danielfish
Member
When i get my antenneta lionfish for christmas what do i start feeding him and how much?
What to feed??
- Thread starter danielfish
- Start date
grouperhead
Active Member
Try a prepared food first. Often times, lions will take prepared food no problem. Krill and silversides impaled on an acrylic feeding stick or other instrument can often entice a lion to feed. Squid can also work. Lions can over eat very easily. When I kept lions I fed twice weekly and fed until I could see a little bulge in their belly. Bo
lion_crazz
Active Member
Me, I would start training the fish as soon as I get it. I have had to train my volitan lion twice in my tank, and both took under two weeks for him to accept frozen food. (Note, the only reason I had to train him again was because the salinity went to 1.010 and he stopped accepting EVERYTHING).
The way that has worked for me, and many others, including people that I have helped is as follows. Buy your live ghost shrimp. Do NOT buy freshwater feederfish unless you hope to kill your lionfish. 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. Feed him until you see a slight bulge in his stomach. Then, after a few days, begin to feed him every few days. 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 you fingers. Please though, be careful not to let him get too close to you! 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 or so. 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.
Hope this helps! This has proven to be very successful for me, and many that have come to me with finicky lions!
The way that has worked for me, and many others, including people that I have helped is as follows. Buy your live ghost shrimp. Do NOT buy freshwater feederfish unless you hope to kill your lionfish. 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. Feed him until you see a slight bulge in his stomach. Then, after a few days, begin to feed him every few days. 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 you fingers. Please though, be careful not to let him get too close to you! 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 or so. 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.
Hope this helps! This has proven to be very successful for me, and many that have come to me with finicky lions!
lion_crazz
Active Member
When I said freshwater fish, I meant specifically freshwater fish. Too many people feed their lionfish goldfish and rosies. The fish you described, though not very healthy, are still not considered "freshwater". They are brackish and a lot safer to feed your lion. Ghost shrimp are the best live thing to feed them, but guppies really are not that bad either.
Freshwater fish, such as the goldfish, are very high in lipids, 5 to 10 times more than what they would get in the wild, and after eating goldifish for even a small period of time, the lipids give the lionfish fatty liver disease, which causes them to die.
Freshwater fish, such as the goldfish, are very high in lipids, 5 to 10 times more than what they would get in the wild, and after eating goldifish for even a small period of time, the lipids give the lionfish fatty liver disease, which causes them to die.
lion_crazz
Active Member
:yes: The same thing happened to me, lol. I was training my lion, and though I did not forget about my puffer, but because of his past disinterest in frozen food, I didn't think he would come up and bite me. Sure enough, he did
pterois
Member
My dwarf lionfish finally took a piece of a frozen (thawed with vitamin drops added) silverside and shrimp from me! I held off on the live food for a few days and kept offering the frozen food. He finally decided to take one from the feeding stick! I'm afraid he was really hungry when he decided to take it though. Is that bad for his health, getting that hungry? I do hope he'll continue to eat the frozen food. Trips to the LFS for live shrimp every other day is a pain in the behind.
Note to those considering lionfish. I've had both the Volitans and dwarf, and they stay hidden in their rock cave all the time except for feeding.
Angela
Note to those considering lionfish. I've had both the Volitans and dwarf, and they stay hidden in their rock cave all the time except for feeding.
Angela
lion_crazz
Active Member
Oh, weird, my volitan is always out swimming about. The only time he really is inactive is at night time.
Pterois, did you try the way I suggested? I'm telling you, it has worked for me personally twice, and two people who I know who have lions as well.
Pterois, did you try the way I suggested? I'm telling you, it has worked for me personally twice, and two people who I know who have lions as well.
cubfan
Member
I got my Volitan switched over from live in only about 6 weeks. I left town for about 5 days and when I came back, she was more than eager to eat the thawed krill. Now she eats about 3 to 4 thawed krill every other day. Still give her ghost shrimp as a treat though. Gotta have something to hunt down every now and then!:joy: