So there are 3 distinct color morphs of the fuzzy dwarf lionfish; brown, red, and yellow and a combination. Most fuzzies you see in the lfs or receive in a box will tend to be of the brown variety, unless you pay a pretty penny for a yellow or red morph. You mostly see the zebra being brown also. I've read that diet may paly into this color scheme and I will plead a case as that I do believe it does. I also think stress will tend to brown these out as well, but that usually remedies itself when they get into a healthy tank. Any of you that have seen my posts have seen some spectacularly colored fuzzies that I have kept. Most of them all came in more brown than not.
Crustaceans have exoskeletons, and while the animal is in the sea, the exoskeleton primarily has a blue-green to grayish color. The exoskeletons contain a carotenoid called astaxanthin. Carotenes are pigments, and astaxanthin is a carotene that will pigment shades of orange, red, and yellow. When you are feeding dead frozen food these foods no longer contain this astaxanthin. This is also the carotenoid that gives salmon it's color, another reason to feed fresh salmon. I had a friend buy a yellow for $350 and much to my disapproval fed him the classic dead dioet of krill and silversides. The fish was dead in a little over a year more brown than yellow.
This is my current fuzzy, he eats a dominant diet of live ghosties with a side of salmon and Hikari silversides, and an occasional little molly or huge guppy. He is about as red as you can get, I think I bought him for about $39 at a lfs. Here's an old pic of my zebra, many have never even seen one with this coloration, although this is how they are supposed to look.
Crustaceans have exoskeletons, and while the animal is in the sea, the exoskeleton primarily has a blue-green to grayish color. The exoskeletons contain a carotenoid called astaxanthin. Carotenes are pigments, and astaxanthin is a carotene that will pigment shades of orange, red, and yellow. When you are feeding dead frozen food these foods no longer contain this astaxanthin. This is also the carotenoid that gives salmon it's color, another reason to feed fresh salmon. I had a friend buy a yellow for $350 and much to my disapproval fed him the classic dead dioet of krill and silversides. The fish was dead in a little over a year more brown than yellow.
This is my current fuzzy, he eats a dominant diet of live ghosties with a side of salmon and Hikari silversides, and an occasional little molly or huge guppy. He is about as red as you can get, I think I bought him for about $39 at a lfs. Here's an old pic of my zebra, many have never even seen one with this coloration, although this is how they are supposed to look.
