lionfish in a reef?

Blitz99 · #1 04/07/2007, 09:57 PM

i'm extremely interested in adding a lionfish to my 60 cube tank.. i was thinking a fuzzy dwarf or zebra dwarf.... but i do have a cleaner and blood shrimp that i like...

other fish are fridmani dotty, 2 black and white clowns, niger trigger, flame angel.

the niger may be expendable but he's pretty cool.

RockStarFish · #2 04/07/2007, 10:02 PM

If the lion can fit it in it's mouth it will eat it.If the shrimp and fish are to large to fit in his mouth they should be fine I had a dwarf in my 55gl reef and as long as I kept him fed he left every thing alone

EdKruzel · #3 04/08/2007, 12:17 AM

Even the dwarf's get a little size to them, at least enough to put down a smaller species clown and many pseudochromis.

The Niger will eventually need to be removed; think blue football with a tail in your 60gal, not a good fit huh?

livingcorals · #4 04/08/2007, 01:35 AM

I have a 65 gal reef setup with 1 fuz dwarf lionfish. 5 months so far so good with no problems. I also have 1 clown, 2 cardnails and 1 lawn blenn.

Never notice the lion going after any of the other fish nor cleaners. 1 reason for this is the size of him right now is about 1 1/2 in. However after doing a research on them they can grow up learning not to eat there tank mates. I'm sure if I toss in a pep shirmp that will be gone but at this time I have no need to do so.

If anything you should keep an eye on your Sally foot (if you have one). Which will go after your fish time to time when it gets bigger.

Oh and HAPPY EASTER!!

livingcorals · #5 04/08/2007, 01:41 AM

dendro982 · #6 04/08/2007, 09:02 AM

Could be happy coincidence, but my volitan and then the antennata lionfish live in the same tank with the blood shrimps and hermits, no problem. More of this, they are using the blood shrimp as a cleaner. Time frame (with the same shrimp): Feb06 - Jul06 - volitan, Aug06 - present time - antennata. In Dec added one more blood shrimp.

Aimforever · #7 04/28/2007, 12:45 PM

Wow dendro, that is friggen sweet! I didn't realize that was possible. You are very lucky!

reefgrief · #8 04/28/2007, 06:01 PM

I have always regarded those fish as predators, and too costly to feed with live food.. and possibly producing to much waste.. Still, the experiences that Dendro and Livingcoral describe are very interesting.. almost giving me the courage to try getting one.. Almost

pv1191 · #9 04/29/2007, 02:22 AM

Just a word of caution. A friend had one in his 120g. It became injured at night and leached venom into the tank. It went septic in hours and he lost EVERYTHING! HE had to dry out his live rock, sand and sterilize the entire tank. He tried 50% water changes every other day at first but everything died. Just a warning.

dendro982 · #10 04/29/2007, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by reefgrief
I have always regarded those fish as predators, and too costly to feed with live food.. and possibly producing to much waste..

The volitan accepted the frozen food very quickly without any efforts from my side - started to eat pieces, given to the other fish. But the red one, mombassa or hybrid with antennata lion (closeups and ID is in this thread ), still eating only live ghost shrimp. Expensive, yes. But comparing to mandarin (other high cost keeping fish, if fed by frozen food and live pods culture), has more interesting behavior.
Wastes - not much, mostly the compacted shrimp shells. Quite clean fish. Eats by one gulp, brisket as a waste...

The venom - permanent problem, have to be always on guard, and use tools with a long handle, when possible. Didn't thought about danger of injured fish, thought. Thanks for the info, pv1191. Better be safe, than sorry.

But: the only tank crash, I had, was caused by dying blue Haliclona sponge and the sea slug Chromodoris magnifica (and, or - can't be sure), wiped all the stars, cucumbers, almost all fish - and nobody mentioned their danger...