Dwarf Lionfish

[KTV]

I've always been quite fascianted by these things but unfortunately don't have the room to setup a species tank.

Has anyone have any success keeping them in a reef tank with other inhabitants like clowns and a mandarin?

[OCDP]

I'm no expert, but mandarin and clowns are going to be like lionfish food for him depending on the size. I am not sure if it would eat a Mandarin? (I dont see why it wouldn't) ... but if your clowns are tiny, they are most likely going to become a snack. Just my thoughts, wait for Danny to chime in, he has a dwarf.

HTH

[danny zubot]

No no no.

You really need to research the type of lionfish you buy. I have a dwarf zebra lionfish who is now fully grown. It lives in my tank with my clown, a small hippo tang and up until two days ago my manderin. Lionfish have to be trained to eat frozen food, like large mysis and silversides. They will consume any small fish that they can fit in their mouth. If you keep it well fed and make sure it's tankmates are too big to eat you should be fine.

They are awsome fish, I encourage anyone to try them.

[OCDP]

haha I would take out that "anyone" part Danny :lol:

[danny zubot]

Here's a link KTV to get you started.
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/students/focus/dendro.htm
Thats my lionfish, Mr. Phoomps.

[KTV]

That's what I figure, as long as the inhabitants are bigger than it can eat then it can't be that much trouble. The whole thing about training it to eat has me kind of concerned though. Maybe I'll look into it somemore.

[danny zubot]

Apparently the Zebra is one of the more difficult to train. I ended up giving it to Deb and she was successful in getting him to eat frozen foods.

[EmilyB]

The one I had a few years back never did eat frozen, it cost me $30 a month to feed it live gut loaded ghost shrimp. I ended up adopting it to Carpentersreef, but I think it eventually perished. So it could be a crapshoot.

I had an awesome fuzzy dwarf lion tho, they seem to be easier to train. The red/yellow variant is really nice. :cool:

[blood_hound]

I have bunch of lions 3 fu manchu and a fuzzy dwarf they were awsome and I never had a hard time feeding them I will just drop the food on front of the power head and they will eat it while it is still floating and I can also hand fee them I will just hold a piece of food and wiggle it in the water :biggrin: :biggrin: but what I enjoy the most is when I feed them with chromis or damsel they love it. Live feeding is much fun to watch than feeding them with frozen. 2 months ago I try feeding them with one of my peppermint but they never had a chance to take bit of it and it is still alive until now hidding in rocks but I am still waiting for the day when it gets eaten. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

My only advice is when you buy a lion make sure it will eat frozen.

[KTV]

Wow.. that was hard to read.
Did you have any problems keeping 3 at the same time?

Maybe I'll look around for a Fuzzy Dwarf.
Anyone even got stung by one? How bad does it hurt?

Do you think it would be mean to keep it in a 10 gallon if I can't leave it in the Reef tank?

[EmilyB]

Wow.. that was hard to read.
Did you have any problems keeping 3 at the same time?

Maybe I'll look around for a Fuzzy Dwarf.
Anyone even got stung by one? How bad does it hurt?

Do you think it would be mean to keep it in a 10 gallon if I can't leave it in the Reef tank?
Mine was pretty chunky in a 50g - the fuzzy's grow pretty quick

[blood_hound]

I got 4. No problem at all. When I order them from jl they asure me that they will eat frozen and that I don't need to train them.

I've been stung once ,when I suddenly pull out my hand from the tank when one of my lion brush up on me and I hit the other lion and stung my self "it hurt like hell my hand was numb for almost 2 days"

10g tank is a big No No. You can keep them in a reef tank My lion tank has few corals in it you just can't keep shrimps and other small fish that will fit in its mouth.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Okay so I did some searching on Zebra lionfish and didn't actually find out a lot. Are they about the same size as a Dwarf Lionfish? when you say make sure they can't fit a tankmate in their mouth, how big would that be? Say I get a Zebra and yes you have me thinking. What size of chromis would I want to feed it if I didn't want to go the frozen route?

Doug

[geopod]

I am thinking the same thing.I read all the posts and Danny I read your page attachment.How did you set your tank up I would like to see a few pics of what your tank looks like.IE..plants rock worketc...I can get my fingers on a dwarf today.But my spare tank just has substrate in it right now as I am trying to figure out how to set it up with stuff.But I would like to see some pics

george

[danny zubot]

Sorry I don't have any pics of Mr. Phoomps right now but this is where he lives.
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/1071right_side.jpg

In my experience a full grown Dendrochirus will not eat a 1.75 inch clown, small tangs or 1.5 inch cleaner shrimp in pairs, or manderines. That is what I have currently. Dendrochirus brachypterus, or dwarf lionfish (also called fuzzy lionfish) are the same size and shape as Dendrochirus zebra. For some reason the zebra is more difficult to train to eat frozen foods but once they are trained they are fun to watch. They require caves or overhanges large enough for them to perch in, and spend most of the day doing just that. Until evening when they become more active as the hunt begins, and this is when I feed Mr. Phoomps.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Do you do a daily feeding or every two days etc etc. So they wont even eat cleaner shrimp??? wow that's good news I'll give it some thought but I'm just not sure.

Doug

[danny zubot]

I feed it different things each day based on Deb's regiment. One day he mysis along with all the other tank mates. The next he gets half a silverside while the other fish get brine shrimp. Sometimes he'll grab small bits of brine shrimp if he's still hungry. He's usually mad at me if I miss a day. :redface:

[BCOrchidGuy]

Thanks Danny, jury is still out on a lion fish for me. I think I'm going to go fish only for a bit but I may just stick with reef safe fish for now. A couple of clowns (saddlebacks) perhaps a couple of feather fins in the future etc. Have to see.

Doug

[Snappy]

Danny how big does the dwarf lion get? I was thinking about getting one for a smaller tank I have.
Greg

[danny zubot]

Hey Greg, the Dwarf and the Zebra will max out around 5-6 inches. I don't recommend an adult in anything less than a 33 gallon tank, as long as there are ample caves and other territory. There are a couple of species that are smaller when full grown as well.