Feeding feeders to a lionfish

[waltddp]

I know its not good to feed freshwater fish to a lion but my question is what if you put a tank full of feeders lets say mollies on a high quality marine based diet for a couple months or so. Will that make them marine quality feeders??

My lionfish has stopped taking prepared foods ever since i added a sebae clown in there which died a month later. He will only take live now.

 

[Blinky]

If they're healthy and gut loaded with things like mysis, krill, shrimp, squid, high quality dry foods etc. I imagine your lion will get the nutrition he needs. Basically I'd feed to the mollies whatever foods you want in the lion that he won't take

 

[waltddp]

you think the same holds true for goldfish or is that overdoing it??

 

[Blinky]

Nope. Feeder mollies/platies/guppies etc. that you raise yourself and feed with top-quality frozen foods are one thing. Goldfish from the LFS that are held in overcrowded tanks and drugged with antibacterial and antiparasitic meds, not to mention seldom fed (and when they are it's not the best food) are not suitable food for anything IMHO. You're also running the risk of transferring any number of things to your display tank - not worth it when you've got breeding mollies on hand. I work at a LFS and see how these fish are kept first hand; it's not pretty.

 

[Gealcath]

Also freshwater fish in general are not good for Marine fish to eat as they have a hard time metabolizing the fatty acids freshwater fish have.

 

[OrionGirl]

Agree--it doesn't matter the diet, FW fish are not a good food for SW animals. The lions given FW feeders tend to survive about 2 years, no more.

 

[FreddytheFish]

try taking frozen foods and dangling it in front of his mouth. he may think its live 'cause of the movement