Update on lionfish named Fluffy

[Annie742]

I have had Fluffy since Sat. He is refusing the silversides I have offered him.
So he hasn't had anything to eat since Sat. Don't know the last time the LFS fed him. How long should I wait before I start getting worried?
I don't want him to starve!!

I got a clear feeding stick and wiggle it in front of him. Fluffy looks very intrested in it and then just swims away.
And I want you to know that it's all I can do to stick that poor ole dead silverside on that stick EWWWW It's just kinda gross LOL.

On the other hand my giant crab and my new Chocolatechip star fish love them!

[Splendid]

Well when i got new fish my yellow tang did not eat the ded shrimp I gave him for a while so do not be worried!

[Cougra]

Was the lionfish eating at the LFS? When you get a new fish, you should always check to see if they are eating. Ask the attendant to feed the fish for you. However with predator fish they don't need to eat every day so they may not eat while you are in the store. If you can, try seeing if they will hold the fish for you until it starts eating.

As for it not eating right away, don't worry about it too much as long as it looks healthy and doesn't get cloudy eyes or a shrunken stomach. Most fish can easily survive a couple weeks without any food. Fish like Lionfish can go a surprising amount of time without food as they are very good at conserving energy (not very active fish!) so they can live much longer without food then more energetic/active fish.

New fish can be difficult to feed at the best of times. Some lionfish can be very fussy eaters and do best if offered live foods to begin with like a couple freshwater feeder shrimp then they can slowly be switched to dead shrimp and dead fish. You are doing the right thing by using a feeding stick, I would keep trying that for a few more days to see if he tries to eat it. If that doesn't work, then try live foods. Their hunting instincts are very strong and given good water conditions, a chance to settle in and find a place they feel safe they should begin eating after a while! Each fish is different so it's hard to place any sort of timelines.

[Dragon Wrasse]

Don't let him go with out feeding for to long....I had a Fuzzy Dwarf Lion that would not eat silversides, krill or squid....I read and read hoping to find a way to get him to feed on dead food, I figured I would keep trying until he finally got hungry enough and then he would have no choice but to eat....I was WRONG, he got to the point were by the time I put live food in for him he couldn't even eat that....as you guessed he died....this was last year, at x-mas this year I recieved a beutiful dwarf zebra lion, I now have a small 1 gal. freshwater tank that I keep minoes (sp?) glass shrimp and guppys in to feed him, I gut load them with marine flake, I also use a clear tube for the silverside trick and he has taken one or two but as of right now he isn't totally on frozen yet. I guess what I am saying is if you wait to long he can parish....try and wean him onto frozen but keep him alive with LIVE FOOD....stay away from Gold Fish, the ammino acides will make them go blind and eventually kill them due to liver faliur...so far it looks like Glass shrimp maybe the best if you have to feed them a live fresh water animal.....I have also feed my lion an occasinal yellow tailed damsal. I hope this helps, Lions have a great pesonallity, mine knows me by sight, there is a picture of him in my gallery.

[Annie742]

Thanks for all the info. Yes he did eat at the LFS. But it was a live goldfish.
I will go get him some shrimp tomorrow. I don't want him to die!
I guess I'll just give him the shrimp and try to add some frozen stuff and get him off the live that way.

[Witfull]

if he ate sat a goldfish,,,he could just be full. if he looks at food but may think, im stuffed.

[Cougra]

Like Dave mentioned, if it ate on the weekend it might not be hungry yet. Lionfish are designed to conserve energy and survive for days without the need to eat. You'll need to take the time to get to know your fish and how often it wants to eat and not to feed it too much.

If you think you could handle feeding live fish, I would recommend using mollies. They are a brackish water fish and can be acclimatized to full saltwater conditions and will breed easily for a constant supply of live foods.

Should you get the freshwater shrimp, you have to keep an eye on them as they wont live very long in saltwater conditions. If it dies before the lionfish eats it then you need to take it out of the tank before it fouls the water.

[Dragon Wrasse]

I feed my lion a guppy, minnoe (sp?) or glass shrimp nightly, one of something, I try and feed him weekly, frozen krill or silverside, he has taken the frozen a couple of times. The guppies and glass shrimp will last in your salt tank for over 20 min. before showing signs of stress but usally they get eaton way before then.....as before, stay away from the gold fish there are saltwater equivallents to the glass shrimp and I am always trying to research saltwater feeders.....they are available but the purchase quantity is to great for what I need....try this link.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/lionfdgfaqs.htm

[Annie742]

I did get him a couple of live feeder fish yesterday. They are Rosies, a type of minnow. Was gonna get him some shrimp but they were out.
He ate the fish without any problems at all!! They weren't in the tank a few seconds and he had them.

I will keep on feeding live and try switching him over to the thawed frozen stuff. I want to get him off live food asap, as I really don't like feeding live fish But I will until I can switch him over.

Again thank you all for the info!!!

[Dragon Wrasse]

Glad to hear he ate....keep offering up the frozen...remember the frozen stuff was alive at one time also.....its the law of nature

[Cougra]

I'm glad to hear that you were able to get him to eat something at least. It's better to give him something that he wants to eat rather then letting him starve. It may take a while before he accepts the frozen food. You may even need to kill some of the live food he's accepting after a while to feed him first so he recognises the fish as food and doesn't mind if it's dead before or after he's bit it.

[Annie742]

Yes I was really happy that he ate too!
I will keep offering him the frozen stuff along with a few shrimp.

Cougra, I know this is going to sound silly but how do you kill the live food?
I won't kill it but my hubby will for me

It was hard enough giving him live fish. I don't think it will be as bad feeding him shrimp, more like bugs.

I told my sister as long as I didn't look the minnows in the eye it wasn't too bad
But I know I can't kill a live fish. But like I said my hubby will do it for me.

[Cougra]

Before you think about killing the fish, try feeding him on some frozen food. Use this method as a last resort as I know it's hard for a lot of people to do.(Even as an anglar I have a hard time actually killing a fish.) The quickest most humane way to kill a fish is to put a sharp object through it's brain. Some people also suggest squishing smaller fish or hitting its head with a hard object.

Here is a link to the anatomy of most common fish to see where it's brain is:
http://www.hedley.ca/anatomy_internal.html

[Annie742]

Thanks Cougra. Beleive me killing a fish WILL be a last resort
I will work on offering him frozen first. Will try again giving him a live fish today and afterwords try a frozen one while he is in his eating mode.