I finaly got up off my butt and got the lion tank up and running. It's a good thing too, since one of my local reefing buddies ordered a dwarf lion for me. It should be here tomorrow from LiveAquaria, along with a yellow clown goby and a tiger pistol shrimp I'm hoping will pair up with my ornage spot goby.

The clown goby and pistol shrimp will be going in my 120, not the lion tank obviously ;)

Here's the tank shortly after adding sand and rock last night. It was crystal clear this morning.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e332/pearsonhurst/HPIM4204.jpg

The sand is brand new, the rock has been in my sump for months, and the water if straight from the 120. Anyone think I'll have any problems adding the lion tomorrow, or should I keep it segregated in the 120 for a couple of days?

Did you use some water from the buck-20 too?

Derr... read Dave.

No.. you shouldn't have much of a problem at all.

Dave

What size is that tank?

Didn't think so.

It's a 29.

Very cool...nice cave. 29 is the smallest tank I'd keep a fuzzy in. They're dirty beasts. What is the filtration about?

Dave

It's just the stock NC filtration. Sponges, ceramic rings and carbon. It's going to be FOWLR, so I'm not AS concerned with nitrates. It'll be on the same water change schedule as the big tank. Do you forsee any issues continung to use water from the reef, or should I start making enough water to change both?

I understand they enjoy spending time in caves, especialy whn first aded to the tank. Does that one look sufficient?

Cave looks nice...

Lions can have problems with higher nitrates than other aggressive fish. Watch his/her eyes for cloudiness. If you note this, or sluggish behavior, become more aggressive with water changes.

Using water from the reef should be okay, if you've good params there.

Dave

Thanks Dave. Should have some pics of the new additions tomorrow :)

Hey.... Have you read this:

The Lionfish Info Sheet: Captive Care and Home Husbandry by Frank Marini, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/fm/feature/index.php)

I have it at home in my notebook, but forgot about it until Dr. Marini posted it in another thread here last night (when he should have been sleeping) In any case, it's a good read AND has other references for supporting literature that is WELL worth looking up.

Dave

Yes, I have, and agree that it's a great reference.

Lion is in the tank and chilling in his cave. What a great looking fish! I've always wanted a lion (of course I really want a voltan, but this is close enough :) ).

Camera batteries are dead, but hopefuly I can snap some pictures tomorrow.

Liveaquaria was out of tiger pistols, so that'll have to wait :( The yellow clown gobies are all settled into a large colony of digitata.

What color variant is it?

D

Hmm, on reference, this looks nothig like a dwarf lion...

What did Liveaquaria send me?

David?

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e332/pearsonhurst/HPIM4208.jpg

thats a baby volitan !! hows THAT for customer service ... you always get what you want and THEY know better than you.

Ah crap, I was affraid of that.

Now what?

He can't stay in the 29 for long...

They also, inexplicably, sent a baby hippo tang that no one ordered.

you can sent ME the Hippo, but i would call them and tell them about the volitan and you ordered a dwarf. they will replace the volitan with a drawf ... and you can probably sell or trade the volitan to someone local.

Dayum... he's gonna be a biggun :)

OK, I talked t liveaquaria. They are out of stock o the dwarf lions. They are going to refund the purchase, but I didn't pay for it anyway. It was a birthday gift from a reefig buddy. So, I guess I'll see if I can sell him or trade him localy. Wonder if the LFS would order me a dwarf and trade it for the voltan. Which is more expensive?

Bobby, the hippo is already in someone elses tank. He was part of a $2000 LA group buy for our club. Too bad I was the last to come pick up their stuff, or he'd be in my tank now ;)

He shold be ok in the 29 for a few weeks, right?

yeah, he'll be fine in there for a while.

Make the water a little cooler and put him on rations. (sounds mean but he will be fine) This will keep his size smaller for a little longer. Back up the shot and let me see how big he is in there. We kept a baby in a 6 gallon for a nice while and then he moved for a 24 for another spurt. Finally he is in a more appropriate 60 or 70 (I always forget which).

We put in in these small tanks to grow him out but then he had a growth spurt and we had to work like a dog to get the larger tank up. The summer months did it. They warm up, their metabolism jumps and they grow really fast.

