lion fish feeding

[j-spot]

I have a dwarf zebra lion fish, have had him for 3 months now, and I am having trouble switching him over to frozen food. Right now he only eats ghost shrimp. I have tried silversides with a feeding stick. I have even tried not feeding him for a few days to get him good and hungry thinking he might take the frozen more easily. Every time I try he just turns up his nose and I give up. Would it be ok to just stick with the ghost shrimp or is there an easier method to switching him over?

 

[reel1in]

my experience is the following if there hungry enough they'll eat it so dont feed them the ghost shrimp just throw the silversides, krill in there and hopefully in the morning they be sleepin with a full belly dont forget they do most of there hunting at night...

 

[nazz13]

I have read that you can try tying aa piece of frozen whatever food losely to a piece nylon string and jig it like you were fishiing may work, in my in my exp some will and some absolutely will not no matter what you do just to piss you off.

 

[rberhow]

Here is some general advice on how to get dwarf lions to switch over that I have gathered over the last few months in preperation for ours and then for switching him over. Hope you can find some info in there that will help.
Live fish such as guppies, goldfish, and such are not good in the long run for him. They will lead to fatty liver disease and cause death. They are ok on an occasional basis as a treat and to start him out but you will need to convert him over to frozen meaty foods. There are many different methods to do this, if he isn't converted already.
One is to soak his live food in selcon, zoecon, or garlic before feeding to him. Then slowly add in silversides soaked in the same. ONce you have him eating non-live food, you can try things like mysis shrimp, krill, or any other meaty food. You may have to soak them as well at first to get him to take notice.
Another is once you have him settled in your tank and eating the live food, you can skip feeding him for a couple of days. Then get some silversides (I have to rip mine in half since they are too long for him to swallow in one gulp) and dangle them at the surface of the water. When he looks interested and about to snatch it up, let go and he will grab it. Let him digest for awhile and then give him another. This is the method that worked for us.
Another is to get him used to a feeding stick. Place the live food on the stick and have him come to the stick to grab it. Once he is used to this, switch over to frozen foods on the stick.
Hope you find something that works for you guys. Rhonda

 

[boatdrinks]

Originally Posted by rberhow
Here is some general advice on how to get dwarf lions to switch over that I have gathered over the last few months in preperation for ours and then for switching him over. Hope you can find some info in there that will help.
Live fish such as guppies, goldfish, and such are not good in the long run for him. They will lead to fatty liver disease and cause death. They are ok on an occasional basis as a treat and to start him out but you will need to convert him over to frozen meaty foods. There are many different methods to do this, if he isn't converted already.
One is to soak his live food in selcon, zoecon, or garlic before feeding to him. Then slowly add in silversides soaked in the same. ONce you have him eating non-live food, you can try things like mysis shrimp, krill, or any other meaty food. You may have to soak them as well at first to get him to take notice.
Another is once you have him settled in your tank and eating the live food, you can skip feeding him for a couple of days. Then get some silversides (I have to rip mine in half since they are too long for him to swallow in one gulp) and dangle them at the surface of the water. When he looks interested and about to snatch it up, let go and he will grab it. Let him digest for awhile and then give him another. This is the method that worked for us.
Another is to get him used to a feeding stick. Place the live food on the stick and have him come to the stick to grab it. Once he is used to this, switch over to frozen foods on the stick.
Hope you find something that works for you guys. Rhonda

I used the selcon soaking method that rberhow listed above, and it worked great with both of my fuzzy dwarfs... It took about a week for them to catch on completely, but now they will eat anything that hits the water, including flakes...
Let us know it turns out, whichever method(s) you decide to try...

 

[tnt]

the way that I switched my volitan's to frozen was to feed him a live ghost shrimp, then put a piece of frozen food (usually squid tentacles, because they sort of look like shrimp) in front of the powerhead. The water movement makes the frozen food "swim" and the lion chases it down and gulps it up. I did this alternating method for about a week and half slowing adding more and more frozen food. He now accepts anything out of my hand and gets ghost shrimp as a treat every now and then. Good luck!