agressive fish handling and feeding questions

[kyle4201]

Hello every1. Im sure some of you know that Lea brought home a small spiny puffer which made me get a 55g aggressive tank set up since its not going in my reef and even I have became attached to the little guy,, talk about personality, this thing is funny!! I have bought a ton (well, a ton of $$$ anyway) of pre cured live rock and use cycled water from my MT water changes. its a bare bottom setup and I have 2 Fluval c4 hob filters (I know its filter overkill, each is rated for 70g, but more the better). 3 weeks and no cycle so its ready to go for fish. B4 every1 tellm me about how the fish will gro and the tank is to small,,, I plan on turning my 90g into my aggressive, and the 55g into a fuge for my 250g some time in the next year and 1/2,, so im good with that. YAY!!! lollol

So, Im going to have the spiny puffer in the tank this coming weekend and will be picking up a dwarf lion and some kind of trigger soon to follow. I will be getting a small eel, a starfish and a spiny urchin at some point. \

puffer
dwarf lion
triger
eel
starfish
eurchin


my 1st question is,, is there a recommended arm length glove or something any1 uses as not to get stung or bitten? Its cute when my clowns do it but im sure if the trigger takes a bight I wouldn't be laughing. Also I heard some of the lectures at MANCA in Miami and some of the stories of lion fish taking a run and sticking people were a little scary. And will the eel try to chomp me while cleaning ect?


The next question,, feeding.
The puffer is eating freese dried krill and LOVES it!! he almost jumps 1/2 out of the water and does flips when feeding time comes, (again, personality out the yin yang). The lion and trigger, will they eat the same stuff generally or will I need to keep live bait fish and feed every other day? the eel,, what should I suspect to feed him?

Im thinking the eurchin and the starfish will scavenge and since its a bare bottom tank with live rock they will be the only clean up crew I have.

it looks a LOT BETTER in person, lol .

 

[Mike Johnson]

Tongs for feeding your Lionfish and eel. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-...quarium-maintenance-glove/ps/c/3578/3728/3766

 

[Bearjohnson]

If you're planning on putting your hand in the tank I'd use something to act like a shield between you and the lion.

Your puffer and your eel are somewhat messy when it comes to feeding time so, that's something to think about in terms of water quality.

My advice would be to put in everything you want except the eel for a 2 or 3 months and see how your tank is running. (I know that's not what Kyle wants to hear...LOL)

 

[kyle4201]

lol,, I have no problem on waiting on the eel, that was kins of an after thought anyway. and a shield,like a piece of plexi??, DAM!!! thats what Lea said, (I hope she doesn't read this, lol). the tongs were already a thought, Thx 4 the link Mike, ill be ordering the gloves b4 the lion goes in, , but will it eat the krill? I heard frozen minnows like silversides we use for fishing? and the trigger?

 

[Bearjohnson]

You could use a net as a shield.

Frozen silversides are a perfect food but you will have to fend off the trigger if you will be feeding the lion from tongs. Once he catches on, there will be no stopping him. I feed silversides as well and the whole tank eats them including the tangs.

They both should eat kril with no problem.

 

[Oxylebius]

I fed my eel with using a wooden skewer, you know like the type you BBQ with. The tongs should work fine. Never feed your eel with your hand b/c you don't want the eel to associate your hand with food, they are near-sighted (don't see well) and you don't want the eel to start to think anytime your hand is in the tank it is feeding time b/c you will end up getting bit. Feeding: just wiggle a silverside on the tongs to make it look alive and the eel should go for it... it may take a couple of tries, they can be a little finiky at first.

The lion I had never attacked me. Just be careful when you have your hands in the tank, they are very curious and will swim up to see what your doing and if you make any sudden movement you will startle it and it will flare its spines, that is when you can accidentally get stung. The lionfish may only eat live fish at first (guppies). They love silversides if you can get it to eat the frozen ones. But, don't feed your lionfish a diet of freshwater fish, freshwater fish are too fatty for them and it will die at a young age with a fatty liver. You will want to have guppies on hand to feed it only if it is not eating anything else (to keep it alive).

I don't remember ever having any issues with my trigger biting me. I guess it is possible to get one that goes after you and I suppose it depends on the type of trigger. For feeding, the trigger will most likely eat anything meaty you give it.

 

[kyle4201]

Thx Oxy that was good experience advice.

 

[Ratpack]

I have had all of those fish you mentioned in the past. The eel was fed by tongs, usually just place it near them and they grab it. I always fed him raw shrimp. The triggers will just eat by throwing it in the tank as well as the puffer. My lionfish always ate live food so I just tossed them in. If you plan to feed shrimp or any other non-live food, make sure you see it eat before buying. I never could train mine to eat anything other than live. Of course it was pretty cool to watch him track them down and "GULP"!!

 

[PSU4ME]

Check out Larry carnivore food. It's a mixture of stuff and its bigger sizes so you might get lucky and have something in there that all your fish would like.

I'm just about to put an order in for my tank and our 180 at the fire house.

 

[Oxylebius]

BTW - my eel took to frozen/thawed silversides fairly quickly. The dwarf lion did not.

It took several months of trying to get the lion to eat frozen/thawed foods. If feeding the lion in the tank isn't getting the lion interested in the food you are providing, try the bucket idea. The best way to feed the lion (at first) it is to take it from the tank and place it in a bucket (with tank water) with the frozen food. Use tongs, wiggle the food to entice it.... it will take time, sometimes months. If the lion doesn't take the frozen food, put the lion back in the tank. Let the lion go 3-4 days before you throw something live in the bucket for it to eat (guppies, shrimp, etc. so it doesn't starve to death). The point here is that you want the lion to get hungry enough that it is forced to try frozen food, but not so hungry that it is starving. By feeding the lion every 3-4 days you are keeping it alive, but keeping it hungry so that it will eventually go for the frozen foods you are providing.

Why the bucket? The bucket allows the fish to get used to eating frozen food w/o other tank mates for competition. Lions are ambush predators (the one you will likely get will have come from the wild and they won't be used to the feeding frenzy that happens your tank at feeding time) as ambush predators they lie in wait to food to come near them and then attack. The behavior you will see is the lion positioning its body head down, fins flared using its pectoral fins to corral the prey and then move really fast, mouth open, to take the food... behavior similar to stocking its prey.... Once the lion has eaten place it back in the tank.

Don't use aquarium nets on the lion, their spines can get horribly tangled. If you use a net, use the extremely fine mesh net. If the lion is small enough use a glass or small bucket to move it from tank to bucket and back.