Temp is 78 currently. How low can I go?

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e332/pearsonhurst/HPIM4214.jpg

He'll be more than fine in there for a bit...

Hey...who was that post from...couldn't have been Renee' !!!

Hey...who was that post from...couldn't have been Renee' !!!

Dunno, some stranger ;)

He'll be more than fine in there for a bit...

Hey...who was that post from...couldn't have been Renee' !!!

NO WAY !! someone must have stolen her computer and found this site in her old bookmarks or something.

Oh heck Phurst... ya got a good year. I put my tank below 75 or colder.

I'm warning ya dood... when you grow him up to the size where he needs to come out... you'll have a special bond. You better have a larger tank ready or a tissue in your pocket for when you give him away.

Ya, I've been MIA. Being doing a lot of website stuff, went to school to learn HTML, and March itself has been really hard on me. In Jan I also lost a very special patient I took care of every night for 7 months while at work.... I'm not sure I'll ever get over that.

*looks at her little man's picture next to her computer* Nope, still not at the "smiling at memories" stage yet... still hurts.

i am sorry to hear all of that Renee !! i hope everything gets better for you soon, we sure do miss you around here. i know for me ... its getting hard to keep up with all of the posts lately.

Actualy, he'll be moving to his new digs in a 220 next week. LA called back saying they have fuzzy dwarfs in stock and will send one. The guy who got me the lion in the first place is going to put him in his 220.

Sorry to hear about your rough patch too Renee.

Dood, he's too small for a 220.... he needs to grow out a bit.

Well, I think I'm commited unless you really think I should back out...

If he's going to someone else's it's not your problem. I'm sure it's been done before.

It's a pretty chill tank. I helped set it up. Lots 'o rock, lots 'o corals, not many fish and nothing that should bother it.

Fu-ManChu! wicked!!

Nice specimin phursty, pitty he's going but you gota do what you gota do!

How big does the dwarf variety get & at what growth rate?

The dwarf fuzzy is between 4-5" standard length. They don't come super juvie like the volitans do. I haven't seen too many baby fuzzies. None really smaller than 3". But you can tell the difference in their appearance.... lemme get a juv verses adult pic for ya.

K, juvie

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/seahorsedreams/fish/post-16-1146807772.jpg

Getting bigger....

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/seahorsedreams/david.jpg

Grumpy old man...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/seahorsedreams/fish/fuzz3.jpg

It's really all about the girth.... and the "hump" of their head.

sweet thanks SHD, geeze you produce some decent pic.

Girth, dont talk to me about girth, i invented it! :p

Girth, dont talk to me about girth, i invented it! :p

Pffffttt!!!

i think he is compensating for the shortcoming.

Lol.......

Wow Phurst, may have been a mistake, but he is a real beauty. :up: Reminds me of Vandamere, but he was almost white when he moved in with me. I would not lower my tank temp below 78 degrees. And of course everything I say to you is from a personal view point. And others may have theirs also. Since he is small, I would shoot for every three days with the feedings, but if he starts begging, be a good poppa and give him a treat. Keep a close watch not only at the clarity and blue line in his eyes, but also his fins as they are highly ornamental and will be one of the first clues that he is stressed. His stripes will vary in color hues accordingly. If he starts to become less active, he is not getting enough to eat and there may be a slight disturbance in water quality. I am only going by my close observations of Vandamere, the love of my life. If you were close to me, I'd send you about 100 ghost shrimp. Watch his belly/abdomen as a sign of having enough to eat. You want it filled out, but not plump. As far as minnows/marine feeds, that species of fish sometimes when hungry will try to eat a fish larger than what they should. Be careful of that as feeder foods will "dance" even though they have been consumed and are now in the stomach of the fish. Another reason why would be that the lions jaws are delicate and can become dislodged and give the fish a problem if we are not careful. If you observe him at lany lenght of time, you may notice his expanding and exercising his jaw muscles. I hope you have much success with Vandamere's brother from another mother! They are an awesome creation.

Wow, my pc must be ancient as my post was slow and too much action going on. :love!: Glad he's going to a good home and can't wait to see your fuzzy. I hear they are awesome to watch.

