Does anyone have experience training a dwarf lionfish to eat frozen? When I got mine the guys at the store said he was only eating goldfish. Since then I was able to get him to eat live ghostshrimp, and now he will eat dead/frozen ghostshrimp. I have trained him so that whenever I put the net into the tank he will rush into it to get to his shrimp. I thought since he eats the dead ghost shrimp now I would try mysis but he doesnt even give it a second glance. Could it be the mysis are too small? The ghost shrimp he is eating now are practically the length of his body, and usually i still see the head sticking out of his mouth a good 5 minutes after I give him one. I haven't tried silversides yet because those are even bigger.
training lion to eat frozen?
- Thread starter LavaToad
- Start date
You are lucky and you don't even know it. Try feeding at night with the lights out. As far as the silversides, you can cut them up. Give him the tail or head portion. I've went as far as tying silversides to a thread and gig it infront of lionfish at night to entice them to eat dead foods...\
- Location
- Queens/Honolulu
I used a piece if thin fishing line tied to the tail of a small frozen prawn and just gave it a jiggling motion. If it's eating dead ghost shrimp it shouldn't have a problem eating frozen prawns, then from there mix a bit of prawns with mysis. It generally only takes a bite for it to recognize it as being food. It took me about a week to train it to eat frozen foods.
- Location
- parsippany nj
If he is eating out of a net it just mix in some different foods and he start eating it with out to much of a issue.
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
Thanks everyone for the advice. I decided to starve him for a few days, and when I put the net in with a freeze dried piece of krill he vacuumed it up! I have to stick with the net method for now because my clownfish are very aggressive and will sometimes try to take the ghost shrimp away if it is slightly sticking out of his mouth or if he doesn't get to the food fast enough. I'll have to try the mysis again next time.
- Location
- Bridgewater, NJ
Freeze dried krill really aren't the greatest food for the Lion. Every once in a while it's OK but don't feed it more than once a week or so. Like others have said, mix the foods together and he will get a taste eventually. My frend had a Volitain Lion that he trained to eat flakes.
I finally made some progress! Here's a quick video if i can get this to work:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a3_ABHWKnkQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a3_ABHWKnkQ
- Location
- parsippany nj
Nice looks like he will be easy to catch aslo we should all train our fish to eat from a net.
After many months of training, I finally have my radiata lionfish eating frozen ghost shrimp. Also eats krill and mysis, but prefers the ghost shrimp.
First I would feed it live ghost shrimp from feeding tongs. Then started to stun them more until I had it eating freshly killed ghost shrimp. After a while I could freeze the ghost shrimp and thaw at feeding time.
This enables me to buy more shrimp at a time and freeze them. I can feed a couple every day, instead of feeding 10 a couple times per week.
Really happy that it has a more steady diet now.
First I would feed it live ghost shrimp from feeding tongs. Then started to stun them more until I had it eating freshly killed ghost shrimp. After a while I could freeze the ghost shrimp and thaw at feeding time.
This enables me to buy more shrimp at a time and freeze them. I can feed a couple every day, instead of feeding 10 a couple times per week.
Really happy that it has a more steady diet now.
- Location
- Manhattan, New York
Silversides are not part of their regular diet in the wild. Lionfish are slow moving and corner their prey, eating a silverside in the wild is less likely unless it was injured. They eat more shrimp or small fish than anything else. I would not feed my fish a diet they would not likely eat in the wild.
I dont want to make the food seem alive, I want the fish to accept frozen food as the default. I want to make feeding easier, to the point I just drop it in the tank, not having to animate it.
I dont want to make the food seem alive, I want the fish to accept frozen food as the default. I want to make feeding easier, to the point I just drop it in the tank, not having to animate it.
Barry
They do like to go after the food and actually they seem to enjoy the chase now as far as shrimp I believe mysis (PEpiscine) is better than ghost for 2 reasons its loaded with protien 69% and its soft on the stomach . The ghost has no nutrition unless u feed it something first and they are very sharp little buggers , not easy on the stomach.
When I have a lion that will not eat frozen and is spoiled from live U put it in the water flow to simulate live and then he will get to the point of hand feeding
They are less likey to have a frozen ghost shrimp/mysis shrimp/silverside or anything man has to offer but I would bet these guys are eating moving animals in the ocean and thats what works for me
And I prefer the silver sides because they are from the ocean and the lion respond really good to them......remember mysis is one of the best foods u can feed but its fresh water and initially might b a little harder.
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I agree the ghost shrimp are not as nutritious as a saltwater variety, the ghost shrimp portion of the diet is a step along the process.
In the wild, lionfish eat shrimp as their primary diet so they must have a digestive system in place to deal with the spiny parts. The shrimp they encounter will have that also. I am leaning against silversides as they will not natively be available to them.
Silversides swim in the water column and do not let anything close to them. Lionfish eat by stalking their prey along the contours of the reef. Im sure if a stunned silverside were to fall into the vicinity of a lionfish then it will become dinner, I just dont see it as the primary food source.
In the wild, lionfish eat shrimp as their primary diet so they must have a digestive system in place to deal with the spiny parts. The shrimp they encounter will have that also. I am leaning against silversides as they will not natively be available to them.
Silversides swim in the water column and do not let anything close to them. Lionfish eat by stalking their prey along the contours of the reef. Im sure if a stunned silverside were to fall into the vicinity of a lionfish then it will become dinner, I just dont see it as the primary food source.
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