Baby dwarf lion questions

[littlefoxx]

Hey all, got a baby dwarf lionfish (he is so freaking cute!!) and I just had a few questions. The LFS fed him and I got the frozen food he was eating (LRS diverse nutrition for marine carnivores, chunky) food. The guy at the LFS said to feed small chunks every 3 days. Just wanted to check with you all that he gave good advice. I feed him a small chunk of food when I got him acclimated and he only ate a few bites. He looks very good, I have him in an acclimation box for a little just to observe him and make sure he eats as I had a bad experience with a naso that refused to eat and I couldnt monitor him so Im a little paranoid now haha. But Im in love with this little one and want to do the best stuff for him since he is my first lion! Just wanted opinions from people on here as Ive done a lot of research but of course those can be more broad and not from people who have kept them before.

 

[Rtaylor]

I don’t personally keep lion fish, but my understanding is that many predator fish can eat themselves to death if over fed. Feeding every couple days is probably good for an adult. I would wonder if a juvenile might need smaller more frequent meals? Hopefully an expert on the species will jump in.

 

[lion king]

Every 3 days is a good rule of thumb, a smaller one could go every other day. You'll have to judge by how well they ate on their previous feeding and how active they are. Feed them well on feeding day and as long as you are feeding smaller items they'll stop when they get full. That's a good food I would just add some salmon for a bit more fat and omega 3, make sure they eat all the different variety and not concentrate on the shrimp and krill.

 

[littlefoxx]

Every 3 days is a good rule of thumb, a smaller one could go every other day. You'll have to judge by how well they ate on their previous feeding and how active they are. Feed them well on feeding day and as long as you are feeding smaller items they'll stop when they get full. That's a good food I would just add some salmon for a bit more fat and omega 3, make sure they eat all the different variety and not concentrate on the shrimp and krill.

Ah okay cool! So I fed my tank sprinila mysis shrimp and she got very excited seeing it blow in the wave maker so I put some in her box and she ate it like crazy. Is that stuff okay for her while shes that small? I put some other chunks of that food but she went to them and wouldnt eat it. Could the chunks be too big for her? For size reference I have an inch long chromis and her body is the same size not including fins.

 

[littlefoxx]

For size reference my maroon female is 2 inches, the lion is smaller than her.

 

[lion king]

Chunks could be too large but the food does have to be motion. Mysis would not be substantial enough, they will need much more substance. PE mysis is a meaty mysis that would be ok for a small lion, but you would have to get them eating like an equivalence of 1/2 to almost a full cube size in one eating. Some lions will feed from a pipette/baster. Even PE mysis would only be ok occasionally. They will never catch enough food from the water column and many get misled by them catching catching a few pieces here and there. They likely eat more at a sitting than most think, little ones will grow pretty quickly the 1st year or so.They can eat pretty large pieces but sometimes can be intimidated at first, and it is better to feed smaller items.

 

[littlefoxx]

Ah okay. Do you think that I should try to break the food I listed in the original post into smaller pieces? Or should I get her some of the PE mysis?

 

[lion king]

Ah okay. Do you think that I should try to break the food I listed in the original post into smaller pieces? Or should I get her some of the PE mysis?

Chop up the food you have and try, but pe mysis is a good food to try. Don't be surprised if they end up being difficult to feed dead foods, they can sometimes have a reset when moved. Use a feeding stick or pipette to keep the food suspended in the water column and moving.

 

[littlefoxx]

Chop up the food you have and try, but pe mysis is a good food to try. Don't be surprised if they end up being difficult to feed dead foods, they can sometimes have a reset when moved. Use a feeding stick or pipette to keep the food suspended in the water column and moving.

Gotcha! I will for sure try that and if not try the PE mysis

 

[littlefoxx]

@lion king so Ive been having trouble getting my lion to eat that chunky food I mentioned. She shows no interest in it at all even in small pieces. She does however devour a whole cube of hikiri’s ocean plankton (defrosted and floating around of course). Is this okay for her to eat as far as nutrition? She does also eat some of the mysis shrimp that I feed my other fish after she eats the plankton.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I don’t personally keep lion fish, but my understanding is that many predator fish can eat themselves to death if over fed. Feeding every couple days is probably good for an adult. I would wonder if a juvenile might need smaller more frequent meals? Hopefully an expert on the species will jump in.

Unfortunately not always the case. But yes many fish can. Large predatory fish such as puffers typically don’t die from overeating but it is super easy for them to overeat and then they will often regurgitate the food or slow down their metabolism, not swim a lot, and breathe really heavily! And as a results it is one very unhappy fish.

