Help!!

[stephenxbog]

I have a dwarf lionfish that I bought from the lfs last Friday so 6 days ago as of today. It ate a rosy red minnow at the fish store ( I saw it with my own eyes). I got it home, put it in a quarantine tank with coppersafe for a couple days just to be safe. Then put it in the display tank. He hasn’t eaten since the day I bought him. He acts like he want food, I’ll drop a rosy minnow in with him and he will turn and swim to it like he’s going to eat it but then turns away and swims off. What’s going on? I used brand new everything when setting up this tank ( new aragonite sand, brand new filter, new heater, new rock, and added beneficial bacteria as per directions) why is he not taking the food after 6 days?

 

[stephenxbog]

I have a dwarf lionfish that I bought from the lfs last Friday so 6 days ago as of today. It ate a rosy red minnow at the fish store ( I saw it with my own eyes). I got it home, put it in a quarantine tank with coppersafe for a couple days just to be safe. Then put it in the display tank. He hasn’t eaten since the day I bought him. He acts like he want food, I’ll drop a rosy minnow in with him and he will turn and swim to it like he’s going to eat it but then turns away and swims off. What’s going on? I used brand new everything when setting up this tank ( new aragonite sand, brand new filter, new heater, new rock, and added beneficial bacteria as per directions) why is he not taking the food after 6 days?

Water is 1.025 using a refractometer.

 

[dloberry]

Lionfish will act this way when first purchased or under stress. I started feeding my dwarf lionfish ghost shrimp using long tweezers. After I had him eating regularly using the tweezers I switched to frozen foods. Now i feed him only frozen

 

[stephenxbog]

Lionfish will act this way when first purchased or under stress. I started feeding my dwarf lionfish ghost shrimp using long tweezers. After I had him eating regularly using the tweezers I switched to frozen foods. Now i feed him only frozen

I only feed live to my other lionfish, and aim to do the same with this guy even if it mean feeding him mollys, clowns, or peppermint shrimp

 

[stephenxbog]

Lionfish will act this way when first purchased or under stress. I started feeding my dwarf lionfish ghost shrimp using long tweezers. After I had him eating regularly using the tweezers I switched to frozen foods. Now i feed him only frozen

Do yours go a week without eating when you first got yours?

 

[dloberry]

Do yours go a week without eating when you first got yours?

Not a week, but did go 6 days when first purchased. Try the ghost shrimp and just drop it in near him. Also sometimes feeding after the lights are out helps.

 

[stephenxbog]

Do yours go a week without eating when you first got yours?

Not a week, but did go 6 days when first purchased. Try the ghost shrimp and just drop it in near him. Also sometimes feeding after the lights are out helps.

Okay, that makes me feel better.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Okay, that makes me feel better.

I looked at the a video - the lion isn’t breathing fast, but it looks a bit pale and kind of agitated.

Are the rosy reds the right size?
Have you tried impaling a rosy red on a thin wire and try offering it to the lion head first and still wiggling?

Just an FYI - a couple of days of copper won’t help with anything, and if the dose was too high, that could put the lion off its feed.

 

[stephenxbog]

Okay, that makes me feel better.

I looked at the a video - the lion isn’t breathing fast, but it looks a bit pale and kind of agitated.

Are the rosy reds the right size?
Have you tried impaling a rosy red on a thin wire and try offering it to the lion head first and still wiggling?

Just an FYI - a couple of days of copper won’t help with anything, and if the dose was too high, that could put the lion off its feed.

I thought that maybe they were a tad to big but the one they fed at the fish store was an average size one and I tried the smallest ones I bought as feeders, and when I had him in a different tank I added some of the api melacure and pimacure and his color instantly came back but only for about 3 hours then right back to how he is now.