training to eat frozen

had the same problem with my lion I wish I could help you out! And it sucks beacuse I tried the string thing too and it gets your hopes up soooo high, but then they dont want it.... it sucks!

Yeah they can be a serious pain to get to eat frozen. There has been a few members on here that have had success with this. If I am not mistaken Adam from the pres was one of them. Do a search for " lion fish frozen " and I am sure you can find some info. Contact one them and see if they have any advise. In the mean time continue what you are doing and just tell the fam it is the circle of life hahaha. You can buy ghost shrimp if it makes them feel any better. Although they are not the most nutritious meal it is kinda less heart breaking then fish. They are super cheap as well and you can even find them at Walmart. Hehehe

For hard to feed lions it may take quite a bit longer then 5 days.  I would wait a few more days and try again.  They can go quite a while without feeding.  Sometime feeding them dead guppied will get them used to eating other dead food.

I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard that gently rubbing the live food with the dethawed frozen food you planned to feed helps get them used to ingesting that scent.

I wrote this on another forum about a year or more ago. I still have the Lionfish in question btw and now he eats ANYTHING. In fact right before I sat down to look at the board I fed my fish some flake and he ate some of the bigger pieces. Be warned though that Fu Manchu lions are some of the most stubborn lions to get on frozen. It may take you around 30-60 days in order ween him.


From 2011:

I have a dwarf lion that I've had for about a year. They can be tough to get onto frozen food. If the LFS told you he was eating frozen they were probably lying - I never believe it unless I see it with my own eyes. Mysis are usually pretty small to feed to a lion of any size. Mine eats frozen but ignores Mysis completely. Here is what I would do (and have done to ween a few lions) -
Get some ghost shrimp. I see that you already have that planned. Ghost shrimp are fresh water so you don't need to worry about having them in a salt water tank. I just use a mason jar with an airstone in it.

Make sure you gut load the ghost shrimp before you feed. I like to use high quality pellets and a few mysis shrimp. Once the ghost shrimps bellies are no long see through you are ready. Important too that you change the water on this mason jar often as trying to gut load them can foul the water. Luckily since it's just a mason jar I usually just pour half of it out and top off with tap water. I don't take good care of the shrimp because on average they don't last longer then a few days.

I like to make a "designated" feeding net. I scoop the shrimp into it and turn the pumps off on my SW tank. I place the net by the lion and kinda wiggle it around till he notices the shrimp inside. The first week or so you do this it'll be frustrating because he may ignore the net. He may not see the shrimp till after it swims out of the net. This is OK. Keep associating the feeding net with the shrimp. Pretty soon the lion will see that net and swim up to the top to get his meal.

I feed in this manner for about 2-3 weeks. Feeding 2-3 times a week. I then FREEZE a few ghost shrimp. Simply scoop them out, place them in a plastic bag and put in freezer. When feeding to the lion defrost them in a cup of your tank water (lions can be sensitive to food temp). Your lion should eat it at this point. If for some reason he doesn't eat it SKIP a feeding. Your lion will be ok to go awhile without food - in the wild they can sometimes go up to 30 days without food - then try again on the next feeding. Basically keep doing this till he eats. Most lions I've done this on will take the first frozen one but the one I have now was super stubborn and made me skip two feedings.

Feed the frozen shrimp in the net 2-3 times. I then try to switch to silversides or other meaty frozen foods. With silver sides I cut off the head and just feed that, a whole silverside is too big for a dwarf lion so they need smaller chunks. However the first few times sometimes they won't eat it unless they can see the eyes. Save the body for later as once you get them weened they'll eat any part no matter what. Feed the silverside in the net same as the ghost shrimp. He should take it. If he doesn't skip a feeding again and try a few days later.

I prefer the net method as it's easier. You can do all the above with a feeding stick instead of net but I really don't like putting live shrimp on the feeding stick. Funny thing is I use a small white net. My lion knows when he see's that he's getting some food. I have another small blue net, if he see's that one? He ignores it. Just make sure that the net you use for feeding is only used for that. I have heard of people using the same net to put fish into the tank and well that rarely ends well.

Remember be patient! Dwarf lions can be STUBBORN! If you need to revert a step that is OK. I've had some lions eat frozen fine and some that I've had to go back a step after successfully moving forward one.

Good luck!

thanks for the input work has me in and out of town for weeks at a time. so being consistent with him isnt happening.

well in that case i am right on track

well when i am around its at least once a week. no one in town carries ghost shrimp so im trying it with small feeders that look similiar in size and color to silversides