lionfish eating problem

I have a juvenile lionfish about 3 inches long. I bought him about 2 weeks ago from my LFS and they were feeding him live guppies. I was told he was eating a little bit of frozen food too..... total LIE. I cant get him to even show a little bit of interest in anything freeze dried, frozen, or anything else. Ive tried krill both frozen and dried. Ive tried shrimp, misis shrim, lobster. He will not touch anything but live food. Iv tried all of these on a feeding stick ... still nothing. Any help with this matter would be great, i need to get him off this live food.

 

Did you ask what kind of frozen food it was eating?

Sadly, Lions are predators and like to hunt. Some individuals take that one step further by refusing to be fed. Find out what exactly it was eating and try that. You might also try other frozen foods, like clam, squid, or even minnows.

Another trick would be to give it one or two guppies to get it in feeding mode and then add the frozen food, or only feed live every two days. Might sound cruel, but if it's being stubborn, you may need to let it go just a little hungry to convince it that frozen food is good. Just keep a close eye on its belly to ensure it isn't starving. Patience will be a great virtue with this one.

Cheers and good luck.

 

I had a simular problem with a frogfish, had to use ghost shrimp then transition it with frozen krill. This took several weeks.

 

ya i just got done dangling krill on a fish line for 2 hours.... no interest.

 

I agree with golden rhino. Add a few ghost shrimp or guppies one day, then next time add them while presenting some prepared food. Slowly decrease the amount of live food you put in. He should get the hang of it. When I had a lionfish it wouldn't eat prepared food either. I didn't feed it for a week or so and let him get really hungry. He annihilated the silversides as soon as they hit the water.

 

Don't feed him krill, it's like crack for fish. I lost my lionfish due to him only eating krill. Krill is extremely high in iodine, which can cause lockjaw condition. If that happens, he won't be able to eat, and the condition is not reversible. I got my lions to eat "dead food" by feeding when the lights were out. They will see movement and instinctively dart after it.
If you do want to feed live feeders, it's better to feed danios after they have been acclimated to brackish water.