My Lionfish wont eat.

[CountZero]

I purchased a lionfish on friday, and he wont eat.

He doesnt seem to be under stress as he isnt breathing hard or crusing around in an agitated manner and none of the other fish are hassling him.

He looks perfectly healthy in all respects but I never had a lionfish before, so maybe I am overlooking something. He does mostly hang out on the bottom and chill and on occasion he will sort of lean against something with his head pointed downward at about a 70 degree incline but not often.

I have tried dancing a krill on the end of a piece of rigid airline infront of him, and just dropped in mysis shrimp but he just doesnt seem interested. Maybe I will name him Ghandi

The Porcupine Puffer I got at the same time seems to prefer eating of the tubing as opposed to just catching the stuff floating around. He will actually chase it around the tank. Who says fish are a pet you cant play with? probably freshies

Zero

 

[cj10488]

none of the other fish are hassling him

For starters I would highly recommend using a QT tank..

You might want to try some sort of live food... It is however normal for new fish not to eat for the first few days.. As least in my experience it is.. I would continue to try and work with the Lion with the food.. I would try some sort of live food though.. Fish, Shrimp or something along the lines of that.. Another good thing you might want to practice is Check and make sure it feeds prior to purchasing.. A good healthy specimen will take food at the LFS.. Which also brings me to Try not to buy specimens on the day that they arrive at the LFS... I have had to do that once and I am still stressin over it.. (Dory..Very Popular Fish due to Nemo none of the LFS stores around here can keep them longer than a day or 2 at most)

Hope I helped out some,
James

 

[CountZero]

I did purchase him the day he arrived. I was in a fish store in Idaho and he was the best looking lionfish I ever saw, far superior to the ones available locally and about half the price of a dwarf fish here.

What live fish would you reccomend? Guppies or goldfish? I had heard not to feed saltwater fish to freshwater fish from somewhere, but knew many people that did with no apparent problems.

Zero

 

[ReefRaff]

Dory..Very Popular Fish due to Nemo none of the LFS stores around here can keep them longer than a day or 2 at most)

at my LFS any fish you see out frt has been there two weeks min. they have a Q area in back.

 

[KLN]

I have had several Lionfish that lived happily for years solely on live guppies. Someone told me that was not good for them, but mine have done well, and seemed to enjoy them.

 

[cj10488]

Dory..Very Popular Fish due to Nemo none of the LFS stores around here can keep them longer than a day or 2 at most)
Code:
at my LFS any fish you see out frt has been there two weeks min. they have a Q area in back.

Wish that was true around here.. I usually only buy stuff that has been there longer than a week and has been eating.. A few stores wont feed their fish live food as ppl around here complain that its cruel and they dont want to see it....

As for live food I really dont know what to suggest that would be cheap and ethical.. Guppies would be but its to nutritional to feed SW fish FW food or vice versa.. I have however heard of ppl raising SW mollies for feeding purposes but in my mind its still a FW fish... I think I will let others more familiar with Live food chime in on this..

James

 

[thorn]

First... pathogens from freshwater fish cannot survive in saltwater. Even if your guppies or goldfish are sick with something, they will not infect the lion or the puffer.

Second... loins tend to be very difficult to gage when it comes to being sick. We've had 3 so far at the LFS I work at and 1 has died... inexplicably. He was beautiful (a black lion) and eating well and seemed very healthy... one day... just dead. Could have been internal parasites... who knows.

I do know that the lions and puffers we have at the store will accept 3 different kinds of food... feeder goldfish/guppies, live brine and formula one. That's it. They will not eat anything else.

Hope that helps.

 

[cj10488]

feeder goldfish/guppies

I believe that I have read that this are not good to feed to SW fish as they are not nutritional and not a normal diet.. This could lead IMO to slow death due to not having the essentials that a SW fish would need

James

 

[Hara]

I would not recommend feeding anything live to it unless you absolutely HAVE no other choice to keep the fish alive. Steer clear of the goldfish and guppies for sure. Let it get good and hungry and keep offering frozen. Get frozen silversides or lancefish. Spear them on the end of a sharp pointy object (I use a coathanger) and dangle in front of the fish. The other behaviour you are observing is totally normal lion behavior.

You didnt mention how big this lion was. If it is a baby, feed frozen mysis.

 

[e-cat]

feeding too many fresh water feeder fish will cause the liver too get fat on it and kill your lion over time. my lion loves octopuss,krill,squid,scalopes,and damsels.
he really goes nuts wheni soak his food in garlic guard by seachem. i use hagens multi-tool too hold the food infront of my lion, try ghost shrimp, before the goldfish and guppys as mentioned above the FW fish are not good for you lion.

 

[Thelionfishman]

Your Lionfish Health

Hi,

I hope when you receive this e-mail your Lionfish is still holding on. I've been collecting different lionfishes for the past ten years. Yes I must admit I did lose three in my ten year span.
First you need to check your water condition, making sure all levels are low. If all level of test are low do not change any water for at least a week.
You must purchase the following item: Saltwater Maracyn w/B complex vitamins. A dosage of one tablet per 20 gallons. Remember repeat treatment every 24 hours! Take each tablet and crush it up into a powder form a pour it into your tank near the Lionfish. It might take two-three days, but he will eat. I will feed it rosy reds or guppies. Remember if it starts eating just feed him a few (about two). Then retry the following day.
Every Lionfish that doesn't eat I start it on this treatment and it works!
Saltwater Maracyn w/ B complex vitamins is made by: Mardel Labs 1958 Bradon Court, Glendale Heights, IL 60139.
I hope that it recovers for you soon. If you have anyother problem you can e-mail back

Your Friend
The Lionfish man

 

[Thelionfishman]

Re: Your Lionfish Health

Hi,

I hope when you receive this e-mail your Lionfish is still holding on. 8O I've been collecting different lionfishes for the past ten years. Yes I must admit I did lose three in my ten year span.
First you need to check your water condition, making sure all levels are low. If all level of test are low do not change any water for at least a week.
You must purchase the following item: Saltwater Maracyn w/B complex vitamins. A dosage of one tablet per 20 gallons. Remember repeat treatment every 24 hours! Take each tablet and crush it up into a powder form a pour it into your tank near the Lionfish. It might take two-three days, but he will eat. I will feed it rosy reds or guppies. Remember if it starts eating just feed him a few (about two). Then retry the following day.
Every Lionfish that doesn't eat I start it on this treatment and it works!
Saltwater Maracyn w/ B complex vitamins is made by: Mardel Labs 1958 Bradon Court, Glendale Heights, IL 60139.
I hope that it recovers for you soon. If you have anyother problem you can e-mail back

Your Friend
The Lionfish man