I got Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish

[savager]

Last night I got my Lionfish, it's about 2 or 3 inches, from my local member. He ordered one for me from his trusted supplier and he or she (has 6 stripes) is gorgeous. However, I don't have any live food so I couldn't see my new fish eating. I tried to give him frozen food like silverside and mysis but he didn't even look. I think I need a live food. Do you think any LFS has some kind of glass shrimp or small live shrimp? Or do I have to make a mail order?

Btw, I used my mechanical arm thing to persuade my prepared food, maybe I need to go get feeder stick.

I will try to put a picture tonight.

Thanks.

 

[FMarini]

cool -
You will most likely have to feed live ghost shrimp or guppies for the first few weeks, Fresh from the ocean lionfish don't readily take frozen foods. 6 stripes or less= female

have you read this article on keeping lionfish
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/fm/feature/index.php

 

[slowECUdiver]

my experience with fuzzy dwarf

my experience with fuzzy dwarf

i got a fuzzy dwarf several months back from a LFS. he was eating live in the store, so i brought some rosys and some ghost shrimp home with him. i didn't feed the first day, just let him get used to his new home. second and third days i offered some live food, which he promptly ate. that was the extent of his live food feedings...i then waited a few days and offered frozen foods (market shrimp, mysis, krill, and squid). he has yet to take the squid, but he will devour any shrimp, mysis or krill that i feed him.

FWIW, he never took to the feeding probe, perhaps because he's small and the piece of food was always too large (small pieces wouldn't stay on the probe). i just soak the food in a little zoe and toss it into the tank.

i'd give him/her a few days of offering frozen foods before resorting to live feeders. and if you must go the live feeder route, go with shrimp and feed them a ton of good flake and pellet food, otherwise they have no real nutritional value.

hope this helps. i love my fuzzy and he is and will always be my centerpiece fish, even tho he is shy at all times but feeding time.

 

[savager]

Thanks.

I just went to the LFS near my office and got 6 ghost shrimp and 12 small guppies. I am going to feed her (thanks for let me know about 6 stripes) tonight to see which one she likes the best. And I also picked up frozen krill. Hopely I can wean her into frozen food soon, although live food wasn't too expensive, 10 cents per guppy and 25 cents per shrimp.

Anyway, I can't wait to go home and feed her. woohoo.

 

[savager]

BTW, I was watch her last night like 2 hours straight and I think I saw her eating couple of big pod in my tank. Is that normal? I have pretty good number of pods in my tank and few of them are pretty big, well bigger than some small pod. I consider that as pretty good sign of her since she is very new to the tank and she is already pretty active in this new environment. I'll keep you post how my lionfish is doing.

 

[slowECUdiver]

feeder guppies

feeder guppies

make sure to feed the guppies and shrimp lots of food before feeding them to your new lion. the feeders alone contain little nutritional value and a lot of fatty acids, so giving them a good meal will help boost their nutritional value a little. the eating of the pods is a good sign that she is acclimating well to her new home

BTW, what size tank is she in and the specs (live rock, BB or SB, etc.) and the other inhabitants? mine has never gone after the snails and crabs, and leaves the other fish alone as they are too big to fit in his mouth.

 

[savager]

I have 30G oceanic cube tank. Currently, I have one Tomato Clown and Blood Shrimp, both are really big for my lionfish to even thinking about eating them.

First time I put my lionfish in my tank, my clown came over and try to bother him but soon she lost interest and went on her way and never bothered him again. However, my shrimp was bulling him about his hiding spot, everytime my lion swim near by him, he kind of chased him away. But end of the day, I saw him totally ignoring my lionfish.

I will setup little fresh water tank for my guppies and shrimp tonight and try to feed them as much as possible.

Thanks all.

 

[savager]

I got my lion to eat 4 small guppies and 1 ghost shrimp last night. It was really fun to watch. I fed my guppies and ghost shrimp before I gave it to my lion. My wife thinks I am little cruel but it's a circle of life.

Anyway, I try to give my lion frozen food but she doesn't even look at it atm. I guess it takes time. Do you think I should wait til tomorrow to give food again? I was thinking about 3 times a week schedule.

I hope I can wean her over to prepared food sooner.

 

[argus]

just give it time

 

[slowECUdiver]

like argus said...give it some time. mine weaned quickly to frozen, but i also starved him for a few days to really entice him to eat the krill and shrimp. you can let her go a day or two without live foods and then try frozen again. if that fails, you still have some guppies and shrimp around that she will surely make a quick meal of...

 

[savager]

After I read some more faq about dwarf lionfish and I realized that I got Dwarf Zebra Lionfish instead of Fuzzy. I already left a message to my supplier but I don't think I will return my lionfish, she is gorgeous. But I wanted Fuzzy because I heard Fuzzy is more active than any other dwarf lion. How do you guys like Zebra lionfish? Do they hide much more than Fuzzy?

So far, my Lionfish just stay on one spot and I have to bring food to her and she swims little bit to catch it.

Well, I am happy with my lionfish so it doesn't really matter if this is fuzzy or zebra.

 

[FMarini]

Savager-
did you read the article i linked? if so you can definiatively ID your fish.
That said dwarf fuzzys are more active, but what you describe is typical for all lions except when they are hungry.
I also found that dwarf lions tend to be slightly more difficult to wean over than dwarf fuzzys. but in the end they will all switch. As far as food, if possible skip krill, you'll be fine w/ what I describe in the lionfish info sheet article for Sw based foods. IME freeze dried krill tends to be problematic down the road

 

[savager]

Yes I read that article and my lionfish is exactly same as zebra lion. I am going to get mysis shrimp today or tomorrow. And I am planning to not feeding him next couple of days and try to it again with prepared food. If that doesn't work, I still have some guppies and shrimp if they stay live that long. Anyway, I am not hurry or anything, I am having so much fun watching him eating live food anyway.