Dwarf Lionfish

KTV · #1 06-03-2005, 05:33 PM

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 · #2 06-03-2005, 05:39 PM

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 · #3 06-03-2005, 06:08 PM

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 · #4 06-03-2005, 06:10 PM

haha I would take out that "anyone" part Danny

danny zubot · #5 06-03-2005, 06:14 PM

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

KTV · #6 06-03-2005, 08:04 PM

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 · #7 06-03-2005, 08:25 PM

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 · #8 06-04-2005, 01:53 AM

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.

blood_hound · #9 06-04-2005, 02:44 AM

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

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.

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

KTV · #10 06-04-2005, 03:41 AM

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?