My Little Lion lives with two Ocellaris Clownfish
I bought a new fish for my salt-water tank. A Dwarf Lionfish, also known as the Dwarf Fuzzy Lionfish.
My new little Lion was in a bare 30 gallon aquarium and the previous owner said he was eating shrimp pellets. I don’t think that he had the fish very long, and I don’t believe he was eating anything, unless it was the guys other fish because the tank was empty.
The Dwarf Lion is a predator, I mean a killing machine. In the wild they are a night-time feeder, so I shut off the main tank light, added a group of smallish guppies, and let him do his thing. So he learned that guppies are food. A few days later, I added guppies in the daylight. Then, a few days later, small feeder goldfish. POW, gone. Now he knows that goldfish are food. By this time, he realizes that when I approach the tank , open the tank lid, and give the other fish a little food, that it is dinnertime. ( I think it helped to always feed the other fish first to get his attention)
After a week of one or two goldfish per day it’s time to convert to a healthier diet. Lionfish should not be fed a constant diet of freshwater fish. Search the internet for more information on this topic.
They are much healthier and long-lived on a diet of shrimp and a frozen saltwater fish called Silversides. Silversides can be purchased at almost any store that sells tropical fish. Look in the freezer where they have Brine Shrimp.
This post is called Don’t Starve Your Lionfish for a good reason. Many Lionfish owners say that to get your Lion to start eating the Silversides you must starve them for a week to make them attack almost anything. That’s when you drop in a Silversides.
I have a different approach.
Continue to give him feeder goldfish. Hold the goldfish by the tail, wiggle it at the surface until the Lion is almost upon it. Then let it go. BAM, it’s over. OK, now, after a few days of this, hold the goldfish and don’t let go. Wiggle the fish at the surface and let half the body stay under as the Lion approaches. Believe me, he’ll take it right out of your fingers. He may knock the fish loose and have to go chase it, but he’ll get the idea. NOW, wait a day or so, don’t feed the Lion. He won’t be starving but he will be hungry. Thaw out a Silversides. Go through the same routine you would do when you fed him goldfish. Open the lid, feed the other fish a little, wiggle that thawed Silversides under the surface and he will come up and smack it.
If he hits the Silversides and doesn’t swallow it quickly enough it may sink to the bottom of the tank. If you don’t have other fish or scavengers that will eat it, get a net, scoop it out, and try again. He won’t eat the Silversides if it’s just laying on the bottom.
The Dwarf Lion will spend time in this downward-facing position, alert for live food scurrying along the bottom
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