 

[AydenLincoln]

A lot of times they will go on hunger strikes or refuse to eat anything but live foods. It’s sometimes very hard to impossible to get them to eat frozen or prepared foods and if that’s the case you can feed feeder shrimp or small feeder fish. Make sure to feed any prepared foods in small chunks and as tempting as it is only feed small portions and don’t cave into the begging face no matter how cute it is. Also I’m sure you know this but be careful of their highly venomous spines and don’t go sticking your hands bare or not in the tank.

 

[lion king]

@lion king so Ive been having trouble getting my lion to eat that chunky food I mentioned. She shows no interest in it at all even in small pieces. She does however devour a whole cube of hikiri’s ocean plankton (defrosted and floating around of course). Is this okay for her to eat as far as nutrition? She does also eat some of the mysis shrimp that I feed my other fish after she eats the plankton.

While any of the foods you mentioned may be ok temporarily, it will never sustain them long. They will need chunky bits of food fed in a gorge type fashion. After a feeding you should see a little bulge in their belly, a little bulge. Feeding these types of foods , they are literally slowly starving, not getting enough calories or nutrients. At the size of your lion If you are feeding properly you can literally chart their growth from week to week. As I have mentioned this is a common mistake many make caring for lions, there is just no way they will catch enough of that type of food to sustain long.

 

[littlefoxx]

While any of the foods you mentioned may be ok temporarily, it will never sustain them long. They will need chunky bits of food fed in a gorge type fashion. After a feeding you should see a little bulge in their belly, a little bulge. Feeding these types of foods , they are literally slowly starving, not getting enough calories or nutrients. At the size of your lion If you are feeding properly you can literally chart their growth from week to week. As I have mentioned this is a common mistake many make caring for lions, there is just no way they will catch enough of that type of food to sustain long.

Ah okay, what would you recommend for her? She eats frozen fine its almost like she just doesnt like that soecific food

 

[lion king]

Ah okay, what would you recommend for her? She eats frozen fine its almost like she just doesnt like that soecific food

Dwarf lions can be challenging you'll just have to try different foods and different methods to see what they respond to, here's a thread of the dead foods I feed. There are many other threads I've written about the care of dwarf lions, you can click my name and "find all threads". They do eat alot and should be noticeably growing after a couple of weeks.

Lion King's dead food recommendations

I'm a health nut if you haven't noticed, this also translates to my pets. Today I will cover some of the dead foods I feed and why, with some nutritional info that I recall off the top of my head. This is by no means all the foods you can feed, these are just the ones I include in my feedings...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[lion king]

While you are trying to get them onto other foods, you can try the pipette method. Take a pipette and cut the end off so the food can flow better, use the foods they are eating now. It's easier if the pumps are on feed mode or off, gently squeeze some of the food towards the lion. After a while they will relate the pipette to the food and come up to eat right from the end. You can start changing the food once they get used to it and use a baster if you are worried about getting stung. You can mince various seafoods and have them come up and take the food right from the baster. Over time the fuzzy will take chunky food and it will be much easier to feed them with a feeding stick, hemostats, or tongs. A couple of my lions come to the top and I can just drop food in and they chase it down, the other 2 are much more difficult and 1 eats live only. Check out the vids in this thread showing hemo and pipette feeding of one of my waspfish.

Pygmy red rooster waspfish Care tips

I've had a trio of little cuties for 3 years now; I've seen an explosion of interest and new additions of these guys of late. I've also seen some struggles and confusion of care and what to expect from really, a unique little predator. Yes these guys are predators, they are in the Scorpaenidae...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[littlefoxx]

While you are trying to get them onto other foods, you can try the pipette method. Take a pipette and cut the end off so the food can flow better, use the foods they are eating now. It's easier if the pumps are on feed mode or off, gently squeeze some of the food towards the lion. After a while they will relate the pipette to the food and come up to eat right from the end. You can start changing the food once they get used to it and use a baster if you are worried about getting stung. You can mince various seafoods and have them come up and take the food right from the baster. Over time the fuzzy will take chunky food and it will be much easier to feed them with a feeding stick, hemostats, or tongs. A couple of my lions come to the top and I can just drop food in and they chase it down, the other 2 are much more difficult and 1 eats live only. Check out the vids in this thread showing hemo and pipette feeding of one of my waspfish.

Pygmy red rooster waspfish Care tips

I've had a trio of little cuties for 3 years now; I've seen an explosion of interest and new additions of these guys of late. I've also seen some struggles and confusion of care and what to expect from really, a unique little predator. Yes these guys are predators, they are in the Scorpaenidae...

www.reef2reef.com

Okay cool! Thanks for all the resources, I shall start reading and I will try mixing that in her plankton. She really loves that stuff for some reason. Goes nuts