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i bought a small dwarf zebra lion fish, the store keeper was feeding him little gold fish.

i was just wondering is it bad to feed them goldfish and how is the easiest way to make the lion fish eat frozen food..

thanx alot for the help

I'd tend to feed it frozen myself over live stuff. Krill and silversides are good foods.

You can usually get a feeding response with a feeding stick, slowly move the stick with krill or whatever on the end of it until you get it's attention. They will usually jump at it. eventually they'll come begging.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I wouldnty suggest feeding feeder fish to your fish(sounds odd) Especially goldfish. Gold fish can cause early liver problems and if a feeder fish has a deseise it can trasfer over to the lion so if i were you id just stick with frozen food. If you must feed your lion live fish just dont feed them goldfish..



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pnh

k i will stop feeding him goldfish and i will also try to feed him frozen food with a feeding stick.

but what kind of feeding stick should i use, i dont want to cut its mouth or hurt him in anyway
?????
thanx alot for the help

At the store we use something as easy as a paper clip on the end of a small plastic stick.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

You know those plastic tools that are used in freshwater aquaria? They have a little plastic two ged fork at one end and a plastic razor blade holder for an algae scraper at the other? Use one of those. Put your piece of meat or whatever on the fork, wiggle it about a bit, then watch your Lionfish snap at it. Be prepared for your Lionfish's reactions to be VERY fast when he does this - it'll startle you the first time!

Alternatively, plastic picnic forks should serve the purpose while he's a small fish. You'll need something a bit more robust when he grows though!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Another thing you can use as a feeding stick is a length of plastic air line tubing with it's end cut to a point so that you can stick food on.

Any sort of raw sea food is usually pretty good. Freshwater fish, goldfish especially, are the McDonald's equivalent for saltwater fish. If you've ever watched Supersize Me!, in the movie the man developed problems with his liver dealing with so much fat (so I hear; I've never watched the movie). The same problems often develop in Lionfish fed only goldfish! So that's a big no to goldfish and freshwater fish in general. It's quite unhealthy and can even kill the predator.

In any case, taking that feeding stick and playing with your fish is kinda fun!

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

In general, you reall shouldn't be feeding your fish anything out of their natural diet, should you?

It just seems in general like a recipe for more problems.

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

Frozen prawns, are great to start weaning lions. they look alive if on a feeder pole in current, and they are quite good for them.
even when feeding him frozen foods make sure you rotate his diet. they can get use to one type of food and refuse other which is almost as bad as feeding FW feeders

If you're gunna feed live foods I suggest that you breed it yourself. Mollies can be acclimated to full out saltwater and make pretty good feeders IMO.

Lions tend to run for a pretty nice price and I dont think it's worth risking feeding them life food from an LFS where god only knows what kinds of diseases are being harbored in those tanks. No matter how nice the store is, the wholesaler where they get their feeders from will always be far from perfect.

I find our lions really like to eat krill and especially silversides. Add garlic or other vitamins to enhance their diet, and make sure you watch your ammonia levels. Messy eaters like lions or puffers tend to have bigger problems with the water quality because of their diets.

Best of luck.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish