Cowardly Lionfish!

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histankmyocean

New member
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
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4
Location
Missouri
We bought a lionfish who is apparently healthy but has not eaten since we bought him two weeks ago. Every time we try to feed him, he hides in the live rock. We have tried live fish/shrimp, silversides, you name it, we've tried it. We've tried tongs, acrylic rod, and just dropping them in the top of our 260 gal. tank. It is our first lion, and we were worried he would eat our other fish or shrimp. Turns out that's not a problem. How long can he live without eating? If he's made it this long, does it mean that he is sneaking food sometime when I can't see him? I need ideas! We don't want to lose him! Thanks!!
 
Fish are tricky buggers sometimes and sometimes they will protest until they think they are going to get it's way lol. I would call the store find out what types of food they were feeding it and then don't offer any food to the lion for a few days. Then try again I had a heck of a time with a Oscar I had that only ate feeders and it took me forever to break her of it. Also make sure to spend some time infront of the tank I do know for me when I was trying to get my Oscar to eat little kids jumping around infront of the tank scared her and she wasn't used to it so I started trying to feed her after the kids went to bed and it helped. Sometimes just some time adjusting to a new home, new people can take awhile. You might even try soaking in some garlic. Hope that helps :)
 
At the store, fish was eating live shrimp and large pellets. Their latest suggestion is small damsels or chromis to get him started, so I'll try that tonight, but I am open to any other suggestions. We tried garlic in the water, and I had already read the my new fish won't eat thing. Now I just feel even more depressed because I'm starting to feel like there is nothing else we can do. Yikes. My kids were way easier than this. Well, one of them was.
 
I'd be careful in deciding to feed damsels. If it doesn't eat them, you could end up with some pretty aggressive fish in your tank. Chromis don't really get aggressive, except towards one another....but you still need to decide if Chromis are something you want in your tank in the long run...just in case they don't get eaten.
 
Yeah I would do Chromis over Damsels. Another thing to remember if you are going to feed live fish make sure to inspect them closely since they will be food well.... if you can get the bugger to eat them lol. Did you try soaking the food in garlic? You said you put garlic in the tank so I don't know if you just dumped some in the tank or soaked the food. Don't feel depressed that bugger will eat he's just being a pain I felt the same way with my Oscar it was a 2 month battle with her but once she figured out I was boss and wasn't going to feed her feeders well she became a pig. Ohh and Welcome to RF's!!!!
 
How big is the Lionfish? Is it a Volitan or Dwarf? Lionfish are slow, and like to stalk their food..If he's in with aggressive feeders, you need to target feed him, get that food right in front of him. I use a turkey baster to feed and will put it right in front of my Zebra Lionfish. At first he would only eat mysis, I think because it had eyes:rolleyes: Now he will eat small whole shrimp, squid, pieces of silversides, clams etc . He knows when the turkey baster is right in front of him that its his food and he'd better get it before the others do!
Lionfish are carnivores and don't need to eat everyday. In the wild they will eat a lot of small fish one day and then spend a few days digesting. So one week is not an issue.
Another thing, they can eat fish half there size, but it is not good. Large pieces of food can cause gut blockage. Instead of one large fish or piece of food, try feeding more but smaller.
I also don't like the idea of live fish...They may have any number of disease and/or parasites and could end up killing your Lion. Get it eating prepared foods
Good luck!
 
OOOOPS reread your post and see you did use tongs to target feed. Do keep trying to target feed. He will hopefully come around. I feed my other fish first then target feed the Lion.
Oh he may eat your shrimp and small fish if you don't keep his tummy full:)
 
Here's an update on our lion: He is still alive, no thanks to any of our efforts to target feed him. We even bought two small chromis (we call them sacrificial virgins), who taunted him by swimming within a few inches of him, and he hid from them, too. On the bright and unexpected side, however, yesterday he ate frozen food when we fed the other fish, so we may have turned a corner. And he spent more time out front after that. Hooray! Thanks again for all the advice! Hopefully he'll make it and the advice I seek in my next thread will be about a different fish.
 
He's just a really stubborn fish lol he will get the picture and since you know he has eaten he will eat again if he gets really hungry. He will figure out what he likes and doen't like and get into a routine with his eating. It may go on for a few days to even a few weeks but he will eventually come around and stop being so stubborn. Congrats!!!
 
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