Guppies as feeder fish for a dwarf lion?

[Cahooligan]

im looking into getting a dwarf fuzzy lionfish, and im wondering what to feed him until i can get him onto prepared foods. i know ghost shrimp would be better, but ive never seen them for sale anywhere. where do people stand against feeding guppies?

[FMarini]

may i ask where you live. why no ghost shrimp
yes- ghost shrimp are the better of the freshwater feeder choices.
Yes you can feed guppies for a while, but try weaning this fish over as soon as its comfortable

[Cahooligan]

New jersey. And I've just never seen ghost shrimp for sale or advertised. Maybe they do. Id have to ask next time, but I was thinking guppies for a while til I could get it onto frozen silversides or krill...don't know how long that would take, if it even happens...

[Fibinotchi]

reefs2go has salt water ghost shrimp that work good.

[Cahooligan]

Ok thank you. I'm not really able to have things shipped due to schedule and such though...

[iamwrasseman]

silversides would be a better choice IMO.

[BTTRFLYGRL]

My Zebra ate frozen mysis from day one. Most Lionfish I came into contact with working at PA ate Mysis. There is also a frozen food by Omega (I believe) that is frozen whole shrimp. My lionfish ate those as well.
I would start with the frozen food, don't get anything live unless he refuses to eat for a long period of time. I don't like offering freshwater fish to saltwater predators as they don't offer the nutrition they need . Kind of like feeding potato chips all the time.
Good luck, I recently tore my tank down and it was really hard letting my Lionfish go :sad2: Awesome fish

[E36328i]

I have heard of people acclimating mollies and using them to feed their predators. In a marine environment they breed like crazy and can be gut loaded with HUFAs and such by feeding them a good diet.

[namxas]

First of all, it's possible that the fish may take prepared food from the start, but if not, get it conditioned and eating well for you using ghosties, guppies, or mollies. Give it a couple of weeks to a month, then begin weaning the fish. Don't worry, feeding your fish these items short-term won't hurt it at all.

I recommend leaving the krill completely out of the lion's diet, as there are better choices out there, and a steady diet of krill has been linked to lockjaw in lionfish. Go to the seafood counter at your grocery store or local fish market and buy small portions of table shrimp (uncooked, shell-on), SW fish (salmon, tuna, snapper, etc.), squid, scallops, etc. plus silversides. It's actually cheaper than the food at the LFS, and fresher to boot.

Feed your lion three times a week (we feed M-W-F) until it has a nice little "belly bulge", but not until it's stuffed.

HERE (http://www.lionfishlair.com/feedingtechniques/toolsofthetrade.shtml) is a good article on weaning predatory fish that should help. I strongly recommend using the modified feeding stick as your delivery tool. We use it exclusively for all of our lions and scorps.

Also, give Frank Marini's excellent LIONFISH CARE ARTICLE (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/fm/feature/index.php) a read...it's full of lots of great info. I also highly recommend his new book Lionfish and Other Scorpionfish. It has a lot of in-depth info in it, and IMHO is a must-have for lionkeepers.

[Cahooligan]

I've read both those pages already, and yes ill start with frozen mysis then, and if I have no luck, ill get a bunch of guppies in a spare tank, and feed them marine flake food, and feed the lion every other day, for a few weeks and then try to wean him. Ok sounds good. Thanks everyone for the information.