimp and the same thing happened. I hopefully am finally getting him to start with frozen.