New lion

[Sonicblast12]

Passed on several fish waiting for a blood red volitan, and I finally found him today. Ran out of patience and almost bought a massive black volitan on Sunday...glad I waited.

He was a little grumpy about the flow at first, but after making some adjustments he's swimming laps around the tank.

Probably around 8 inches right now.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC03319-1-1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC03324.jpg

[SkullV]

Beautiful! I wish I had the room for one of these guys!

[DoubleM 10]

thats awsome what size tank you have him in?

[Sonicblast12]

55 qt.

[GrendelPrime76]

beautiful lion

[namxas]

SA-WEET specimen! Is it weaned?

[Sonicblast12]

Not yet. I'm thinking it will be a couple of days before food is on it's mind.

Plucked him out of a Petco tank the morning they got it in. So it got acclimated twice in a very short period of time. But it was at Petco long enough to get a dose of ich. In hypo qt right now, but was a lot more active yesterday. All pumps back on, surfing the current.

Dropped in a chunk of shrimp last night and it followed it all the way to the substrate, thought it over for a minute, and decided it wasn't time yet.

[sacremon]

Funny how food training can go. I've been feeding my lions with a feeding stick. If I have food on the stick, the volitans will be right at the water surface and snap the food from the stick immediately. If the same food falls into the water, not on the stick, he will look at it with interest, but will likely not eat it.

[Sonicblast12]

Double post

[Sonicblast12]

I'm thinking some fishing line theatrics should work.

[seahorsedreams]

Awesome!

[Sonicblast12]

Fishing line trick didn't work so far tonight. Looks interested but hasn't taken the plunge. I'll try again after lights out.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC03330.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC03344.jpg

Here are a couple with the flash on

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC03334.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC03337.jpg

[namxas]

Gorgeous lion, the coloration is striking.

We use a modified "stealth" feeding stick for all of our Scorpaenformes, large and small, and it works super well.

It's described in Tools of the Trade: Equipment & Techniques to Convert your Fish onto Frozen (http://www.lionfishlair.com/feedingtechniques/toolsofthetrade.shtml)

[Sonicblast12]

That's a great link, I was looking that over in another thread.

It's been about 4 days and it hasn't shown much interest in food. Admittedly I haven't been trying that hard. I'm staying patient...should be getting mighty hungry soon.

I do have a question since this is my first lion. What is the point where it's advisable to stop offering exclusively frozen and offer live food to maintain health? A week? Two?

Is that a setback in the weaning process?

[Mental1]

What many people do is start off with live in a net so the lion gets used to food being in the net. When the lion has been doing well with that for a few weeks you can then try frozen in the net. When I got my fu's I did not even try giving them frozen for 3 months. Then the first time I gave them frozen in the net they took it. Now with one the fus I can just drop frozen in and she eats it -- the other will do so occasionally but usually have to use the stick with him. My fuzzy is a pig and will eat whatever I drop in the tank.

[Sonicblast12]

It wasn't in Petco long enough to have eaten anything, hasn't eaten for me, and didn't eat during shipping so I figured it was been at least a week since it's eaten. So I caved and went and bought some minnows today.

Used your advice and put a live minnow into a net dipped it into the lion tank. The lion looked at the net, saw the minnow swim out and it was like an electric shock went through the tank. Minnow vaporized. Fed two more in the same manner.

Went back about 20 minutes later and held up the net in front of the tank, lion followed the net everywhere. Held up a larger and different colored net...nothing.

Smart fish.

[Mental1]

So what you can do is continue with the net and live food for a while and then try frozen. He will get it -- those guys are supposed to be one of the easier scorps to transition over. They just don't recognize dead stuff as food so you have to show them.

[Sonicblast12]

Not yet weaned, but responding a lot more to my presence.

Now we get a look at the "stop wiggling dead things in front of me and give me another feeder" dance.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC03369.jpg

[Sonicblast12]

Blasting frozen silversides out of the water column for the past couple of days. Looks like it's weaned. (From the minnows at least. Now I don't know what to do with the rest of the rosy reds.)

I'm just unsure of how much to feed...don't want to overdo it. Only takes a couple of silversides to produce a slight bulge in the belly, so I suppose I'll do that about 3x a week. Seems to be what most recommend.

Thanks for the suggestions, worked quicker than I could have hoped.

[namxas]

Very cool...volitans do tend to be an easy "wean". It's always nice when the fish gets with the program.

As for the rosy reds, once your fish is a solid feeder, you can toss a rosy in once a month till they're gone, that won't harm the fish, esp if you gut load them with a good-quality marine flake food.

[Mental1]

Congratulations! I feed my lions both live and frozen. But I raise saltwater mollies and sometimes I get shrimp in. They get a bit of everything!

