Leaf fish feeding regime

DanSavesTheDay · May 23, 2020

Just added a yellow leaf fish today who is already eating frozen.

Anyone with experience feeding them that might have any suggestions? The lfs was feeding him 3 times a week and I'd like to hear from someone with experience keeping one.

Also will they feed during moonlights? It would be easier to feed him during moonlights when I feed frozen so my other fish don't steal food before I can get it to him/her.

lion king · May 23, 2020

Feeding every other day at the most, it depends you may find every 3 days better. Each is different, they are mostly sedendary so I like thembto start cruising around a bit before I feed them. Feeding time can be anytime. There is a risk of over feeding, I just spoil my scorps, but be careful not to overfeed. Him cruising around is likebhim hunting, so he's likely hungry. You'll get the hint after a while.

I bit of warning, these guys may eat dead for a while and just stop. If you wait too long and just think he is going through a hunger strike, he may never eat again. I've never seen one live more than several months on a dead only diet. Without the inclusive of live additions to his diet, long term success is very unlikely.

DanSavesTheDay · May 23, 2020

lion king said:
Feeding every other day at the most, it depends you may find every 3 days better. Each is different, they are mostly sedendary so I like thembto start cruising around a bit before I feed them. Feeding time can be anytime. There is a risk of over feeding, I just spoil my scorps, but be careful not to overfeed. Him cruising around is likebhim hunting, so he's likely hungry. You'll get the hint after a while.

I bit of warning, these guys may eat dead for a while and just stop. If you wait too long and just think he is going through a hunger strike, he may never eat again. I've never seen one live more than several months on a dead only diet. Without the inclusive of live additions to his diet, long term success is very unlikely.

Thank you! I will supplement his diet with some live feeder shrimp every week or two to make sure he is getting proper nutrition.

DanSavesTheDay · Jul 1, 2020

lion king said:
Feeding every other day at the most, it depends you may find every 3 days better. Each is different, they are mostly sedendary so I like thembto start cruising around a bit before I feed them. Feeding time can be anytime. There is a risk of over feeding, I just spoil my scorps, but be careful not to overfeed. Him cruising around is likebhim hunting, so he's likely hungry. You'll get the hint after a while.

I bit of warning, these guys may eat dead for a while and just stop. If you wait too long and just think he is going through a hunger strike, he may never eat again. I've never seen one live more than several months on a dead only diet. Without the inclusive of live additions to his diet, long term success is very unlikely.

Update.. He's spoiled and by that I mean at the LFS he would take frozen but here he will throw himself backwards even if it is a fresh dead shrimp lol. I've been giving him 1-2 live shrimp every 2 days and he seems pretty well trained and even comes to the glass when he sees me and even begs when he sees the net outside the tank. Definitely a fave fish so far and he is helping keep my nitrates between 0-5 in a ULNS which is good for my SPS since I was struggling to keep nitrates up. They are freshwater ghost shrimp and I am hoping to start breeding saltwater ghosts when I get a 10 gallon set up.

Any other tips you have to keep him happy healthy and long-lived would be awesome!

lion king · Jul 1, 2020

The freshwater shrimp we call ghosties(ghost shrimp) are actually a variety of shrimp that lives in fresh, brackish, and salt. They tend to travel better and live longer when kept in fresh water, the variety of saltwater ghosts you get may actually may be the same species, or a close cousin. You may find it so much easier and more successful to keep a simple freshwater tank or container with a sponge filter for "fresh" water ghosties. They will easily live the saltwater long enough to be eaten, on occasion I'll even see one that escaped days later. I feed mine Omega One micro pellets, currently I have 9 fish eating live foods, some of them with me for more than 8 years. "Fresh water" ghosties have been the main part of some of their diet.

The thing about these ambush predators, they may take dead for a while then just stop, and many times after a move there is a reset. But trust me, unless you can get sushi grade fresh seafood to feed him, and get him to take it, he will not live long on a dead only diet. You'll also need to feed the dead shrimp with the shells on and fish with skin like salmon.

Breeding ghosties may not be worth it, but if you wanted a food breeding project, breeding mollies would be a good one. Feeding him an appropriate size molly is highly recommended. When he gets larger, mollies may become his dominant diet. Mollies are the dominant part of my rhino's diet.

Still feeding him dead food that he will take is not a bad idea, Some of my lions and scorps will take a variety of dead foods, I'll will feed them what they will take, and it gets me by sometimes when their live food supply gets interrupted. Some of them will take one piece if they are hungry and get them to take it by surprise. Some will take dead food for a while, then just refuse it all together, then all of sudden eat it again. Currently my fu manchu pretty much has refused all dead for at least a couple of years. My rhino will only take one piece when I trick him into a quick feeding response, then weeks will go by before I can fool him again. he initially ate silversides and shrimp for months, then just stopped. The biggest thing is that you will jsut not be able to supply them with what they need nutritionally long term on a dead only diet.

Daniel@R2R · Jul 2, 2020

can we see a pic of him?

nereefpat · Jul 2, 2020

lion king said:
Breeding ghosties may not be worth it, but if you wanted a food breeding project, breeding mollies would be a good one.

What about cherry shrimp? They are supposed to be pretty easy to breed, compared to ghost shrimp.

lion king · Jul 2, 2020

nereefpat said:
What about cherry shrimp? They are supposed to be pretty easy to breed, compared to ghost shrimp.

Cherry shrimp are easy to breed but their small size and the demand you would never be able to keep up. If you wanted to do it as a project or as a supplemental addition it would be fine. A leaf fish could easily eat 20-50 cherry shrimp in a week, depending of their size.

nereefpat · Jul 2, 2020

lion king said:
Cherry shrimp are easy to breed but their small size and the demand you would never be able to keep up. If you wanted to do it as a project or as a supplemental addition it would be fine. A leaf fish could easily eat 20-50 cherry shrimp in a week, depending of their size.

They are small, for sure. I see ghost shrimp suggested all the time, but never cherry shrimp. The adults aren't *that* much smaller than ghost shrimp.

It would take some effort, though, compared to just buying ghost shrimp or feeder fish. Breeding, raising the shrimp long enough to make them a decent sized meal...just something I had been thinking about lately.