My new Lionfish

[yamanjazz]

ok, now its getting out of hand. i crushed garlic and put the food in it. i waited for a while and then tried feeding the fish. I wasnt very surprised(but i was very upset) to see that the fish wasnt tryin to eat it. could it be getting distracting by the Damsel? but the trouble is, is that i cant catch it unless i pull apart the deco in the tank. and find a house for the lion while all this is happenin. which isnt possible at the moment.

 

[FloridaBoy]

Let's see, I did give you several proven ways of capturing the damsel, are you listening? Try tempting with a piece of squid stuck on a sharpened dowel or clear acrylic rod, move it around a bit, that usually gets a response. Also please check your water parameters; nitrite, nitrate, PH, etc. How long has the tank been set up?

 

[yamanjazz]

im listenin mate the tanks been up since febuary. i tried the acrylic rod but no cigar.

 

[Germanman]

to get it to eat

?e ur having lots or prolems luck 4 u i work in an aquarium store and i deal with all kinds of diffrent lions. i have a dwarf myself.
i feed my lion guppies or ghost shrimp live. the way it sounds ur lion was never weened offf live food from where u got it so ull have to do it. they love fish so ur gona have to give is some small live fish, tiny green chromis, feederd guppies, feeder minnows,feeder daino, or salt or freshwater ghost shrimp. then after th fish settels in a gets used to u u can start trying to feed it frozen silversides or some other type of frozen fish. try the rod but dont jerk it a lot move it as the fish woul move close to the surface. if u move to quick the lion will get upset. personally i feel that they shouldnt be deprived of live food but in ur condition it should be weened. good luck and let me know if u need more help!
ps check out my lion below!

 

[yamanjazz]

Gman that is one beautiful Lionfish after lots of unsuccessful attempts with frozen food, i decided to give it live shrimp... and boy am i happy i did that. finaly it ate something and i know now that is ok. but i will slowly ween it off live food and start introducing frozen food. i just hope it doesnt take too long. thanks to eveyone who replied here you all have helped very much. i hope that ill be able to help you guys too

Just one last quick question: Do Lionfish stop eating when they are full? or should count how many shrimps i give to it?(becuase it seem to be looking for more after i fed it)

Once again, Thanks gang

 

[FreddytheFish]

I'm glads it ate.

 

[DansMarineTank]

No they dont stop when thier full, he will eat eat eat and eat and then beg for more food, i had problems feeding my lion at first but never gave in to the live food, once he snaps at something hes hooked..

mine now associates the net with food (thats how i defrost the froxen stuff in the tank) and he begs all the time i am near the tank (which is good as hes out and about rather than in his cave.

Anyways what i'm getting at is these are clever fish you need to get into a routine and stick to it, like feed him at the same times, the food enters in the same place in the tank, using the same net ect eventually he should get so excited when he thinks its feeding time he'll eat anything. Mine now (had him about 4 weeks) will eat anything i put in the tank regardless of wether it appears alive. PIC attached (sorry about the poor quality)

 

[DansMarineTank]

Further to my post above my lion is very picky on the size of the food, too big he ignores too small he ignores, with my 2" radiata i give him food about 50% the size of his open mouth. BTW so you dont worry too much, mine never took food after it was soacked in garlic the first time. also If your wiggling the food try not to force it to him make him chase it.

As i said after a while he slowly started to eat more and more. at first he would snap at something and then spit it out later he would eat about three of four little bits spitting the rest out. Eventually he eat everything to the point of busting!

Have you had any luck yet?

 

[DansMarineTank]

Oh and dont feel too bad about the damnsel, its just nature taking place on a small scale (i bear a grudge against all damsels after all the pain the caused my two clowns!)

 

[yamanjazz]

tell tell you the truth, i havent introduced frozen food since the day it to ate live food. i am tryin to get it used to the tank first before i try with frozen stuff. i also have to add that it has started to come to the surface when i go near the tank, so thats a good sign of it look for food right? maybe it will fall for the frozen stuff this time, ill try in the next 2-3days. ill keep you posted.