Dwarf fuzzy lionfish acting odd?

[Treehrtsme]

I got a dwarf fuzzy lionfish a couple of days back and for the entirety of the day he's been hanging out in the corner up against the heater just kind of chilling upside down. I know the swimming upside down thing isn't completely abnormal but he hasn't been going around the tank at all like he has the past couple of days. Just fed him to go shrimp and let a guppy go in there and saw him chase after it because it first I was worried it might be a swim bladder issue, but where he is just doesn't seem like an ideal hiding spot for a lionfish. I'll take parameters but they were fine when I introduced him. The only thing I know right off the bat is pH is 8.1 and salinity 1.025. all my other parameters were good two days ago when I tested them.


The only thing that I can think has changed in my tank is yesterday I believe I introduced two very small bubble tip an anemones, which he hasn't really been messing with and they're still settling in

 

[Jay Hemdal]

How is it doing today?
Can you post a video of it under white light? I want to judge its respiration rate.
It wasn't clear to me - did it eat some food for you?

@lion king


Jay

 

[lion king]

Not very odd for a lion to find a spot to hang, a spot where he can see the whole tank, this is a hunting and surveillance stance. Is there a cave of sorts provided, they also need a safe refuge, providing a safe refuge will actually encourage them to be outgoing. His eyes look clear and he has eaten, correct, if so these are good signs.

My only concern would be a dramatic rise in sg during acclimation, did you happen to check the sg in the bag and raise the sg slowly. Effects from this usually happens within a couple of days, after that there would be no worry. But again the hanging upside down, especially in a high corner or even under a ledge of rock is completely normal. He also wouldn't be swimming much in a super cramped small space, they would just tend to find a place to perch and become very sedentary.

 

[Treehrtsme]

He's actually doing great. I got a meeting he started swimming around. I think I had too much Rock work. I did a very careful exclamation because I was going from 1.015 to 1.025 and it didn't seem to stress him out. I know it's not entirely weird for lionfish to do that but he kept going back to the same spot and sitting upside down so I just wanted to check. He's become fairly sociable and only a couple of days and comes to the front of the tank every time I come by. Gets along great with his tank mates with no signs of aggression

 

[Treehrtsme]

He's still eating and everytime I walk up to the tank he comes to the front but always returns to that weird spot in the picture under the light mount by the heater and return. Do I just not have a spot in the rockwork that is appealing to him? I tried building a sort of cave but during the day he just mostly hangs here. Could it be that he doesn't like the lighting when it's a fairly strong during the day?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

He's still eating and everytime I walk up to the tank he comes to the front but always returns to that weird spot in the picture under the light mount by the heater and return. Do I just not have a spot in the rockwork that is appealing to him? I tried building a sort of cave but during the day he just mostly hangs here. Could it be that he doesn't like the lighting when it's a fairly strong during the day?

It seems to be darker in that corner, I could see a dwarf lion picking a spot like that.

Just an FYI - you may have dodged a bullet with tan large of a rise in specific gravity. When giving that much of a rise, it is best to do it in stages be using a tank with intermediate specific gravity, or by matching the source and destination tanks a bit closer before acclimating the fish.

Jay

 

[Treehrtsme]

It seems to be darker in that corner, I could see a dwarf lion picking a spot like that.

Just an FYI - you may have dodged a bullet with tan large of a rise in specific gravity. When giving that much of a rise, it is best to do it in stages be using a tank with intermediate specific gravity, or by matching the source and destination tanks a bit closer before acclimating the fish.

Jay

I did start off with a decent amount of water I mixed at 1.015-17 since I obviously didn't have enough in the bag for a 5 gallon bucket. I raised that a bit before adding actual tank water, though I didn't account for pH as well as I could have. I believe the water he came in was between 8.2 and 8.3, and my tank water was slightly above 8.1. I turned on the light in my algae reactor during the acclimation though.

So you think it's just him trying to avoid the light? My softies and nem go crazy under this lighting, but running 2 kessil a360x is overkill so I'm try to move towards 160s or a lower power option. Should I try and redo some of the aquascape so there's a larger shaded area? A lot of my rocks aren't glued together right now because I figured I'd have to make some changes.

