lionfish not eating help!!!

[evilss]

got a lion fish the other day. and the pet store was feeding him gold fish. the one thing i dont wanna feed it. i have tried shrimp and krill. do you guys have any good ideas on what i could do. its the 3rd day now. im gonna try again tonight. or should i just do gold fish for now to get him to eat. any advise would be great. thanks alot guys.

 

[evilss]

i will just try to slowly pull him away from gold fish. how do you guys feed when feeding with gold fish. do you just throw them in? or kill them??

 

[evilss]

thanks alot

 

[sebae0]

your not gonna want to feed your lion goldfish at all.
not good enough food for them and heard that its bad for the liver of the lion. could end up killing him.
try feeding him a thawed cocktail shrimp on a feeding stick so you can move it to entice him to eat it. mine love shrimp.

 

[cprdnick]

What about guppies, I've heard they don't have the malnutritional value of just plain old gold fish.

 

[evilss]

thanks alot guys. im gonna try again tonight. i do not wanna feed goldfish at all. if i do it once i will have to stick with it. he is a violation lion. and i will wait it out and see what he does. thanks again.

 

[jedininja]

With my lion fish, i started feeding him feeder ghost shrimp since they are live and he went for them right away. I then started switching over to the same shrimp, except i would freeze them fisrt so they look the same but not alive anymore. Then I switched to mysis shrimp and he took to them fine. It is a bit of hard work to get lion fish on frozen foods, but they are much healthier for it.
At one of the LFS around here, they have a display 20 gallon with a dwarf zebra lion in it (same kind as mine) and all they feed him is goldfish. I can tell you he is big, but looks very bad. His colors and stripes look like someone took sandpaper to it.

 

[cprdnick]

So you can tell a difference in coloration if you go frozen? I'm bringing my FuManchu Lion home in less than an hour and he's gorgeous but seems to be lacking in the brightness that I've seen in pictures.
From what I hear and read these are some of the most picky lions and are harder to switch over.

 

[jedininja]

Well I can tell a difference of color between mine that i feed frozen mysis and the one at the LFS that is fed goldfish. BIG difference!

 

[evilss]

its been a week guys. i may have to go buy a couple gold fish tonight. as bad as i dont want to. i would rather not loose the money for him ya know. all of my water parameters are looking good. all of the other fish are in great condition. i watched this guy at the fish store for about a month. so i know he had to eat sometime. i guess i should have asked to see him get fed. would frozen food help. i have tried shrimp. thats the only frozen i have tried. well guys any advise would be nice. thanks alot for the comment already given.

 

[jacksonpt]

jwtrojan is exactly right, and his pouty child analogy is dead on. Your fish is fine not eating for a week, so don't give in right away. If you feel you HAVE to feed it live food so it doesn't starve, try ghost shrimp -- they still don't have much nutritional value, but they don't cause fatty buildup in/on the liver (which is why goldfish/guppies/mollies are so bad for lions).
I'm in the process of trying to get an antennata lion off live food. He has only eaten once in the 2 weeks I've had him. I'm not worried, but he is proving much more stubborn than my previous lion was.
It's tough, especially when you have to starve him -- good luck.

 

[jacksonpt]

ok, just an update for ya...
My lion just ate prepared foods (silversides). This was his 8th day without food, and he was ready to eat the minute the food hit the water. however, he will only if the food is moving (i.e. in the current).
Try getting your lion good and hungry (minimum 5 days without food), then get some food near him that is in a decent current. That way it will appear more alive.
Good luck.

 

[evilss]

thanks guys. im gonna give it a couple more days. last night a fed my brittle star a whold piece of shrimp and i think the lion may have gotten it from him. not to sure. but i know if i was starving then i would eat almost anything if need be. so im gonna be a lil more patient. where can i get some silversides. the lfs here which is ***** only has krill and blood worms, in there frozen food section.