fuzzy dwarf lionfish...

[salmo trutta]

on sunday i bought this ~3 inch fuzzy dwarf lion from my local petstore. he is the first of a a couple additons to be put in the tank (tank has been up for 2+ months cycling with two damsels in it) well the lionfish underwent a bit of a stress shock so for the first day he hid out of site. he is out in the open more, perching himself in a downward angle at the ground (exactly what he was doing when i bought him from the petstore) looking like a lion fish looks...still. yesterday and today i tried feeding him, knowing that he might have gotten pretty stressed in the move from the store to a different tank. i tossed in some frozen mysid shrimp, and cut a chunk out of a frozen shrimp, and he didnt even as much as look at them...the damsels had a field day though

today i decided to try some live feeder guppies/goldfish as per the advice of the guy at the local store. same deal, first trying the guppy, then trying the goldfish. it could have been that the lionfish didnt see either of them, be he didnt even budge from his perch. i stuck a net in his face to check his response and he was quick to dart out of the way. but im at a loss on what to feed him, or if he is possibly ill.

tank params are really stable, i occur alot of evaportaion where i live to where im putting almost a gallon of water back into the system every few days.

any advice?

[Hara]

it is not uncommon for them to not eat for a few days. I would not worry just yet and I definitely would not be using live feeder goldfish or guppies. The reasons being that they are not a very healthy food source and second, feeder fish are normally not kept in the best of conditions and you can be adding a source of disease to your tank.

Did you see the fish eat at the LFS before you bought it? Never be afraid to ask the store people to feed the fish so you can see that it is indeed, eating. If they won't do it, ask what time they feed, so you can come observe. If they are not willing to accomodate you on that, then you need to look for a different store.

[salmo trutta]

true. i am just concerned because alot of the sites i checked say that feeder shrimp are a good idea. but LFS doesnt have that, and they recomended the goldfish. which didnt seem to work anyways.

[Hara]

Try soaking the mysis and brine shrimp in some garlic oil..the scent sometimes entices them to eat.

[salmo trutta]

alright ill try that out. ty

[flamingonhot]

Try some freeze dried krill if you can.

Some fish that are fed live food exclusively over a couple weeks can also be reconverted over. The worst thing you can do is have a lion on only live food lol.

[salmo trutta]

well it just ate 5 ghost shrimp. went to the LFS i dont like going to and they ahd some shrimp. he ate them happily. but im gonna try the garlic idea in a couple days, see how he fairs