lionfish

[PufferGuy]

anyone have any experience with lionfish in a reef?? i dont have too much coral, and i dont plan on getting too much more, and i would like to get a lionfish... any tips are appreciated.

oh and it would either be a dwarf or a radiata

 

[dustin_P74]

they will be fine with corals but they will eat anything that can fit in their mouth and might even eat your clean up crew

 

[Teixeira29]

Your best bet is to get him small but they still will eat your clean up crew!

 

[yote]

Like Dustin said,Corals are safe with lionfish,but shrimp would just be an expensive meal as would any smaller fish.

 

[PufferGuy]

i can replace crabs and snails every once in a while thats not a big deal... i do have a white ribbon eel, and he's close to 2 feet long but he's about as think as a Sharpie, would he be in danger also?

 

[yote]

I doubt you'd have to worry about the ribbon eel.Both are predators,so the lion would probably leave him alone.

 

[BigH55]

The only thing about lion fish are that most dont accept frozen food right away. Once you get past that your golden. Other than crabs, they leave all else alone and are kinda boring until u feed them.

 

[blazk]

Speaking of lionfish i saw this monster in the aquarium shop the other day.
With it is a zebra eel.

 

[montoya]

I had a Volitans years ago that I really enjoyed. I had to work with it for several weeks at first to get it to take dried/dead food. Its staple became the large freeze dried krill you can buy at most LFS. I supplemented this with all sorts of fresh fish, shrimp, scallops and other seafood.

One thing to consider is your water quality. These fish eat a lot of big meaty items which means they also generate a lot of waste. I had a fish only tank at the time so it wasn't an issue.

I would also have to entice my fish to eat dead/dried food sometimes. Not a problem for me. When I went on vacation however it was somewhat of a challenge however to convince my neighbor to stick his arm in with my venomous fish and wave food around until it ate.

Just a few things to consider. I really enjoyed my Lionfish when I had one but it took a little more maintenance than your average small reef fish. One of the dwarfs may be a little less messy than a Volitans.