Odd lionfish eating behaviour?

[RDHDDRAGON]

Hello,

I have two Volitans in a 125 cube. They both took to frozen very well and eat a variety of meats.

We make our own food it has shrimp, eel, octopus, squid, cod, mysis shrimp, silversides, oysters, plankton, scallops, brine shrimp, phytoplankton, nori and cyclopeeze in it. I thaw out a chunk and feed them the bigger pieces of meat with a giant pair of tweezers.

I hand feed them because there are two triggers, a wrasse and a hawkfish in there that are faster than them and will steal their food.

THey have always ate normal until about two weeks ago. Now one of the volitans stuffs his cheeks like a squirrel. After i walk off, he swallows it but as long as i am standing there he will continue to fill his mouth and not swallow.

Is he just greedy? After I noticed what he was doing i started walking off, then back, to get him to swallow the food but it is a pain! Any ideas?

THanks!

[MrTuskfish]

Volitans are gluttons and can literally eat themselves to death. As long as there is food, they will usually scarf it up. Not healthy, though. If you feed the triggers at the other end of the tank, they may be quick enough to get fed while the lions are still searching. The size & shape of your tank makes this tough, however.
BTW; Triggers usually don't play nice with lions forever. As they mature, most triggers will find the Volitans flowing fins irresistible. IMO & IME, not a good combination.

[namxas]

To add to Tusky's great comments:

The problem may lie in your choice of tankmates...I suspect the lions feel as if they aren't getting their fair share of the food, esp. with a couple of triggers in the mix, so they take first, swallow later. If the wrasse is a Thalassoma sp. that's another genus of fish which IME, are all about stealing food from others.

How often do you feed the tank, and how much?

[RDHDDRAGON]

Ok, thank you to both of you. I just read last week about the trigger and lion. I had the triggers and i was given the lions. I would rather have the lions. One trigger is a huma ( i now know he has to go) the other is a niger, from what I read he should be ok, right?

YEs the sunset wrasse, another homeless adoption. He hides while i feed the tank so i hadn't worried about him. I may try to find him a new home, he is huge.

I feed the tank meat every 3-4 days (and the lions). I feed the other non-lions pellets every other day or so. WHen i feed the lions i only feed them 2-3 chunks, or until i see a little bulge in their tummy. I try not to over feed them because i know they will never stop eating.

[MrTuskfish]

Lions, like dogs and my ex-Mother-in Law, will always be ready to eat and their begging can be hard to deny.
Nigers are very fast growing Triggers and I'd never trust one with any Lion. They may not be the most aggressive trigger (certainly not the least, either), but are still aggressive fish. My Niger is about 9-10" and anything that moves is food or a plaything. this trigger will attack and eat any fish of the right size. Personally, I wouldn't keep any Trigger with any Lion, ever even the Xanthichthys genus; considered the least aggressive triggers. No trigger can be considered a non-aggressive fish. Also, almost all triggers get more aggressive as they mature.
I agree with Greg on the Thalassoma Wrasse. I really like these fish and have kept them with Volitans; but any lion that wasn't at the surface waiting for food would be tough to feed with them. I've never had a problem with these wrasse nipping lions, though. An area that really depends on the individual fish.

[RDHDDRAGON]

Thank you for your input guys!

I will find homes for the triggers then. I will keep the wrasse for awhile and watch him. The lions come to the top to eat when i walk up and the wrasse hides so i know he doesn't steal their food. It is actually hard to get food down to the wrasse due to the lions at the top.

Thanks again!