Dwarf lionfish battling to swallow

mikeproux · Dec 25, 2023

Hi All. I have had my dwarf lionfish for 8 months now and he has always eaten well (frozen foods). Over the last week though he cannot swallow the food. He takes it in and the battles for about 30 seconds before spitting it out and sonetimes trying again on the same piece. He is about 3 inches long and the pieces are relatively small. May small fingernail size. I am desperate, can anybody offer any advice please.

lion king · Dec 25, 2023

What have you been feeding him, this can be a sign of nutritional deficiencies.

mikeproux · Dec 25, 2023

Hi mate. Thanks for the response. Up to about 3 months ago he was on frozen fish (whitebait) and then he seemed to lose interest in the fish so I started giving him frozen krill which he would snap up no problem until about 7 days ago when he started coughing them up. I then went back to fish (Lance Fish) but he coughs this up just the same. On Saturday (3 days ago) he managed to get one small piece of fish down (about double the size of his eye). Also on Saturday I managed to get two small live glass shrimp which He snapped up and kept down no problem. Since then I have been trying frozen fish, krill and white shrimp and he eagerly takes these but can’t keep them down. I manage to see down his throat when he is coughing them up and can see nothing untoward except the piece of food which sometimes does “appear” to be stuck to the floor of his mouth. So he last ate 3 days ago (1 small piece of fish and two small glass shrimp). Ps - He still looks healthy and energetic.

lion king · Dec 25, 2023

Feeding these guys a dead only diet long term can be tricky. They may eat for survival but will eventually start refusing food when it doesn't meet their nutritional demands. The food you are feeding has a high amount of thiaminese and not containing the good fats they need, omega 3. They snapped up the live glass shrimp because it met their needs, I would continue to offer these and start offering other dead foods like a fatty fish, mollusks. I would keep krill and dead shrimp to a minimum, and no freshwater fish. You can offer live brackish fish like guppies and mollies, your lfs may keep them in fresh water, thats ok. It's good he is still eating and looking and acting healthy. It's important to get his nutritional stores back in order, if not, they will start this cycle until they stop eating for good.

You can click my name and "find all threads" for alot of info on lions. Some food recommendations and why thiaminese can be deadly.

EDIT; They also do best fed a couple of times a week, not every day. A little one like yours maybe every other day.

mikeproux · Dec 25, 2023

lion king said:
Feeding these guys a dead only diet long term can be tricky. They may eat for survival but will eventually start refusing food when it doesn't meet their nutritional demands. The food you are feeding has a high amount of thiaminese and not containing the good fats they need, omega 3. They snapped up the live glass shrimp because it met their needs, I would continue to offer these and start offering other dead foods like a fatty fish, mollusks. I would keep krill and dead shrimp to a minimum, and no freshwater fish. You can offer live brackish fish like guppies and mollies, your lfs may keep them in fresh water, thats ok. It's good he is still eating and looking and acting healthy. It's important to get his nutritional stores back in order, if not, they will start this cycle until they stop eating for good.

You can click my name and "find all threads" for alot of info on lions. Some food recommendations and why thiaminese can be deadly.

EDIT; They also do best fed a couple of times a week, not every day. A little one like yours maybe every other day.

Thanks so much for the advice it gives me a bit of hope. Going to see if I can get some more glass shrimp this morning

mikeproux · Dec 28, 2023

Hi mate. Got a whole lot of glass shrimp about 1” to 1-1/2” inch long and keeping them obviously in a separate tank. Gave the lion two which he cornered and snapped up yesterday. This morning I found that one of the shrimp had died so I gave it to the fuzzy. He snapped it up just as if it were alive. However I can see the shrimps feeler still sticking out of his mouth but he appears comfortable and is not trying to swallow or spit it out. He is about 4” long. How many of these shrimp should I be giving him in one sitting? Should I be concerned about the shrimp still in his mouth and apparently not swallowed yet. Been about an hour now.

mikeproux · Dec 28, 2023

See video

lion king · Dec 28, 2023

mikeproux said:
Hi mate. Got a whole lot of glass shrimp about 1” to 1-1/2” inch long and keeping them obviously in a separate tank. Gave the lion two which he cornered and snapped up yesterday. This morning I found that one of the shrimp had died so I gave it to the fuzzy. He snapped it up just as if it were alive. However I can see the shrimps feeler still sticking out of his mouth but he appears comfortable and is not trying to swallow or spit it out. He is about 4” long. How many of these shrimp should I be giving him in one sitting? Should I be concerned about the shrimp still in his mouth and apparently not swallowed yet. Been about an hour now.

Likely no worries, the length of the antennae just extends from his gut, eventually it should go down. How many depends on how big the lion is, and how big the shrimp are. It is ok to feed until you see a nice little bulge in his belly. If the shrimp are not terribly huge compared to the lion, he will stop eating when full, and overfeeding shouldn't be an issue.