Lion Fish

slpcamaro

slpcamaro

Member
ok long story short I have a 180 gal with a Lion, blue lip tang, yellow tang sailfin and a snowflake eel. The lion is my friends and he was feeding it about 5 fw goldfish feeder a day way too much the lion was getting sick. So now I'm trying to fix this most people have told me to feed him once every 2 or 3 days and not to use fw feeder fish. So I tried not to feed him for a day today and he ate my clown fish was really small kinda figured this might happen. Anyway the bluelip tang is a little big but he might be able to get it any suggestions as far as feed this guy. I want to feed him silversides but he just stares at them maybe the metal tongs are scaring him or something. Anyways looking for how to get him eating how he should be and what to feed him plz help.
 
mx#28

mx#28

Active Member
You might try using a clear piece of acrylic rod with a point on it. You can use it to skewer the silverside on the end and then wiggle it around for the lionfish. The clear rod is not as obvious and intimidating to the fish.
Kuddos on ending the goldfish thing. They are not a good meal for the long term health of any saltwater predator. If you struggle to get it to eat frozen foods, you can try 'gut-loaded' ghost shrimp.
By the way, the lion will eat anything that moves that might fit into its mouth. Your clownfish has already learned this.
 
slpcamaro

slpcamaro

Member
Originally Posted by MX#28
http:///forum/post/2588082
You might try using a clear piece of acrylic rod with a point on it. You can use it to skewer the silverside on the end and then wiggle it around for the lionfish. The clear rod is not as obvious and intimidating to the fish.
Kuddos on ending the goldfish thing. They are not a good meal for the long term health of any saltwater predator. If you struggle to get it to eat frozen foods, you can try 'gut-loaded' ghost shrimp.
By the way, the lion will eat anything that moves that might fit into its mouth. Your clownfish has already learned this.
yes he has what about how often to feed him is everyday low amounts ok or should i do big feedings every few days. I was thinking about setting up a small tank and filling it with ghost shrimp and using those for the lion and the silver sides for the eel he loves them. Anyone know is it possible to breed the ghost shrimp? what would i need?
 
mx#28

mx#28

Active Member
Originally Posted by slpcamaro
http:///forum/post/2588085
yes he has what about how often to feed him is everyday low amounts ok or should i do big feedings every few days. I was thinking about setting up a small tank and filling it with ghost shrimp and using those for the lion and the silver sides for the eel he loves them. Anyone know is it possible to breed the ghost shrimp? what would i need?
Feeding 2-3 times a week is a safe way to go. The issue when they are fed too often is that some food remains undigested for long periods of time and can rot inside the gut and lead to the fishes demise.
The best way to feed any marine fish is with lots of variety. Silversides, peices of shrimp, clam, mussel, scallop, fish, etc. The more variety, the better. The ghost shrimp can be a part of that, but I really just mentioned them because they are a better live prey item than goldfish until the lion is weaned to frozen.
On a side note, I have raised ghost shrimp. It's fairly simple. I isolated the pregnant females and then used a straw to pull out the babies once they detached from the mother. I kept them sans any filtration or flow that would be too rough on them and fed them crushed flake food and baby brine shrimp. Honestly, it's not worth the trouble.
 
slpcamaro

slpcamaro

Member
Originally Posted by MX#28
http:///forum/post/2588118
Feeding 2-3 times a week is a safe way to go. The issue when they are fed too often is that some food remains undigested for long periods of time and can rot inside the gut and lead to the fishes demise.
The best way to feed any marine fish is with lots of variety. Silversides, peices of shrimp, clam, mussel, scallop, fish, etc. The more variety, the better. The ghost shrimp can be a part of that, but I really just mentioned them because they are a better live prey item than goldfish until the lion is weaned to frozen.
On a side note, I have raised ghost shrimp. It's fairly simple. I isolated the pregnant females and then used a straw to pull out the babies once they detached from the mother. I kept them sans any filtration or flow that would be too rough on them and fed them crushed flake food and baby brine shrimp. Honestly, it's not worth the trouble.
thanks for the help the mussel, scallop, clam buy those from the fish store or you mean the stuff you get from safeway. Sorry still very new to this.
 
mx#28

mx#28

Active Member
Originally Posted by slpcamaro
http:///forum/post/2588137
thanks for the help the mussel, scallop, clam buy those from the fish store or you mean the stuff you get from safeway. Sorry still very new to this.
Yep, just go to the grocery store. Be sure to get everything raw and without any preservatives, etc.
 
slpcamaro

slpcamaro

Member
Originally Posted by MX#28
http:///forum/post/2588154
Yep, just go to the grocery store. Be sure to get everything raw and without any preservatives, etc.
how do you get the lion to eat this when he won't eat the frozen even after thawed out.
 
mx#28

mx#28

Active Member
Originally Posted by slpcamaro
http:///forum/post/2588157
how do you get the lion to eat this when he won't eat the frozen even after thawed out.
You wean them over. The foods are very good for the lionfish and they like them - the problem is that they don't move and entice the lion like natural prey would. So, you have to teach the fish. There are many ways to do this - I stated one above with the acrylic rod. Once your lion is tricked into a few pieces of dead food, it'll figure it out. My trained lionfishes will now eat anything that falls through the water column - ANYTHING!
 
srfisher17

srfisher17

Active Member
Lions that have been eating goldfish can take a while to wean. I use a piece of rigid airline tubing, tapered at one end, with a piece of regular tubing at the other. Try silversides, squid (a favorite), raw shrimp, etc. Fresh garlic may help, when he's eating, start adding vitamins. I use the rigid tubing and wave the food for the fish. If a chunk drops, I just suck on the regular tubing to remove the uneaten food. This may take a while; but lions can go a while without eating. I 2nd the good move --a steady diet of FW fish is certain premature death for any SW fish; they're way too fatty. IMO, variety and vitamins are key to long term lion success.
 
slpcamaro

slpcamaro

Member
Thank you guys for you help just so you know my sister and 3 friends all maintian this tank and have fish in it they don't want to listen to me so the more info and more people I get the more likely they will listen. The lion ate one of our small clowns last night and so they decided to feed it some fw feeders again. Questions to are ghost shrimp fresh water or salt?
 
txfishman

txfishman

Member
get a silver side grab it by the tail and shake it quicly at the top of the water. he will think is is alive and eat it. problem solved.
 
srfisher17

srfisher17

Active Member
Originally Posted by slpcamaro
http:///forum/post/2589427
Thank you guys for you help just so you know my sister and 3 friends all maintian this tank and have fish in it they don't want to listen to me so the more info and more people I get the more likely they will listen. The lion ate one of our small clowns last night and so they decided to feed it some fw feeders again. Questions to are ghost shrimp fresh water or salt?
They'll probably just keep feeding goldfish to the lion until they kill it; because its easy and fun to watch. You can get so much info on the internet on this subject; but if they won't listen, they won't listen.
 
slpcamaro

slpcamaro

Member
Originally Posted by MX#28
http:///forum/post/2590185
Freshwater ghost shrimp are usually available as feeders at most LFS's.
freshwater ghost shrimp are fine but fw goldfish are bad right. and tried a few things he won't take it from some long tweezers, I got some invisible thread I couldn't even find it and tide that to the tail he got somewhat interested but was a no go. He sites at the bottom, he doesn't really pay attention to the top but i will try that when i get home.
 
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