 

[lion king]

He's still eating and everytime I walk up to the tank he comes to the front but always returns to that weird spot in the picture under the light mount by the heater and return. Do I just not have a spot in the rockwork that is appealing to him? I tried building a sort of cave but during the day he just mostly hangs here. Could it be that he doesn't like the lighting when it's a fairly strong during the day?

They do prefer dimmer light but will get used to your lighting, they will find dimmer spots to perch during the day, and may not be that active under sps lighting. That high perch spot is preferred by many lions, I have some that even just use the corner of the tank at the highest back part. Some of my lions get used to the light and it doesn't bother them at all; while others will be at refuge most if not all of the day. I have multiple caves and dark rock walls but still find some perched in the high corner of the glass. This may also signify that they are hungry and are surveilling the tank for food.

 

[lion king]

I did start off with a decent amount of water I mixed at 1.015-17 since I obviously didn't have enough in the bag for a 5 gallon bucket. I raised that a bit before adding actual tank water, though I didn't account for pH as well as I could have. I believe the water he came in was between 8.2 and 8.3, and my tank water was slightly above 8.1. I turned on the light in my algae reactor during the acclimation though.

So you think it's just him trying to avoid the light? My softies and nem go crazy under this lighting, but running 2 kessil a360x is overkill so I'm try to move towards 160s or a lower power option. Should I try and redo some of the aquascape so there's a larger shaded area? A lot of my rocks aren't glued together right now because I figured I'd have to make some changes.

Not only providing caves, but overhangs and I provide a space behind my rocks between the glass to give refuge space for perching. Giving lions refuge will actually make them more active and they will be out in the open more, it gives them security.

 

[Treehrtsme]

I still haven't gotten them on a great diet yet. Mostly got loaded feeder shrimp and some small guppies. Working towards getting him on krill. Maybe I'll make a couple of frag racks and hang them around the top

 

[lion king]

I still haven't gotten them on a great diet yet. Mostly got loaded feeder shrimp and some small guppies. Working towards getting him on krill. Maybe I'll make a couple of frag racks and hang them around the top

Krill the worst food you could feed lions, check out some of my threads by clicking my name and "find all threads".

Lion King's dead food recommendations

I'm a health nut if you haven't noticed, this also translates to my pets. Today I will cover some of the dead foods I feed and why, with some nutritional info that I recall off the top of my head. This is by no means all the foods you can feed, these are just the ones I include in my feedings...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Treehrtsme]

Krill the worst food you could feed lions, check out some of my threads by clicking my name and "find all threads".

Lion King's dead food recommendations

I'm a health nut if you haven't noticed, this also translates to my pets. Today I will cover some of the dead foods I feed and why, with some nutritional info that I recall off the top of my head. This is by no means all the foods you can feed, these are just the ones I include in my feedings...

www.reef2reef.com

....... ... I should have known not to trust the new guy at the lfs but he has one and even showed my video of how he got it eating frozen food. Perhaps he just started on krill? Anyways all they had left was the biggest pack so.......

 

[lion king]

....... ... I should have known not to trust the new guy at the lfs but he has one and even showed my video of how he got it eating frozen food. Perhaps he just started on krill? Anyways all they had left was the biggest pack so.......

There's the problem, it is sometimes the easiest dead food they will initially eat, then it becomes the only dead food they will eat. Read through some of my threads and I explain the nutritional considerations in feeding certain foods. Try using fresh dead ghosties and guppies to get them to initially start eating dead foods.

 

[Treehrtsme]

Hmmm that's the thing because the guy at the lfs was mentioning their much more attracted to something that at least looks alive so get a krill that still got it's eyes and make it do a little dance

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hmmm that's the thing because the guy at the lfs was mentioning their much more attracted to something that at least looks alive so get a krill that still got it's eyes and make it do a little dance

Ghost shrimp and guppies both have eyes for a predator to clue in on. I also agree that large krill (Euphasia superba) has some drawbacks as a fish diet; much of the product is partially cooked (blanched) and frozen storage is often sub-par, leading to degradation of the fatty acid profile, which isn't all that good to begin with.

Jay

 

[Treehrtsme]

well Ill start by seeing if I can get him to eat dead food then move to frozen