Fu Manchu Lionfish

fishoholic · #1 10-07-2009, 08:28 PM

Thanks everyone for the info.

sphelps I love your Fu manchu! The thought of a seahorse ridding around on him is awsome

I really like the looks of a fu manchu and my lfs is supposed to be getting one in soon, but I'm not sure I should get one. I started thinking about it when I was talking with some employees at a lfs about my really mean King angel, and I was telling them that between my king angel and my large grouper that I wouldn't be able to add anymore fish to that tank. My king attacks anyone that is remotely similar to her and the kind of fish (large wrasses and groupers) that she would leave alone, my miniatus grouper wouldn't aprove of. So the guy said why don't you get a lionfish, most fish know to leave them alone, and that got me thinking.....

I don't want to add one though if there is any chance that my king or grouper would hurt it.

sphelps · #2 10-07-2009, 08:43 PM

I don't think they would hurt it. Although my lion hasn't shown any aggression towards other fish I have seen it show defense. I had a puffer recently, which turned out to be quite aggressive, and I saw it go towards the lion but the lion immediately pointed his back spines towards the puffer and waived them around. The puffer quickly backed off and I never saw it go near the lion again. I don't think it's an aggressive fish but it can certainly defend itself. I would just sneak it in at night when it will be most comfortable.

The most important thing to consider is training the new fish on frozen. It would be best to train it to eat frozen outside of your display in its own tank since any other competitors will make this much more difficult. You usually need to feed live food for a while first before it will take frozen. I'm fortunate enough to have Colby at Bayside who takes the time to train these kinds of fish before I purchase them.

fishoholic · #3 10-07-2009, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sphelps

I don't think they would hurt it. Although my lion hasn't shown any aggression towards other fish I have seen it show defense. I had a puffer recently, which turned out to be quite aggressive, and I saw it go towards the lion but the lion immediately pointed his back spines towards the puffer and waived them around. The puffer quickly backed off and I never saw it go near the lion again. I don't think it's an aggressive fish but it can certainly defend itself. I would just sneak it in at night when it will be most comfortable.

The most important thing to consider is training the new fish on frozen. It would be best to train it to eat frozen outside of your display in its own tank since any other competitors will make this much more difficult. You usually need to feed live food for a while first before it will take frozen. I'm fortunate enough to have Colby at Bayside who takes the time to train these kinds of fish before I purchase them.

Thank-you that was what I wondering, if it would be able to defend itself in case my king or grouper tried anything. I have a small bursa trigger in that tank that the king and grouper completely leave alone not sure if it has anything to do with the spikes all over by his tail but maybe they realize that there are some fish you don't mess with. At least that was what I hoping, that the king would realize it's a lionfish that could sting him and that if the king tried anything that the lionfish would defend itself and I'm sure when the king realizes that, she will back down, or maybe she'll be smart enough to leave alone in the first place. Good idea to add him at night, if I get one I will do that.

Lucky for me I have Ken at Blue world who also takes the time to train his lionfish to eat frozen and Ken will hold the fu manchu for me until it is eating and doing well

noirsphynx · #4 10-07-2009, 09:30 PM

Did you see the tiny one Ken had in a few weeks ago, sooooooo cute. I'll be getting a dwarf fuzzy once my tank is ready.

fishoholic · #5 10-07-2009, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noirsphynx

Did you see the tiny one Ken had in a few weeks ago, sooooooo cute. I'll be getting a dwarf fuzzy once my tank is ready.

The fuzzy dwarf he had in a few weeks ago my boyfriends Dad bought, he doing great and eats mysis. It's part of what started getting me thinking about lionfish. I was there on Sunday and he had 3-4 fuzzy dwarfs one was a nice red one.

BlueWorldAquatic · #6 10-08-2009, 12:30 AM

They are great when they aren't eating their tankmates.

We try to get ours to eat mysis and siversides before they leave the store. My dwarf zebra sleeps with his pet cromis near his mouth at home.

Ken

Ian · #7 10-08-2009, 03:11 AM

Not sure how they do against large tankmates but my dwarf defended itself against my hand extremely well

I have had it over year with no issue what so ever

fishoholic · #8 10-08-2009, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueWorldAquatic

They are great when they aren't eating their tankmates.

We try to get ours to eat mysis and siversides before they leave the store. My dwarf zebra sleeps with his pet cromis near his mouth at home.

Ken

No small fish in that tank, my bursa trigger is the smallest and he's about 2-3 inches. The other fish in there are fairly large, my king/passer angel, miniatus grouper, foxface, emperor angel, and lunare wrasse.

So Ken, when you get the Fu manchu in next week, be sure to train him really good for me, ok

banditpowdercoat · #9 10-08-2009, 06:52 AM

Just saw Whatcaneyedo's lion today. Cute little thing. Contemplating one myself now

whatcaneyedo · #10 10-08-2009, 03:25 PM

What I think is really cute is if some frozen food hits the bottom of the tank the fu kind of pokes and plays with it with its 'whiskers' to see if its still alive.