Originally posted by Pamplona
When i first got my russel lionfish...he did not want to take anything frozen ie dead. I stimulated his appetite by feeding several ghost shrimp a day for about 2 weeks...after each feeding of the live shrimp i threw a silverside...in the beginning he did not take the silversides...i guess what i really wanted him to do was for the lionfish to associate silversides with the live shrimp as his food...i then started to feed him everyother day...soon enough he was so used to being feed and associating me with "food" he started to take the silversides....
Yup, I would definitely start him out with live ghost shrimp and wean him to frozen that way. The way that has worked for me, and many others, including people that I have helped is as follows. Buy your live ghost shrimp. First, make sure he accepts ghost shrimp and eats them pretty quickly. Feed him only one at a time. Once he eats the first, put another into the water. If he does accept and eat them quickly, feed him a few days straight of just putting them into the water and allowing him to grab them quickly. Then, after a few days, begin to feed him every other day. The lion will start to recognize you as the food source and he will periodically swim to the top of the tank when he sees you. When it comes time to feed him, take out one ghost shrimp and instead of just dropping it in the water, hold it between your fingers and make him want the food. Drag it along the surface and make him follow your fingers. After he follows your fingers for a few seconds, release the food and allow him to eat it. Continue to feed him this way for a week. In one week, he should very readily accept frozen silversides this same way without any problem, because he will recognize in his brain that your fingers mean food. Then, after a week or two of doing it with the silversides, feeding him should not be an issue at all.