radiata lion wont eat.

[joander123]

i just got him to finally take a live ghost shrimp!!

it wasnt really that hard.. i just released the shrimp at the bottom closer to the lion instead of at the top, and he took it.

Whats next??

 

[Kodiak]

nice man, was he eating from your mother when you were away?

 

[joander123]

no, she didnt try anything live though as far as i know.

hes taken 2 live ghost shrimp for me now. I fed them about 5 minutes apart.

 

[Grins]

Fantastic! He just needed to acclimate to his surroundings.

 

[mrtuskfish]

Great! after you wean him to chunky seafood; like raw shrimp, clam squid, freeze-dried krill (a great lion food when soaked in Selcon)--your only worry will be overfeeding. These guys can really stuff themselves, you can see their belly swell, then they can just sit for a couple days to digest the stuff. (Kinda like my ex-Mother in Law).

 

[Riverserver]

Whats next??

Herm..

Get him to take live ones for a few days. Then give him 1 really small live one and a dead one. If he takes the dead ones start cutting them open and stuffing them with something, small pellet food is easiest. After a few days to a week of that, start offering frozen food with the dead food. He'll eventually make the switch to frozen that way.

If he wont take the dead ones right away and he's looking skinny, get a syringe and inject Vita-Chem into the ghost shrimp. He'll wiggle like hell in the water and the vitamins get passed straight to the lion.

For the ghost shrimp, I bought a 2g tank, set it up with a light and air pump. The bottom is filled with Ehiem Ehfimech so the young have a place to hide from the older shrimp. These shrimp breed really easily and can make a fun treat for him. I bought 30, of all sizes, for my 2 gallon. I feed them hair algae that grows in the tank and pellet food intended for marine fish. I have the salinity at 1.005 or so.

 

[joander123]

ok river, how many should i feed a day, and what do i do if he doesnt take the dead one, keep feeding the live ones until he does?

 

[Riverserver]

Really depends on the size of your lion. I fed my lion a medium sized ghost shrimp once a day for 3 days, then skipped 3 days and repeated, but he's only 2" long

I think you said yours was 6 or so, so try feeding 2 or 3 every other day. I cut the end off a turkey baster to make it wider, and I just blow the shrimp at mine, he inhales it.

For the dead ones, stuff them with something (which is why they're dead when they make it to the tank). Pellet food, liquid vitamins, etc. Because the shrimp themselves really aren't all the good for him. Just be persistent and patient, he'll eventually take them. If they settle on the bottom and he's looking at it, blow some water at it with your turkey baster to make it move, that's how I got mine to start taking them.

Right now mine is taking stuffed dead ones from a feeding stick. After about a week of it I will start using prawn and krill on the stick.

 

[joander123]

thats a really good plan, did you think of that all yourself?

i fed mine four today (just cause i thought he must have been starving) and i'll skip tomorrow, then feed 2 live ones everyday, and at the same time feed a dead one with it. Sound good?

 

[joander123]

today he has had 2 live ones, one dead one, and one dead stuffed with pellet one!

i see improvement, but i tried frozen foods and still... no way.

River, how do u stuff the shrimp, i was only able to get one pellet inside of the ghost shrimp, and even that wasnt that easy.

How often should i be feeding him these stuffed ones?