Thanks for the advice, I'd imagine it will apply to the fuzzy as well. There's going to be a delay in the voltan moving to the 220. Evidently it sprung a leak last night. It's a pinhole leak in a seam, and the owner is going to replace the tank with a custom 220 from Glasscages, but it will take a little while.

I'm kinda sorry it's going to be a while, because this fish is very captivating to watch, and is very interactive, and I'm affraid I'm going to become attached :)

My wife has already vetoed the idea of a larger tank, so that's out. I'd love to have a 90 FOWLR for some non reef-safe beauties...

i think he is compensating for the shortcoming.

HEY....Definately not - i drive fast cars for that :huh: lol

Dang I missed ya 'ne... where's Greg?

We all know V is compensating for SOMETHIN, we're just not sure what yet :)

Lori, Renee, David, whoever, the LFS around the corner has FW ghost shrimp, will they do, or do I need to find SW aclimated ones? I fed him yesterday. A bit of raw shrimp and 1/3 of a silverside. Are those acceptible foods, or should I be looking at suplimenting with something else?

Did he eat the non live foods? If he did, you really need to keep that bad dog! :p On the norm, it takes alot of patience and a very long time to train a lion to non living food sources, if at all. I do know that the FW ghost shrimp variety will not have all the nutrients that he needs to sustain him on a long term basis. I'm wondering if you could feed the live food source heavy nutrient packed feed like you would a marine fish. If he did eat your offerings shrimp/silverside quite readily, I wouldn't be too concerned then. You can soak that in vitamins and a garlic supplement and feed. Dave would know and Renee seems to have a large resource of knowledge with lions also. :up:

Yes, he ate the shrimp and silverside quite readily. I didn't think anything of it, but I'm glad he's eating frozen if it's sometimes a pain to get them to do so. I want to see him hunt from time to time though. So, I can continue feeding the shrimp and silversides, suplimented with selcon or some other vitamins, and feed the ocasional FW ghost shrimp as a treat? I have heard of people feeding FW ghosts on high qality marine foods to "gut pack" them, if you will.

He's already a begger. Swims to the front of the tank, up near the surface if he sees me comming :)

If he's eating those foods, with M-HUFA's don't mess with it.. no need for freshwater foods.

D

Just a quick update. I droped of the voltan with a friend in exchange for a dwarf fuzzy. Tiny guy, maybe 2.5". He's not out in the open as much as the voltan, but he's very nice looking. No pics yet.

how are you gonna post an update with NO PICS ??!! did we not teach you better than that ?? how long have you been around here ?? time to get out the beat down stick !!

i posted an update too, BUT IT HAS A PIC !!

LOL, yes sir, I'll get right on that :)

just a little warning ... I KNOW HAVE THE BEAT DOWN STICK IN MY POSSESSION !!

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n75/lReef_lKeeper/forum%20pics/beatdownstick.gif

Yes master ;)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e332/pearsonhurst/HPIM4317.jpg

much better !! that is a nice looking little fish you got out of the deal.

Nice looking Fuzzy there Phurst. Before I saw the pic I was thinking he would look more sienna. I like the dark coloring. :up:

Bobby, I'm surprised at you. You ruined the perfectly good makings for a fishing pole! :tongue2:

Bobby, I'm surprised at you. You ruined the perfectly good makings for a fishing pole! :tongue2:

yeah, but i prefer the newer type of fishing pole. you know carbon fiber, hi intensity line, etc.

Ok, I agree, nothing beats graphite and I do enjoy an Ugly Stick. :up:

I wanna fuzzy :(

As soon as I get the 56 column set up, and get the fish from the 38 up there, I'm dedicating that tank to "Simba" my fuzzy lion.

Dave

Fuzzies are awesome. Tell your LFS you are waiting for a nice red one. They come around once every few months.

Yeah...that's my dream... Yellowy Red.

But...for now, I have to move the two percs, the pseudochromis, the blue goby, PJ cardinal *whispering* and juvi yellow tang, from the 38 Gallon to the 56G. This can't be done until the empty 26 is taken down upstairs, the rug ripped out, hardwood floor put in etc.

Sigh

O.o

Better you than me :-)