Fish Survey: Volitans Lionfish

[js_bass]

these are sweet fish even if they die young

[cwschoon]

They should live for a very long time!! I have had a beautiful black volitan for several weeks and he is taking silversides. I am going to try other types of frozen-squid, etc-soon.
I bought a 12 gal eclipse and am raising black mollies to feed him. I set this tank up when I got the volitan, as I was not sure if he would take frozen. I am rasing mollies in full salt and feeding marine flake and frozen. I do soak fd krill in ZOE also. They should not be fed fresh water fish, especially goldfish...they need the proper fats, etc from ocean critters.

[DrBDC]

I had previously entered into the poll 1-6 months current I believe. We had Simba in my one son's room (then 10, now 12 y/o) and all was well. He was feeding silversides with ease, and about 1X a month I'd go get a molly out of the freshwater tank. He had easily doubled in size over a year. He had eaten a silverside the night before and was looking at me that next morning. I was out running some errands and the Mrs. called and said he was expired. I have no idea what happened. He had a lot of personality, or I imagined he did when he really only wanted food. But either way, he was cool. I no longer have that tank in my son's room so until I have a f/o style tank, I won't be able to try again.

[boggs32]

Survey
SELECTION
Did you mail order this fish and would you recommend mail order this fish? Are there captive-raised/bred specimen available and where? Yes and Yes! I lost my first lionfish because I could not ween him off of live foods. My second lion came from Liveaquaria and ate frozen foods immediately. I won't buy a lion from a pet store again. Still haven't heard or read about camptive raised or bread lions.

Any tips on how you picked a healthy specimen of this species from LFS? What do you think is the ideal size to get? I originally grabbed the first one I saw. Although it was very healthy and looked wonderful in my aquarium, I saw one a few weeks later that I LOVED more. A beautiful bright red. My suggestion: BE PATIENT!

Are there any noticeable differences in body shape, pattern or color among the same species or between juvenile and adult of this species? Juvies, from what I've seen have a very small body compared to their wingspan. They also have not developed all of their anal fins from what I've been able to see.

Is there a way to tell the sex of this fish? Not that I'm aware of at this time

ACCLIMATION AND INTRODUCTION
Any special tips about the acclimation and introduction of this fish? Both fish were easy for me to introduce. I drip-acclimated both for about 40 minutes before introducing them to my 75 gallon aquarium.

Any special needs for this fish or special considerations for young specimen? Try to get him to eat krill or other shrimp. He is a predator and he wants to eat other fish. He will if you let him so don't put anything in the tank that will fit in his mouth... ever. Seriously... no live foods.

Should this fish be the first or the last to introduce to a tank? I think it would work either way but I've only experienced introducing the lion first. Both are very territorial. I actually had to capture the first one so he would quit stalking the other fish as I introduced them. After that, he sulked for a couple of weeks, hiding behind rocks even at night time and completely avoiding the other fish, until I gave him a live meal. He then started acting normal like in the beginning. The second lion has been a bit better although there were several inhabitants in there before he was introduced. My final answer, I would suggest introducing them last when possible.

COMPATIBILITY
What tankmates do you have with this fish?Is it a reef or FO tank? It a reef tank. Fish wise, I have had a snowflake eel, coral beauty angel, foxface lo, Hawiian tang, blue tang, scopas tang, hawkfish, and tomato clownfish.

Have you had more than one of this species in the same tank? If so, is there a certain male/female ratio or group number worked for you (to have a harem or pecking order)? Do they school?
Have you had other species of the same genus/family in the same tank? No but I did see a tank with at least 15 lionfish. They did not school during the time I saw them, they were all very to themselves.

What’s the stocking order (considering the above factors) that worked for you? I actually had a dragon goby already established in the aquarium that was eaten three days after I added the lionfish. After that, I added the Coral Beauty. A few weeks later I added all of the other fish listed except the scopas tang which I added last. The scopas gets a long fine with the other tangs despite being added in much later. I did however change the live rock around somewhat when adding the scopas as well as feeding the lionfish a live feeder.

Did this fish hurt/eat any of other fish (or vice versa)? My first lion only ate a dragon goby and feeder fish

Did this fish hurt/eat Cnidaria (corals, mushrooms or anemones)? Never, and I have all of the above

Did this fish hurt/eat ornamental crustaceans (shrimps, hermits, crabs)? Neither of the lions I have had have eaten any hermits. The first lion did devor a peppermint shrimp and a ghost shrimp almost instantly. Anything without a shell is fair game.

FEEDING
How did you get this fish to eat at first? I tried many things with my first lion but I was only able to get him to eat live food. The second Lion will eat ANYTHING and I mean anything. I put in sponge cube occasionally for my angel and he even eats those now.

If this fish only accepted live food, how did you wean it over to prepared food? I wasn't able to wean the first lion away from live foods.

What’s the diet? Freeze dried and frozen Krill. The occasional sponge (not on purpose), mysis and about any other cube I stick in the tank for other fish.

