lionfish feeding

[jenreadsalot]

We have a new fuzzy dwarf lionfish. It is eating frozen mysis and krill. How much is too much to feed him?

[ansonluna]

I feed my Fuzzy once a week. I get 3 dozen feeder shrimp and let them loose in the tank. He gets a few and the other fish take some out also...really hard to tell how many he ate though. I have seen him eat frozen brine and mysis when he gets really hungry in inbetween feeding, although I know he doesn't get super hungry because he lives with two cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp. However, I have noticed he is scared of these guys because he won't ever let them clean him :lol . It's funny to see a predator swim away from his natural prey like a little wuzzy. Anywho, I say feed him particularlly once a week and he will be cool.

[jenreadsalot]

Thanks.
I feel bad because he begs all of the time. He had a frozen cube of krill and mysis (cut in to pieces) and 2 live mysis, not all at once. And this morning I noticed his clown tank mate eating (playing) with a small dead blue leg hermit.
My biggest worry was that he would not eat and now I am scared I am going to feed him too much?!?
Thanks again for your help.

[ansonluna]

Be careful, lions can be over fed or over eat and die. they don't know when to stop and will gourge themselves until they blow up. plus, overfeeding leds to excess nutrients in the water. I would say as a rule of thumb, feed small feeding twice a week or a bigger serving once a week. They are not slender fish like tangs that need to feed constantly to stay healthy. post a pic, we all like pics on here. ;)

[C.Mydas]

Yep. Lions have a digestive system like a snake. You can feed everyday but your not really doing them any good. They need large meals and then a couple to a few days to digest it properly. Im a big fan of mixing lions with reef fish but be careful with the clown. Fish that are slow movers and sleep quite soundly at night within easy reach of a lion are usually dinner. Fish that bury or hide at night are better candidates.

Since you're lucky enough to have him eating frozen you should throw some silversides into the mix. And if you have to feed live, make sure you are gut-packing with cyclops or something similar. By the time live ghost/mysis shrimp get to us they have usually been fed on the cheapest thing possible and are not the best nutrition wise. Oh yeah---you might want to stop with the live feeding. Dwarfs are notorious for being 'live' eaters and are hard to get on frozen. If yours is eating frozen, then let him eat it. It is not uncommon for them to become 'spoiled' and want only live food if you let them have it.

I always liked to feed mine until I saw a nice little belly bulge...lol, then wait a couple days and do it again. My radiata a zebra were going through about 3 dozen live gut-packed saltwater ghosts about every four days. Granted, b/c they were live they lasted for about 2 days in the tank before I couldn't find anymore. (They were both about 6in though).

[JeremyGlen]

I'd feed it small silversides or pieces of shrimp. The LFS I worked for fed shrimp. We always bought the texas shrimp, uncooked, like 35/45 size.

Just get you some Zoe and soak the shrimp till its good and green. Then feed one to three pieces just small enough for the lion to get its mouth around and leave it alone for 3-4 days. You'll see the belly go empty after a day or two and you'll know its time to feed again.

If you really love watching it eat live food, give it a very special treat on very rare occasions so it doesn't get away from eating the frozen stuff. I always enjoyed feeding the lions a small cichlid cause they are fast and tend to be fun to watch getting eaten.