Lion fish tankmates

[RedVolitan]

I have a small volitan (~ 2inches) with a yellow tail damsel in my 55gal. The damsel will be moved out as soon as I find a new tankmate or two. I am not sure what other fish I should/can add to the tank. I have thought about a yellow tang, an angel of some sort, a picaso (sp?) trigger, a heni butterfly, another lion.... and a few others. Anybody have any good recommendations?

BTW, I am planning on upgrading to a 125gal or 150gal in about 2 years or sooner if I have too .

TIA

[bobbyp]

if you leave the damsel you insure one free lunch one of these days.......

[s dubay]

A picaso could be risky,they are supposed to eat lionfish from underneath,the same with most triggers!If you want a trigger try a niger or pinktail!I have a picaso with my lion right now but it is a really big tank and my fish get very well fed so no aggresion yet but if the time comes i will have no problem taking the trigger out!A friend has been bugging me to sell it to him!I'm hopeing for the best,you can try a picaso but watch them carefully!Good luck

[M.Dandaneau]

A 55 gal. tank is large enough for one P. volitans lionfish only.

If growing normally, within six months, having another fish in there will make the tank overcrowded......by that time your lion should be in the 8"-10" range and at that size its wing-like pectoral fins will almost go from front to back when it's swimming lengthwise along the tank.

Most of the triggers, by the way, don't need to attack a lionfish from underneath...if the lion should go into it's head down posture with the spines pointing toward the attacker, they simply bite them off, then tear the lionfish apart at their leisure, or within a few minutes, depending upon the trigger's mood.

The "from the bottom" thing, by the way, is how triggerfish attack sea urchins...they blow a jet of water underneath the urchin, and then when it rolls over they dive into the exposed bottom and have an urchin lunch.

Mike

[s dubay]

LOL I knew they ate somedamn thing like that!I thought it was lion's,thats why you are the expert and i am but a lowly fishkeeper searching for the answers!

[M.Dandaneau]

Not an expert, but rather just an old fart who never gets tired of watching the sea and all her critters.

Not all triggers do that, by the way, but the Queen triggerfish is SO famous for it that some imbecilic lawmaker has made it illegal to collect long-spined sea urchins here in Florida, apparently thinking that's ALL they ate, much like the Apple snail and the Everglades Kite.
The Kites (a bird) are STILL in trouble because it's NOT illegal to dry up the everglades even though the snails ARE almost the only thing THEY eat.

Just our great system hard at work!

Mike