Is my lion fish ashamed?

[badamsios]

I just got a lion fish, and it spends most of its time vertical with its head down. It will go horizontal and move from time to time, but then it's back to vertical.

Is this normal?

[Etunes]

I have realized that lionfish tend to sit diagnolly. And they sit in 1 place. Sounds normal too me.

[David S]

Very normal mine did this for a while

[badamsios]

Cool, thanks! I had one a very long time ago, but I didn't recall it behaving like that.

[Innovator]

Most lionfish tend to perch or hover rather than actively swim. If the fish shows signs of bouyancy problems, neurological signs, or difficult to feed then there should be a concern.

[badamsios]

Well, there doesn't appear to be a problem getting it to eat. I added it yesterday and this morning I seem to be missing my smallest damsel. Too bad the other 2 are a little too big. For now...

Please describe a "buoyancy" issue. It doesn't seem to have a hard time staying where it wants to. It does however seem to have a hard time swimming in locations with a stronger current. I'm used to a reef tank. I have a sump and a good protein skimmer, can I lose the power heads creating the current? I'd still have a (very) little current from the sump returns, and a Fluval canister filter return. (G6)
What I find truly amazing is that it has yet to hide. There are plenty of places and I understood it to be a nocturnal fish, but it's not shy at all. I cleaned the outside of the glass today and it followed me from one end to the other. Probably looking for a way to get a dorsal fin into my skin.

[thincat]

count yourself lucky in having a nice lion. As he grows you will start to loose more of your damsels and anyother fish that fits into it's mouth. Everything you said is normal for a Lionfish. I read on the internet where a Father bought a Lionfish for his son to keep his Clownfish company. Ten mins. after the lionfish was released into the tank the Clown went missing. Some people just don't have any common sense.

[badamsios]

He can have the other 2 damsels. I wish him luck taking out the foxface or the trigger. They're almost the size of the lion.

[David S]

he will try just about any fish which will fit in its mouth,they have very a large mouth,just make sure you keep it well fed mine died after trying to eat a yellow tail damsel which it couldn't swallow and then couldn't get it out of its mouth and probably drowned, 2 dead fish in one go.i used to hand feed mine but be careful if you try this.

[badamsios]

Thanks for the heads up... In another tank I added a fuzzy dwarf lion. He's been hiding all day, and comes out at night as I expected. But how does one feed a fish? The 1st one I've been talking about is satisfied with feeder guppies. If I toss a couple in the tank with the dwarf will he see them at night? I mean the dwarf won't come out until it's dark in the house when it's time to go to bed...

[thincat]

I'm sure he sees well enough. You should not feed them feeder guppies and try to get them to eat saltwater prey. I read that it will ruin their liver and kidneys due to the diffence in the osmotic pressure of a fresh fish.

[jeffwisely]

with the fuzzy dwarf i would put something over the tank to make it dark, and then feed it. i've seen that done more than once and it seemed to work great.

[SHARPiE]

I've heard that feeder guppies can carry disease - I'm assuming freshwater fish can pass on disease to saltwater?

Anyone heard of this?

[thincat]

The reason you should not feed freshwater fishes to saltwater fishes is mainly Osmosis. It will be hard for your saltwater fish to regulate the difference in the amount of water and salt in the fish and will end up having liver and bladder problems in due time.

[Crepe]

Try getting a long pair of tweezers and hold out mussels, shrimp or cut fish for him and see if he takes it.

[badamsios]

So far I'm still gut loading the guppy's and gold fish, but I think next time I'm going to try to hand feed it a gold fish and if he takes it I'll try a silverside.

Yesterday I had my hand in the aquarium near the top and he was following it just inches away. Obviously he knows who the bringer of the food is.

[thincat]

Or he is trying to figure out if that finger is food!

[badamsios]

There is that. My thinking is that if he gets used to live food coming from my finger tips, I might sucker him into taking something else. If you don't hear from me in the next 2 weeks assume it was a bad idea.

[thincat]

Thanks, I needed a good laugh...