Feeding Lionfish

[trentrez]

Hi,

My friend has gone on holiday and I'm supposed to be looking after his Lionfish.

The two lionfish share a tank but one of them will not eat dead food, so when it comes to feeding time - I pop in some cut up pieces of prawn and only one of them eats it. I am concerned as I don't want the other fish to starve and die.

I went to the aquarium yesterday and bought some small live shrimp and into the water I pop them, now the other fish that's already got a massive belly by now is stealing the larger portion of the food so again the other one is losing out. So I wait a few days come back to my shrimp and half of them are now dead :?

So now I have to hold the stronger fish back with a net, the one that eats anything, while I feed the other one some of the live shrimp to make sure he gets a fair feeding (as he's already looking a little thin). I then feed the dead bait to the stonger fish.

My questions are:

1) How can I encourage the weaker of the two fish to eat dead bait? I assumed that if he got hungry enough he'd eat some, but even after I dangled some shrimp right in front of him on a piece of thread he still refuses to eat it.

2) How can I store live shrimp so that they live longer? The shrimp were supplied in a bag and I have a suitable sized tank to put them in but what sort of water can I use to keep them alive for eat least a week? Should I use tap water? Or should I use some of the water from the fish's tank which is salt water?

Many thanks.

 

[3fsh]

What kind of shrimp are they? If they are brine shrimp, you should refrigerate them... they should last for a few days. IMO, It always helps if you can add some tank water to the bag. (Only a 1/3 of a cup or so.)

Is there any way you can call your friend and ask if it is normal for the lionfish to not eat very frequently? It could be that he is just afraid of you. Many fish get very imprinted on their owners... my triggers usually don't take food from anyone else.

Something else you can try is called "Formula One" and is a frozen, cubed form of food with many different kinds of seafood + vitamins. It's really good for them, and my triggers LOVE IT! (Well, they eat the "trigger formula", but it's made by the same company.... )

If he doesn't eat for a while and becomes very thin, there is the possibility of internal parasites... At this point, though, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[trentrez]

What kind of shrimp are they? If they are brine shrimp, you should refrigerate them... they should last for a few days. IMO, It always helps if you can add some tank water to the bag. (Only a 1/3 of a cup or so.)

Not sure what type of shrimp they are... they are small see through shrimp about 1cm in length

Is there any way you can call your friend and ask if it is normal for the lionfish to not eat very frequently? It could be that he is just afraid of you. Many fish get very imprinted on their owners... my triggers usually don't take food from anyone else.

My Friend had troubles before he left, but assured me that if I was using live shrimp they would be fine. You see my issue now is that the live shrimp are dropping like flies... damn things won't even stay alive in the bag they come in!

Something else you can try is called "Formula One" and is a frozen, cubed form of food with many different kinds of seafood + vitamins. It's really good for them, and my triggers LOVE IT! (Well, they eat the "trigger formula", but it's made by the same company.... )

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll be sure to try it out.

If he doesn't eat for a while and becomes very thin, there is the possibility of internal parasites... At this point, though, I wouldn't worry about it.

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Well I managed to get him to eat yesterday so he's looking a lot healthier now... hopefully he'll hold out on my until my friend gets back from the US.

 

[j3hff]

i have 3 lions ...
2 volitans and 1 dwarf... the dwarf is the only fish on occasion that will eat anything dead (dried krill)...
but other wise, both volitans dont touch

 

[Mr Miagi]

How long has your friend gone on holiday for? If its only the weekend, he should be ok. If its longer than a week, you need to start looking at ways to feed him like you have now.

Is live food such as feeders un-availabe?

 

[Dragonscales]

From the sounds of it the shrimp are probably glass shrimp.

Another alternative is feeding meaty dead foods (pieces of prawn, etc) that you wave about in front of the fish with a pair of plastic tongs or feeding stick. Depending on how shy the fish is it might or might not work, but it's worth a try.