lions shaking fins?

[Salyers890]

are the bottom of lionfish's fins supposed to shake when they;re extended, or is that a sign of something bad?

[T-T-Trigger]

I've had two lions do that. At first I thought it was innocuous, but the dwarf that displayed that behavior died shortly after, and the volitans got sick shortly after (was able to cure him though). It was suggested that it might be a precursor to their shedding maneuvers, but I believe it to be a sign of some kind of stressor.

[T-T-Trigger]

oops

[FMarini]

Hi:
the dwarf lions seem to do this frequently when they are stalking prey items. i suspect its a way to distract the prey item from looking in the eyes of the lion and especially for the lion to note the eye placement of the food item. The vibration gets the food item to look. i see this when i feed my lions live ghost shrimp. the fu, dwarf fuzzies, and dwarf lion will vibrate the lower fins.
Now if your seeing the lion shuddering and quickly darting this is different, its most likely getting ready to shed its cuticle
frank

[T-T-Trigger]

Hey Frank, could there be any other reason for this shaking? The lion Salyers is referring to died, he said so in his other post. So that is three instances (counting my two) where it only happened when the lion was not doing well.

Just curious

[FMarini]

Hi:
maybe I'm mixing words here. I guess what you guys are indentifying is the whole fin shaking, and not just the bottom of the pec fins (like a rapid vibration). I can't think of any reason why a lion will shake its fins. There aren't any fin specific diseases and the muscles are what shaking, so its very puzzling.
My guess would be that you guys are witnessing the lion being in the throws of death, and its doing this as autonomic reflexes.
Not sure
frank

[T-T-Trigger]

Thanks Frank.:) I think I have it figured out what was going on with mine, but no one is probably interested so I'll keep it to myself!:D

One more Q Frank, if I may - Will broken top spines grow back?

[Salyers890]

yeah, i was speaking about the lower pec fins 'vibrating' if you will. . . . . question answered. . . thanks frank, im also interested to hear your answer on the broken spines

Mike