Lionfish Volitans with what?

[Hoopy1113]

Hello all,

I have a 125 with roughly 50 pounds of live rock and 1 lionfish (Volitans) that is roughly 5". Anyways, what would be compatible with it? What types of fish? How many fish would you go with? Is there any invertabrates, anenomes, cucumbers, or starfish that would work? Anyways, I am just trying to do it right and your help would be great :o :-D :lol: :razz: :wink: :?:

[MikeS]

Other lions will be compatible...lions also typically won't bother any fish that is too big to eat.

The lions will leave coral alone, but may try to eat shrimps and other smaller inverts...

Mike

[miztahphong2]

yeah you can keep them with other lions or mainly other big aggressive fish. i dont think theyre reef safe though and i wouldnt try it. inverts are a no because they will eat it. that means no starfish, cucumbers. for lionfish people usually have fo or fowlr.

[mjprather]

yeah you can keep them with other lions or mainly other big aggressive fish.

Aggressive fish are likely to pick on the lion. Lions are not aggressive, just hungry.

i dont think theyre reef safe though and i wouldnt try it. fowlr.

Mine is happy in a reef tank. They don't sample the corals, but love to eat shrimp. Hermit crabs are safe enough from mine.

I have a Black Volitans living peacefully with a snowflake moray. They pretty much ignore each other.

[rememberme]

Lionfish are generally reef safe. Mine has not picked on anything coral wise, the hermits and snails have been fine and even my cleaner shrimp. The lion is pretty small at the moment and the cleaner can't fit in his mouth... I am waiting for my FO to finish a cycle then he will be moved into that with a porki puffer and a tan

http://www.sleeth.org/images/lionfish1.jpg

I have mine with a 7 inch Miniatus Grouper and a 6 inch Panther Grouper and all is well. The Minatus is smoking hot color wise!!! Feeding time is a bit of a trick until the two groupers are fat dumb and happy though. Thats the only complaint I have had. The Groupers move at what seems like mach 5 when you put a scooby snack in front of the lion and often snatch it first, but after they get there fill its usually easy to accomadate the lion fish. Just an idea....

[Nyxaus]

How fast do lionfishes grow?

Nyxaus.

[MikeS]

They can grow pretty fast...it all depends on how well they eat and what you feed them...most of the lions I've kept in the past reach average adult size in 2-3 years...

Mike

[rememberme]

I hear mine (6") could get to 13" in a year if the diet os good... sound a little big too quickly to me tho....

[chode]

i think you may be able to put a eel in there if im correct. i could be rong but i thinks its ok

[EXVISOR]

I had a lion fish for a while and two fish I found did not far well, one being a puffer, for some reason the puffer kept blowing him self up which is not good, if you go with a puffer get a large one as big or bogger then lion ,when my large puffer passed away which I had for years I replaced it with one that was smaller then my lion, he did not like the lion at all but the large one I had didn't concider him a threat
The other fish tha did not do well was a huma trigger, he was nasty, so nasty he bit threw my heater cord ,even though the lion was tripple his size he kept messing with him, slapping sand in his face with his tail and just trying to pick a fight with him until the lion stung him and I found him half dead and stuck to the suction tube of the filter
Tangs seem to do ok with lion and so do groupers, just like most will tell you make sure there not small enough to be a meal, same thing goes for the grouper
a panther grouper is a cool looking fish, may want to take a look at one

[rememberme]

Really? I hear it is the puffers that will attack the lionfish...

They always seem pretty peaceful to anything that doesn't fit in their gob, and the puffers are known for nipping long fins. I chose the porcupine because it is my favourite fish and it is supposed to be the least interested in fins on the whole.

Thankfully my lion is pretty small, so all should be ok. I'm thinking of a Regal Tang (Blue Tang to some) to go with them.

Oh, by the way - my cleaner shrimp was dead a couple days ago, but that could be coincidence?!! No attack marks?!

[EXVISOR]

I don't really know to tell you the truth, my puffer is very mellow and does not bother anyone, then again all my fish started out small and grew up together ,all I know was he kept freaking out from the lion, i was like a ghost town, they all hid and would not come out and if the puffer did come out he would blow him self up which they only do if they feel threatend

[nanoman123]

what ive read is that lionfish will be safe with any other fish thats larger than the lionfishes mouth. inverts are a no. corals wouldent get eaten, but probably poked by the spines on the fish. lionfish tanks are cool, and i plan to set up a dwarf lionfish nano soon. i think ill get some info from this thread too :)


~Matt~

[alkataz]

I would have to agree that it would be best to keep lionfish in a species only tank. They are not aggressive fish they are predatory. People often get the two confused. Most of the time lionfish will be bullied by large aggressive fish and will get smaller ones so it is really a lose lose kind of situation.

There are always exceptions to the rule but i couldn't give you any fish that definately would get along with one.

Also just because a fish appears to be bigger than the lionfishes mouth does not mean that it can not eat it. Lionfish can sometimes swallow fish much larger than there mouths.

Puffers are not good tankmates because they will shread the fins of the lionfish. Like I said there are always exceptions to the rule but it is generally not safe to combine the two.

[nanoman123]

my LFS keeps one in a tank with a spotted grouper, and theyve been just fine for a year almost

~Matt~

[Bull32]

I had bought a Bi Color angle that was too big for my Volitans but at about 8 pm the night I got the bi color I heard my wife shout its in his mout and I looked up and saw the bi color sticking out of the lions mouth. He could only fit the mouth in but he tried anyway. I moved him to another tank and the angle recovered just fine. I plan on putting a scorpion fish and a chainlink or zebra moray in with the lion now.

Jim