any advise to convince my dwarf lionfish to eat dead?

[dav99]

Im trying to make my dwarflionfish to eat dead shrimp....hes very small so i have to cut a small piece of shrimp so he can eat it. I put the little chunk with nylon rod and put it there almost move it in his face and nothing

Couple of days allready and he dont eat....im worried... He dont go out from a cave, hes kind of shy.

Any help PLEASE !!!

Thanks

David

[AIMFish]

If ghost shrimp are available in your area I would get him started on them first. 1-2 a day or every other day. After 5-7 days start using thawed krill on the end of a clear acrylic rod and moving it like the ghost shrimp.

[dav99]

allready give him ghost shrim for 5 days every other but no luck on giving dead chunk of shrimp or fish Thanks

[HotRod68Camaro]

you might try squid, it has a special scent to it that might help.

[joroscoe]

I didn't see me dwarf lion eat prepared food for almost an entire month. I tried to give him ghost shrimp at least once a week but I was having a hard time getting to the store. Funny thing is, my mom got him eating Rod's food while I was gone on vacation...lol.

One thing I did notice about my system is that it has high flow. So maybe if you put the food in the path of a powerhead....you catch my drift?

[dav99]

yeah tried again today....didnt make it, i will buy squid tomorrow to see if that can do it.....damn dwarf lion!

[joroscoe]

i hate 2 say it, but sooner or later he's gonna get hungry enough to eat

[reelheel]

Mine would only eat live at first...small feeder fish or ghost shrimp. One day I went to feed mysis shrimp to the other fish; put the thawed shrimp right into the flow of my streams and the lion ate it almost like a reaction. Once he had the taste he began to eat mysis regularly; the only trick is that it has to be moving in the flow, like it is alive. Now he eats anything I put in the tank, including flake food, as long as it is moving in the current.

[reelheel]

Not feeding live for a week or so also helped the transition I think, like joroscoe said...once they're hungry they're more likely to try new things.

[bchristie]

I second the opinions above, once it gets hungry enough it will eat...that being said, if the specimen will take live ghost shrimp, freeze a few and thaw them out, then offer those right after you feed a live one...seems to help in some cases.

[PuffersKick]

Guess I'm lucky. Mine eats everything. Even pellets if he can grab one before it hits the ground!

[shiftyfatdwarf]

you can use fresh water feeders. go to your nearest fish store and get a couple guppies. you can even get a pair of claws and hold the live fish in front of him and he should strike at it GOOD LUCK

[stykthyn]

for the love of god, dont use freshwater feeders.

[dav99]

lol.....I want to feed with non lving fish or non living squid/shrimp but no progress yet.....i will probably kill him by not feeding....sad

[stykthyn]

try soaking some live glass shrimp in garlic. put them on the end of a nylon skewer and offer it to your fish. just try doing it every day sooner or later it should take the food. dwarfs seem to have a problem wanting to be weaned.

[the other tang]

I used to dose a bit of garlic into the water right before feeding time, for no other reason than i was at the tank and it was time to dose and feed. The fish would smell the garlic and start looking for food, they got where even the pickiest of eaters were eating flake, krill, shrimp, and whatever I bought from the fish dept at the grocery. Oh yeah this was a fowlr lion, trigger, and a grouper. I stumbled on this but it worked nonetheless.

[Bugboy9000]

my volitan used to only eat live food until he became so used to me feeding him that he would actually come right up to the surface of the water and take food right out of my hand. sometimes it just takes time.

[Uploadead]

maybe if it sees other fish feeding it may get a hint. I saw a method of peircing defrosted shrimp with string and then tie a know in the string. When nthe lion eats it it will be slid off. you must hold it in the flow though

[gotoneon]

The best advice here is feed him something with eyes on it, the head off a krill or small silver side. Preditor fish are ingrained with the need to eat other fish head first to insure the fins and spines are facing the correct way. When he realizes the krill don't have spines he wont care and he will just gobble them up, but the first couple of any new food source he needs to make sure it is safe for him to eat. If he can identify the head then he will eat it. I had a fu man that was very dificult to get started as well. I just chose the smallest krill with the biggest eyes and the first one that bounced past him he followed it around the tank for a while then finally sucked it up. His whole life he would go after things with eyes more agressivly.

[mistergn10]

It took mine atlleast 5 or 6 weeks to get him to eat. They will get hungry and take it one day.