what to feed? lionfish and puffer

[Rim_Reefer]

I have a spiny puffer that wont eat what should i try to feed him? Also what should i feed a small volitan lionfish?

 

[aznt1217]

Few questions.

How long have they been in the tank for?

Which LFS did you buy it from?
And what have you tried to feed them? Please don't tell me you fed them feeder fish.

For the lionfish... Ghost shrimp would definitely work, but if you don't have that I would give krill a shot. Make sure you use tongs or something and wave it around in front of him to make it "look alive."

 

[Rim_Reefer]

ive had the puffer about 2 weeks and he was purchased from saltwaterfish.com. I have tried to feed him squid mysis and krill. he just looks at them and turns away. He is also very shy exspecially during the day. He spends most of his time hiding.

 

[aznt1217]

2 weeks. Hmmm that's pretty long. Try dipping the squid or mysis in cyclop-eeze or arctipods and let it be covered with it. These two foods are very good for finicky eaters.

Are you spot feeding?

What about the lionfish. What's going on with him?

 

[Domboski]

Try feeding your spiney box puffer formula I and II pellets (medium size). For puffers, spiney box puffers can be a little skiddish in the beginning. Frozen mysis should be tried as well. Try leaving small pieces of squid hanging on a clip suctioned to the inside wall too.

As for the lion, you need to feed them live foods until you get them eating frozen. Try ordering the feeder shrimp from Liveaquaria or Sachs Aquaculture. In the meantime, try frozen silversides. If it has been that long since it ate, go buy some live feeder minnows and feed them to the lion. Be sure to take any un-eaten minnows out of the tank as they will die pretty quickly in saltwater. I don't recommend minnows as a long term food but that lion needs to eat something.

 

[Domboski]

BTW, How big is the puffer?

 

[cowfish]

As above for the puffer. As for the volitan - I've never seen one that didn't readily take to prepared/frozen foods. Depending on its size feed the lion mysis, krill, pieces of table shrimp, silversides, any marine fish meat (but easy on the tuna), etc. All foods should be soaked in Selcon and/or Vitachem prior to feeding.

 

[JLAudio]

I had a spiny puffer in the past and had the same problem, I tried almost every frozen food (mysis, clams,s ilversides) I just couldnt get him to eat

 

[aznt1217]

Dom chime in on this if I am wrong but... would black mollies work?

 

[Domboski]

Dom chime in on this if I am wrong but... would black mollies work?

Yes. A little more costly than minnows but for sure. Any fish that fits in the mouth of the lionfish works.

I have kept many lions in the past and definitely had a few that wouldn't take frozen foods at first.

 

[ClosetFishGeek]

I agree with domboski...

 

[cowfish]

Huh. Guess I've just been lucky then.

 

[Rim_Reefer]

Ok the lion ate silversides today but the puffer still wont eat. He is about 3 inches long. I hung some squid on a clip where he usually hangs out and he just looked at it and moved on. All the other fish ate it within an hour after that.

 

[Domboski]

That's good news on the lionfish. You'll have to keep at it with the puffer. I'm not sure if you tried this yet but buy some fresh shimp and cut it up to small bite sized pieces. Put a pirce on a toothpick and hang it on the clip.

 

[Killerdrgn]

Throw in a crab or snail or something to get the puffer to eat.