[Sonicblast12]

Eating out of my fingers now. Does barrel rolls at the surface when the freezer door is open. I need to get a video of that.

Awesome fish.

[robot2222]

sweet fish . awsome lopoking and seems like alot of fun .

[Sonicblast12]

A couple of feeding videos. I guess you need to click to view.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/th_IMG_0034.jpg (http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/?action=view&current=IMG_0034.mp4)

http://vid156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/th_IMG_0035.jpg (http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/?action=view&current=IMG_0035.mp4)

[namxas]

I do have a question since this is my first lion. What is the point where it's advisable to stop offering exclusively frozen and offer live food to maintain health? A week? Two?

Is that a setback in the weaning process?

I don't think you received a direct answer to this question. The answer is, once your fish is weaned and eating a good, varied diet (not just silversides), there's no need to feed it live prey at all. In fact, there's a much higher probability of your lion catching something from the live feeders.

Get your lion eating raw, shell-on table shrimp (cut to approprate size), SW fish flesh (tuna, salmon, snapper, smelt, etc.), squid, scallops, lobster, etc. All of these foods are readily available at your local fish market or grocer's seafood counter, and they're usually cheaper in small amounts than the food at the LFS.

Avoid krill, esp. freeze-dried krill, as a diet high in these foods has been linked to lockjaw in many predatory species, esp. lions.

Personally, I'd make the food pieces about half the size of those silversides. Although lions can swallow large prey, they prefer smaller prey items and it's easier for them to digest them.

HTH

[Sonicblast12]

All of the rosy reds died, so those are already off the menu. For whatever reason I can't keep freshwater fish alive. My venture into goldfish was a disaster.

It will eat table shrimp as long as it has a silverside shape.

[namxas]

Ah...so the weaning is still a WIP. You might consider enriching your silversides every so often, esp. till the fish broadens its taste.

Here's how we do it:

How to Stuff Silversides (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOJdDlHD_mY)

[Sonicblast12]

Ah...so the weaning is still a WIP.

Yes and no. Getting more variety all of the time. Chomped it's way through a cloud of mysis tonight. (That was a surprise, it was actually intended for his little trigger tankmate) Hit or miss on raw shrimp. Ate some clam meat a few days ago. Won't touch squid.

Getting there.

Seems like it's coloration is changing, more of a rust color these days. Something to do with the rust colored diatoms in the QT?

[Sonicblast12]

I don't think you received a direct answer to this question. The answer is, once your fish is weaned and eating a good, varied diet (not just silversides), there's no need to feed it live prey at all. In fact, there's a much higher probability of your lion catching something from the live feeders.

I probably didn't word my question properly. I meant to ask how long I should wait to offer live while still weaning....to avoid starvation of the animal.

Never had any intention of offering live after it's weaned.

[samdaman]

(That was a surprise, it was actually intended for his little trigger tankmate)

We don't want this happening in the future :sad2:


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1542493

[suds1421]

What a great looking lion! Glad to hear weaning is progressing, hope he does well!

[Sonicblast12]

We don't want this happening in the future :sad2:


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1542493

Just sharing a QT for a few weeks. It'll be ok.

[Sonicblast12]

Lion is now eating large pellets. Wasn't expecting that, but I'll take it.

Turns out that brilliant red coloration was probably just stress from acclimation. Has maintained the rust coloration.

When on it's rock perch, shows a dark red/black combination that's really striking. I'll try to get a picture.

[Sonicblast12]

Just snapping updated pictures of all of my fish today, and boy has this lion changed in the few months I've had him. Much much bigger and a totally different coloration.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04063.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04062.jpg



And here's his tankmate. I'm well aware of the sticky at the top of this forum, but the Lei is too aggressive to be housed with anything near it's size. Already been relocated twice, but doesn't give a 2nd look to the lion. I'm just hoping it's exuberance at feeding time doesn't get it poked, there have been a couple of close calls.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04070.jpg

[namxas]

Sa-WEET!!! That volitans is a real looker. There's nothing like an adult volitans for sheer "presence".

FWIW, you're right to worry about the trigger getting skewered...way back before anyone knew better, I kept my first volitans with a picasso, and the trigger got nailed trying to swoop in on the lion. It died within a month.

One thing you might consider is to target feed the lion with a stick. That way the trigger might be less inclined to Bogart the lion's food.

[Sonicblast12]

What's interesting is that I can feed the trigger small pellets and the lion doesn't acknowledge their existence. When I increase the pellet size...that's when there are issues. The lion eats 3mm NLS and spirulina disks with gusto. I don't know how common that is, but I feel fortunate. I've actually cut the "meat" down to only once a week or so.