How much and how often do you feed? 1 sm-med fish every 2 weeks (for the first lion). The second lion, I'm feeding once a day or every other day a large piece of krill or two.
How does this fish eat?(grazers, active or sedentary predators, sand sifters, etc) The first lion was a Predator. He would follow his prey and normally attack once the fish turns toward him. The second lion would hit the meal before it hit the water 9 times out of 10.

GROWTH RATE AND LIFE SPAN
What is the initial size of your fish and maximum size it reached? The first Lion grew very little over the several months I had him. I wasn't feeding him quite as frequently. The second lion has nearly tripled in size during the several months I've had him

How fast did it grow (how much growth over a given period of time)? The first one was being fed much less frequently and grew very little. The second is growing at a much faster rate but was also much smaller upon purchase.

What size tank did this fish live in? (or how soon did this fish outgrow what size tank)? I had both in my 75 gallon.

What do you think is the minimum tank size required for an adult specimen of this fish? I think a 75 gallon is plenty of space for a lion. They don't move around much, I think they would be happy with anything larger than 30 gallons as long as they are given a chance to hunt and hide.

If this fish went through body pattern change from juvenile to adult, was the change complete? How long did it take? I'm not sure that I received my current lion when he was a juvenile but the wing span has pretty much stayed the same and only his body has grown.

How long have you kept this fish? If you no longer have this fish, what was the cause? The first lion I got in Jan 07. He died around June 07. I obtained my second Lion around July 07

What is the longest lifespan and the maximum size of this fish in home aquarium and/or in the wild reported? From what I've seen from this survey 20 years!

DISEASE AND TREATMENT
What disease has this fish had? How did you treat it, for how long? What's the effect of the treatment? None other than sudden death due to poor feeding habits.

BEHAVIOR
Does this fish change body color under any circumstances? Yes, sometimes my lion has appeared to be a bright red tint, others a very dark black. Even the white span on his fins appear to change. It also has a lot to do with what corals he is close to.

How active is this fish? Is this fish shy? Neither of my lions were shy. 1 was Very active in the night but hid/remained stationary during the day. He was more than curious whether it be your face at the tank or your hand in the tank, he wants to see what's going on.... not always a good thing... the second lion was out a lot. Even during the day, he slept where he could be seen, typically along side my power head. If a move was made in the tank that was unusual, he was checking it out. He would take food right from your hand if you let him, always hungry!

How territorial or aggressive is this fish? How does this fish interact with tankmates? The first was very calm with his tank mates. He liked to show his aggressiveness off toward his live meals in front of the other fish but he rarely chased or lunged after another fish in the tank. The first lion and the Foxface Lo seem to get along the best but he doesn't chase the other fish off or the eel off when they get close... or, in the eels case, when the eel wraps himself around the lion during feeding time, the lion pays no attention to it. Things were similar with the second lion except he hated the Foxface. He would chase the foxface all over the tank.

Did this fish ever jump out of the tank? Not really. The second lion lunged one time when I was dipping frozen krill into the in-tank refugium to de-ice it before feeding. He apparently wanted right then coming up out of the water and getting stuck on the side of the refugium.

How does this fish sleep? the first was upsidedown or sideways at the top of the tank or under a piece of liverock. I built a nice bridge out of the rock so he normally hung out under the liverock. The second lion normally slept sideways beside the powerhead.

Does this fish allow cleaners to clean? If so which cleaner and how often? I have never seen this happen.

How does this fish interact with human? Lions are not afraid of humans by any means. With the first one I could reach in and do whatever I needed to and he would normally move to another spot in the aquarium. Normally he would come over to see what I'm doing if but then he would go right back to where he was. They second one wanted to be in the middle of all action. It wasn't a good combo for me with the tomato clowns. The female clown would always be biting me when I needed to do stuff in the aquarium, and the lion would just keep getting closer and closer. I could not shoo the second lion away.

Any other interesting observation of this fish? They were very curious when I added new items. They both had to be the first to know what's going on. They both would go up to a new bag that is tossed into the aquarium, whether it was fish or corals. In the case of the first one, if it's a feeder fish or a shrimp, he will sit and wait, sometimes lunging at the fish/shrimp while still in the bag. If it's a new addition that won't fit in his mouth, he'll go look at it and then go back to whatever he was doing.

REPRODUCTION
If you have a mated pair, how did you get them to pair up? N/A
Any information of spawning in captivity? None

SUMMARY
Your overall assessment of this species -
How sensitive is this fish to poor water quality on a scale of 1-5? 1-3, I know 2 and 3 are true. Not sure about 1, hope I never know for sure!

1 - very tolerant, may survive a cycle in a new tank
2 - quite tolerant, may survive accidental ammonia or nitrite spike
3 - not terribly sensitive to reasonable pH, salinity or temperature changes
4 - sensitive to any significant water chemistry changes, and may show stress during such changes
5 - very sensitive to water quality, may easily get stressed and get sick with any change in water chemistry
Would you recommend this fish to beginners? Yes! I was a beginner, still am I guess! This was one of my first fish though and although I lost my first one, I still feel they are very hardy. I don't think pet stores tell you the truth though when it comes to live feeding.

Any other recommendations/comments? I love my Lion!

If you have any picture(s) of this fish you took, please post it here and share with us!



Thanks, good luck with the survey! I look forward to seeing the results!