Lionfish in Reef

Joe Reefer · #1 10-11-2006, 06:43 PM

I am contemplating the idea of having a lion in my new reef that I am setting up. What are everyones thoughts on this, the lion will be a dwarf lionfish. What inverts, fish etc. will have to be exempt from the tank?

midgetwaiter · #2 10-11-2006, 06:55 PM

Any shrimp would be done for as well as any fish up to about 1/2 of the lion fish's body length, they can eat pretty big sometimes. Get yourself some gloves too.

Joe Reefer · #3 10-11-2006, 07:11 PM

Just finished reading this article. Figured I would share it with anyone else who is interested.

ponokareefer · #4 01-30-2007, 06:01 PM

I have had mixed results with lionfish in a reef. My first one was supposedly hand fed frozen food only, but when I added him to my tank, he ate about 4 fish that could fit in his mouth over a few months. The rest of the fish were too big, so he left them alone. I started feeding him damsels, and he was fine, but one day, found him belly up after eating a black damsel. As I didn't have any small fish left, I bought another one, and put in a small damsel, but he wouldn't touch it. I now have a dottyback, and four clowns, along with 5 shrimp, and he doesn't touch anything, only wanting krill or silversides. Not sure how long this will last, but he is such a beautiful fish. He has been in with my small fish for about 6 months now.

Ryan.

muck · #5 01-30-2007, 06:14 PM

Welcome to the Board Ryan!!
Would love to see some photos of your reef and setup.

pat · #6 01-30-2007, 06:24 PM

You should feed him freshwater ghost shrimps,they are the closest thing nutritionaly to any saltwater fish and critters that they eat,and they are cheap and easy to breed.
You can also use a souvlaki stick with a nice piece of krill,you can always pre-soak it in "Kent extreme garlic"
Good luck
Lionfish's rock

mark · #7 01-30-2007, 07:45 PM

Not knowing their natural habitat, guess I would be concerned if the Lion fish could handle the flow in a reef tank.

LPS reef might not be to bad but with the toted turnovers for a SPS tank would they still extend as much?

justinl · #8 01-31-2007, 01:36 AM

You should NOT feed a lion or anyother marine carnivore freshwater anything as a main diet. If your lion is new and isn't eating you can feed it FW shrimp to initiate a feeding habit, but you can't stick with just FW shrimp because freshies lack in some nutrients that marine animals need. For a lion I would put it on a diet of a couple of different frozens and an occasional live treat like shrimp or a small fish. Id only give FW food once a week at most.