Dwarf Fuzzy - how long can he go without food?

SueAndHerZoo · Sep 21, 2023

(Sorry for this post is it's already been discussed) I picked up my dwarf fuzzy lionfish on Sunday afternoon. I came home with live ghost shrimp and I've been breeding brine shrimp (since I also have young seahorses) but how can I offer him food if he won't come out of hiding? Today is day 4 and the only time I can see him is if I search all the caves and rock crevices with a flashlight. He's alive, but has yet to be "free swimming". I've tried squirting mysis in his area but the other fish always get to it before he even has a chance to think about it. And the others rushing over to his area probably scares him even more. Do I need to tear my tank apart and get him out of there?
Sue

I never finish anythi · Sep 21, 2023

What other fish do you have in the tank ??

lion king · Sep 21, 2023

Has he eaten the ghost shrimp, if not, you have a problem. The other foods you are offering are inappropriate for this species. They need to be allowed to hunt on their own, if he went directly into a tank with other aggressive eaters that will eat ghosties, then you have a problem. You can try to introduce ghosties and herd them with a feeding stick into the area the lion is while trying to fend off the other fish. If you able to get him food that way, eventually he will start venturing out. These guys come in with internal parasites frequently and eating is the metric to access their health, so getting them to asap is paramount.

SueAndHerZoo · Sep 21, 2023

I never finish anythi said:
What other fish do you have in the tank ??

Love your nickname - LOL! In the tank are a picasso trigger, perc clown, bicolor angel, HUGE filefish, dragon wrasse, diamond goby, serpent stars, seagrass wrasse, firefish and a pistol shrimp.

lion king · Sep 21, 2023

Chances of him surviving in that tank will be very slim. If you do not have a tank fully cycled and ready to support life with species that will not eat live ghosties or a tank that can serve as an observation, you'll likely going to watch this lion starve to death. For that lion to survive in that tank they would have needed to be weaned to dead food and eating on a schedule well before being introduced. If you can not provide that environment, I would ask the lfs to take him back.

SueAndHerZoo · Sep 21, 2023

Thanks, LionKing. Hard to hear but I needed to hear it. I figured he would be shy for a day or two but then venture out where I could target feed him ghost shrimp but in the 4-5 days he has not even come out of the crevices in my rock (unless he's doing it during lights out and I don't see it).

I have plenty of tanks and tank equipment in my shed so I need to decide if I should set one up quickly I could get plenty of live rock and sand from my other tanks, or maybe I should go bare bottom? I have an 8 gallon AIO already cycled that I had my baby seahorses in...... would he be OK in such a small tank while I fatten him up and teach him to eat frozen? He would be the only thing in there (except for the ghost shrimp).
Sue

vetteguy53081 · Sep 21, 2023

Problem is as Lionking mentioned, after a period of no eating they go into the point of starvation and feed off their liver while diminishing in health

lion king · Sep 21, 2023

SueAndHerZoo said:
Thanks, LionKing. Hard to hear but I needed to hear it. I figured he would be shy for a day or two but then venture out where I could target feed him ghost shrimp but in the 4-5 days he has not even come out of the crevices in my rock (unless he's doing it during lights out and I don't see it).

I have plenty of tanks and tank equipment in my shed so I need to decide if I should set one up quickly I could get plenty of live rock and sand from my other tanks, or maybe I should go bare bottom? I have an 8 gallon AIO already cycled that I had my baby seahorses in...... would he be OK in such a small tank while I fatten him up and teach him to eat frozen? He would be the only thing in there (except for the ghost shrimp).
Sue

Yes that 8g would work, not the best, but the best right now. The tank has to be cycled and I would do it as soon as you can. You could try and offer him a ghostie with tongs, if you don't have a fresh dead one, you may need to make one by putting one in the freezer. It's important that you move with some urgency now, just in case there is a problem and they refuse food once they have the opportunity to snag a live ghostie. Give him a cave.

