Help Getting lionfish to eat frozen

[Sexytang]

I’ve had a lionfish for several weeks now. When I first got him the person I got him from had him eating frozen shrimp. But for me he won’t eat anything but rosy feeders. How many days should i go without feeding do you think it will take for him to eat frozen. He stocks my tank and me when I come around for food he’s had one rosy in the past 3 days. He went after a peace of shrimp earlier but noticed it wasn’t a fish and swam away

 

[Han]

It can take a while, i wouldnt go more than a week without feeding him though (depending on his size). I started mine on live ghost shrimp and gradually moved to krill since they look similar. He would only take whole krill, partial pieces would make him suspicious. It took a lot of patience and wiggling to make it look “alive”. Once I switched him over to all dead I began feeding other, healthier frozen foods. Even when he is eating dead, live feedings are recommended when possible. What kind of lionfish is he and how big?

 

[Sexytang]

Black volitan and he’s prolly 5-6” long without wait

 

[C. Eymann]

Get a small diameter clear acrylic rod or a piece of rigid airline tubing and sharpen the end of it to spear the thawed frozen food and use it to move the food around like a prey item to get its interest/feed

 

[Han]

If he’s already eating rosies then do what C. Eymann said with a dead rosy. Once he starts taking dead rosies it should be relatively easy to get him on silversides.