Dwarf zebra lion on hold. any tips?

Hey so i have my 40B set up with a bunch of live rock, only fish that is in there now is a huge mandarin dragonet(bigger then the lion fish). It is all plumbed into my 75gal DT and 25Gal sump. So i figure i have around 140gal of water in the system.

Anyways, i have this gorgeous little guy on hold at the lfs. He is in a tank with a fu man chu who i really wanted but they wanted $90 for him! yea right! The dwarf lion is only 35, and i am going to tell them $30 when i go to pick him up. Apparently he is only eating live. But i have him on hold so i can see him eat in person. When i was there the other day he just niped at some ghost shrimp but did not eat it. The girl that works there says he does it them, so maybe he was just not hungry. I am going to wait till i see it in person tho.

Any tips getting them to eat frozen? Or any tips in general about these guys?

 

You will be seeking the expertise of Renee@lionfishlair

 

yes yes was hoping she would see this and chime in! the lion is super pretty, i have never seen one with so much pink on the fins! a very unique fish. Will get pics as soon as i pick him up.

 

wake up renee! lol

 

find somewhere she has post and read her links in her signature. Tons of care info linked in that way.

 

Wake up! I've been up 24 hours now! I'm a night worker.

Awesome choice in most regards. Don't be discouraged when I say this, but sometimes they can be a little hard to acclimate. My friend has an AWESOME one who is doing very well. A nice little fatty. I've gone through a couple myself :-/

Converting him should be relatively easy, but there's always the one that's stubborn. Fus are 10x harder to train, so you picked the better one. I'll put up the link with some converting tips. Offer him a piece of frozen, sometimes they just go for it.

Do you have access to live ghost shrimp or guppies?

 

feed him flaming prawn gobies and helfrichi firefish lol. After that first post I hope you put up some pics!

 

Yes lfs has the ghost shrimp .60 cents each. And what is the best acclimation technique for these guys in your opinion? 24hr guarantee from lfs so if acclimation does not go well i will get my money back, not that i would want to loose the little guy :/

 

haha ill stop by the lfs tonight and ask them to see if he will eat, and snap a few pics

 

Oh, I never made myself clear. I was speaking of the acclimation to captivity. They tend to look flukey, but never survive treatment or just up and die on ya when things were looking good.

But on the actual "just received" typed acclimation, on overnight shipments.... I don't. I've tested 30 overnight shipments and they all had unacceptable levels of ammonia. It may not kill your fish, but it will scar up the gills, affecting them for life. Vitamins and minerals pass through the gills to get to the bloodstream. Scarred gills = possible deficiency. Now, if a fish is extra touchy, or like my cold water guys, I may acclimate with a little buffered ammonia blocker into the acclimation container. Getting them out of the ammonia is the #1 priority, IMO. But going and picking them up at the LFS, you can safely acclimate any way that makes you feel comfortable. We don't acclimate them either.

That a shameful price for those. I use to catch them by the kazillions will one swoop of my net.

How about guppies? Do they have them? What's the price on those?