The lion follows my hand everywhere, so I can distract it on one side of the tank and feed the other side.

But when feeding the lion larger pellets it recognizes as food, it has to be done one or two at a time. That's when the trigger starts getting in the way.

Maybe I could pop in the small pellets first and then target feed the lion the larger.

[seahorsedreams]

I personally wouldn't substitute fresh fish flesh with pellets. They won't be enough to sustain a large carnivore.

It's not an uncommon occurrence though, I've had lions eat medicated pellets.


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Sent from Tapatalk, so please forgive grammar and spelling :-)

[Wolverine]

Already been relocated twice, but doesn't give a 2nd look to the lion. I'm just hoping it's exuberance at feeding time doesn't get it poked, there have been a couple of close calls.


Short term that's fine. Long term I'd be worried for the lionfish.

[Sonicblast12]

Long term the lion won't fit in this tank anyway, still in the 55. They will be separated soon.


I personally wouldn't substitute fresh fish flesh with pellets. They won't be enough to sustain a large carnivore.

It's not an uncommon occurrence though, I've had lions eat medicated pellets.

Would twice a week be enough? I don't want to overfeed.

[namxas]

We feed our lions and scorps 3x a week (M-W-F), and they do very well on this schedule (I'm "Mr. seahorsedreams", BTW). Just feed till you see a modest "belly bulge", don't stuff the lion.

A healthy P. volitans can go a month without eating easily, but of course, we don't like to see this happen. Lions are binge/fast feeders in the wild, so eating daily isn't an issue like it is with some fish. However, if the lion is TOO hungry, things may start to disappear from the tank.

[Sonicblast12]

One question for the lionfish-whisperers. Should I cut it out with the pellets entirely, or just feed flesh more often?

Water change time, the black/red stress coloration returns. Also colors up like this when hanging upside down on it's powerhead perch.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04132.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04133.jpg

[LisaD]

not sure if I'm a lionfish-whisperer, but IMO, the more variety the better. While pellets shouldn't be the mainstay of the lion's diet, I'd keep feeding them to supplement your other foods.

[seahorsedreams]

not sure if I'm a lionfish-whisperer, but IMO, the more variety the better. While pellets shouldn't be the mainstay of the lion's diet, I'd keep feeding them to supplement your other foods.

I agree. You never know when it will come in handy. My black foot lion over came 2 raging bacterial infections by taking antibiotic pellets.

I stuff the pellets into the cavity of Silversides for the larger preds. I consider them vitamins. Store it properly and don't keep it for tooooo long, and they will be a healthy addition.

I'm just seeing the new pictures now. He's a beauty!



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Sent from Tapatalk, so please forgive grammar and spelling :-)

[Wolverine]

not sure if I'm a lionfish-whisperer, but IMO, the more variety the better.

I think this is a good approach for almost all fishes, not just lionfishes.

[Sonicblast12]

Tonight I was messing with the lighting of the tank and it reminded me of an acclimation incident with this fish. I was too ashamed to tell this story when I first got the lion, but now I'll come clean since it appears I didn't kill him.

It was a tight squeeze, but I drip acclimated the lion in a gallon water pitcher. Dripped it full a couple of times, poured it out, everything going as normal. This tank is on a countertop and I have bar stools pulled up to the tank. The stools are the type have backs to them and wrap around to the front. So the pitcher is sitting on one of these stools during acclimation.

I was ready to add the lion to the tank, when I moved the light fixture out of the way to open the glass top. Next thing I know, I hear a loud POP and am showered in the face and eyes with glass and powder. A 48" bulb had fallen out of the fixture and onto the back of the stool. It exploded and the powder and glass that didn't end up in my eyes ended up in the little gallon pitcher containing the lion.

I stood there stunned, my eyes burning like crazy. I didn't know what to do. I can't reach in and grab the fish, but it needs out of the chemical and glass hell ASAP. I consider pouring it in the tank. Bad idea, I'll never get the glass out and the chemicals could nuke it. I don't have a net big enough for the lion. My eyes! I can't pour out the pitcher in the sink...I don't have a way to get the lion out of the sink. Bathtub? Too far!

So my bright idea is to pour the pitcher out ONTO THE CARPET and push the lion into a bucket with an algae brush. Once I made that decision the lion went from pitcher to carpet to bucket to tank in about a second and a half.

Maybe that's the key to getting a "blood red volitan." :)

[Sonicblast12]

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04390.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04408.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04456.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/sonicblast12/DSC04417.jpg

[StephLionfish]

He's so pretty. I love the second pic in your last post.

Dang, got yourself a horror story! Hope everyone's ok...