[thorsen]

What tankmates do you have with this fish?

I have had a lion fish for about one month now. I am new to the hobby and have already made my fair share of mistakes. I bought an encyclopedia set on reef fish, which said the lion fish is reef compatible but generally not added to a reef system because they eat desirable shrimp, although they leave other reef items alone. It also said they are tough fish and not generally susceptible to disease. I am in the process of converting my 120 gallon tank from a FO to a reef tank and decided I would rather have the lion fish than the shrimp. I already had one sea hare, two star fish, a lot of crabs and snails, and two damsels and three chromis. My lion fish eats like a glutton and eats almost anything I drop in the tank including algae pellets for the slug and crabs (?). The point of interest I have to contribute is how he has interacted with the assortment of smaller fish. The lion fish is capable of fitting surprisingly large fish in his mouth, but is rather slow. The chromis and damsels would all make good meals for him, but they simply stay out of his way. He has succeeded in catching one chromis and one damsel so far. I witnessed one of these episodes and it was in the early morning when the fish first came out of the rocks he would get them trapped in a corner and nap them. I am looking into adding a moon light lighting system to my tank and I think this might save the small fish. So in short one might be able to add all sorts of small fast bite size fish to a tank with a lion fish as long as there is good hiding places and the lighting is ok. I wouldn't risk real expensive fish right off though before experimenting with some damsels for a month or so.