SueAndHerZoo · Sep 21, 2023

OK, in between my last post and this one I did a complete water change on the 8 gallon (it's bare bottom) but I left the filter media in there as well as the live rock that has been in there. I'm getting the salinity up a little higher to precisely match the tank he'll be coming out of, and I've now got heater in there to bring the temp up (seahorses need it colder than fish). My plan was to give it the evening to get the temp up and tomorrow I would somehow get the dwarf out of the 90 gallon, but now I'm thinking I better attempt it tonight. I have no idea how hard he will be to catch, he doesn't really move but probably will when I get a net near him.

Why do I want to feed him a fresh, dead ghostie? I have live ones here - shouldn't I see if he'll eat those? If not, how do I humanely kill a ghost shrimp? They're so small, I got the tiniest they had since the dwarf isn't very big.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 21, 2023

SueAndHerZoo said:
OK, in between my last post and this one I did a complete water change on the 8 gallon (it's bare bottom) but I left the filter media in there as well as the live rock that has been in there. I'm getting the salinity up a little higher to precisely match the tank he'll be coming out of, and I've now got heater in there to bring the temp up (seahorses need it colder than fish). My plan was to give it the evening to get the temp up and tomorrow I would somehow get the dwarf out of the 90 gallon, but now I'm thinking I better attempt it tonight. I have no idea how hard he will be to catch, he doesn't really move but probably will when I get a net near him.

Why do I want to feed him a fresh, dead ghostie? I have live ones here - shouldn't I see if he'll eat those? If not, how do I humanely kill a ghost shrimp? They're so small, I got the tiniest they had since the dwarf isn't very big.

Drop into very warm water or add to baggie and place in freezer for a few minutes

lion king · Sep 22, 2023

SueAndHerZoo said:
OK, in between my last post and this one I did a complete water change on the 8 gallon (it's bare bottom) but I left the filter media in there as well as the live rock that has been in there. I'm getting the salinity up a little higher to precisely match the tank he'll be coming out of, and I've now got heater in there to bring the temp up (seahorses need it colder than fish). My plan was to give it the evening to get the temp up and tomorrow I would somehow get the dwarf out of the 90 gallon, but now I'm thinking I better attempt it tonight. I have no idea how hard he will be to catch, he doesn't really move but probably will when I get a net near him.

Why do I want to feed him a fresh, dead ghostie? I have live ones here - shouldn't I see if he'll eat those? If not, how do I humanely kill a ghost shrimp? They're so small, I got the tiniest they had since the dwarf isn't very big.

I was suggesting to try to feed him with tongs or hemo's where he was, and a fresh dead ghostie would be the most likely food he would take, I thought to give it one last chance before you moved him. Yes once he is moved into a more controlled environment, you'll want to just drop some live ones in. And when some die naturally, start with them and tongs or hemo's to get him to start to eat dead foods. Yes the sooner the better to get him eating.

SueAndHerZoo · Sep 22, 2023

SueAndHerZoo said:
OK, in between my last post and this one I did a complete water change on the 8 gallon (it's bare bottom) but I left the filter media in there as well as the live rock that has been in there. I'm getting the salinity up a little higher to precisely match the tank he'll be coming out of, and I've now got heater in there to bring the temp up (seahorses need it colder than fish). My plan was to give it the evening to get the temp up and tomorrow I would somehow get the dwarf out of the 90 gallon, but now I'm thinking I better attempt it tonight. I have no idea how hard he will be to catch, he doesn't really move but probably will when I get a net near him.

Why do I want to feed him a fresh, dead ghostie? I have live ones here - shouldn't I see if he'll eat those? If not, how do I humanely kill a ghost shrimp? They're so small, I got the tiniest they had since the dwarf isn't very big.

lion king said:
I was suggesting to try to feed him with tongs or hemo's where he was, and a fresh dead ghostie would be the most likely food he would take, I thought to give it one last chance before you moved him. Yes once he is moved into a more controlled environment, you'll want to just drop some live ones in. And when some die naturally, start with them and tongs or hemo's to get him to start to eat dead foods. Yes the sooner the better to get him eating.

OK, I got him! He's now floating in a bag in the 8 gallon to temp acclimate for 15 minutes, then I'll release him in there where there are 10 live ghost shrimp. There are a few live rocks in there with places to hide but hopefully he won't feel he needs to hide too much in there. I'll give him a day to acclimate to the new tank and then start working with him to eat, but first I just want him to eat SOMETHING and not die on me.
Sue