[newellio]

i have had this lion fish for about 4 months now, it has always been a very aggressive eater, but in the last week or so it hasn't eaten for me and just seems to hang around the bottom of the tank, unaware of what is going on. The last thing i added to the tank was a stars and stripes puffer fish, but that was about 2 months ago. Other than that i have a naso tank, yellow tang, parrot fish, grouper, percula clown and an aglea goby. I check the levels of the tank and nothing has changed, i even did a major water change (50 of 125 gal) this weekend.

The lion also has refused to goto its normal hiding spots. It used to spend a majority of its time in one of my caves.

Anyone seen this behavior before or have any ideas of how to get it to eat. It usually eats frozen shrimp, krill and loves the frozen brine shirmps. It used to eat the whole cube whenever i dropped it in.

Thanks,
tony

[Ninong]

Tony,

Since you haven't received a response from anyone else, I sent a PM to Dr. Frank Marini and asked him to check out your post. He is very experienced with lionfish.

[FMarini]

Tony-
its been my experience that the biggest problem/failure w/ lionfish is nutrition. In fact most lion that exhibt this behavior (anorexia) have been fed diets which eventually cause food disinterest and results in all types of problems.
first things first.....what to do w/ your lion. Describe the lion in detail, any reddness, any tears, rips, nick, or any obvious problems? eyes are clear? fins react to your hand?
Since you claim the water parameters are good and hes not being harassed by tankmates, I would suspect that he has zero interest in food. so if he hasn't been fed in a while, try live foods, live ghost shrimp or goldfish (problem is your other fish will go for these foods first) so if you do have an established Q tank or some way of isolating the fish we can focus on it.
If the lion shows no interest in the live foods, i would consider two things, 1) freshwater dips, often times freshwater dips result in bowel evacuation of the fish and if the lion is impacted this will help, next if after the freshwater dips do nothing, we might have to consider antibiotic treatment

Next, what caused this problem...my guess is what your feeding this fish. You need to feed this guy what it eats in the wild, shrimp w/ shell on, small chunks of white fish, really anything from the seafood section of the grocery store, rotate foods frequently, and suppliment the foods w/ selcon and vitamins
If this is allows i would like to link 2 articles (feel free to remove them if this is inappropiate)
Here an article on keeping lionfish
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.htm
Heres an article on nutrition of FW feeder by R toonen
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...003/invert.htm
good luck w/ the fish
frank

[newellio]

The lion looks the same as i bought it. it is a violatin Lion. It has no physical signs on something being wrong. eyes are fine and when i put my hand next to it on the glass it does move. It has been moving more within the last couple of days, but still has refused to eat, atleast when i'm around. I will goto the the fish store today and try getting those otehr foods. I will try to update this with my progress.

Thanks.

[Thislittlefishy]

Ohhh, dont mean to hijack this thread but I have a similar problem with my volitans.
He used to feed so well but now just lies on the bottom of the tank 'gasping'.
He has no interest in any food, he's not blind as I see his eyes following me around when I move. He just lies in the cave at the back feeling sorry for himself.

There appears to be some redness on his spines and he keeps his dorsal spines raised almost permanently.
I feed Mysis, raw shrimp, whitebait, marine mix frozen etc so he has a varied diet.
The water was tested in an aquatic store and was perfect
He just seems to have no interest in any type of food, when I put my hand in with his favourite: raw large chunks of shrimp, he swims away.

[leebca]

Keep in mind that proper nutrition means more than just variety. The 'variety' has to be proper for the fish.

This fish eats whole marine foods -- not just flesh. So its diet must consist of whole marine foods.

Next, the diet must contain some vitamin additives. A complete and more-or-less potent vitamin supplement with many vitamins is the best to use. It should be used every other feeding.

However, the problem now is getting the fish to eat after hitting this slump. It is usually an uphill battle, but possible to turn it around.

Try some live foods and see if the fish is 'hunting.' Small Chromis is good for this. A small hermit crab pulled out of its shell is another good choice.

I would enthusiastically encourage you to stop putting your hands into the aquarium. The bacteria and oils on your hands don't belong in that water.

I wouldn't rule out illness, considering its continual display of being stressed (raised dorsal fin). Check all sources of stress including water quality and environment.