Fuzzies as tank mates

[lion king]

I keep multiple, multiple predator tanks. Feeding can be a challenge as is, feeding live gets even trickier, and fuzzies are a pita. In general, fuzzies are insatiable, so monitoring your intake is very important. I lost a fuzzy to bloat due to overeating and then realized that a fuzzy just will not stop eating, their eyes are bigger than their stomach. Most other fish I keep will actually stop eating when they are full, that's why it is also important to feed smaller food items.

The red is the one I lost to bloat, the yellow is with my rhino, and I just added my baby fuzzy with a blackfoot and a yellow spot scorp. I use a rigid stick to manage feeding, when a particular fish seems to eating too much, I simply push him away with the stick. When i'm trying to allow a specific fish to catch more food, I'll use the stick to guard the area. Yellow fuzzy, forget it, I have to use a net, he will bulldoze right through the stick and eat food right out of the rhino's mouth.

I was concerned to put my itty bitty fuzzy in the blackfoot's tank, the blackfoot is a very efficient hunter. In just 2 months, the itty bitty went from under 2" to over 2.5"; still the blackfoot is double his size. i wasn't concerned about the blackfoot eating him, i was concerned of him out competing him for food. What a joke, the fuzzy is a beast, he has no problem blowing up a t feeding time. I wonder how long it will be before I have to manage the little fuzzy from out competing the rest of the tank.

No other lion, or scorp I've ever kept, comes close to relentless pursuit of food that comes from a fuzzy.

 

[Han]

How much do you typically feed your rhino per feeding?

 

[lion king]

Really depends on the size of molly. I have started to feed him mollies exclusively. If it's an extra large one, say over 2", I'll feed one. If they are more like 1.5" I'll feed 2. If you notice for their apparent size, they are actually slender fish, say in comparison to a chubby fuzzy. I feed very 2 to 3 days depending on how much I fed on the previous feeding. My rhino is much more active than I thought they were, but when he is hungry, he is literally hopping all over the place.

 

[Meldrath]

The fuzzy I had in my reef tank would eat until the dang thing looked like it would explode. I had some friends living with me at the time and they would just feed this thing endlessly and it would gladly accept until it looked like a volleyball. Amazing little fish, great personality but they are VORACIOUS!

 

[lion king]

Many people keep fuzzies in tanks that are too small. especially when wanting to keep them in a community. A 40B is going to be too small if you actually keep this lion long enough to get full size. Regardless of how tiny they come in, they will be close to 6" within a couple of years. I don't see any success of more than a year when kept in smaller tanks. A tank smaller than a 55g will limit most of what you should put in tanks that small anyway, because most fish would become food.

A popular fish people put with this fish is a valentini puffer, in smaller tanks this is a 50/50 proposition at best. The blue spots are notorious nippers, I find the leopard toby to be a better fit. I've seen a number of occasions where the blue spot likely stressed the fuzzy to death or a fuzzy spiked the blue spot. In larger tanks 55g plus, 75g better; the match does get a little more successful. If you are trying to maintain feeding live, it does get complicated with the puffer.

While I exclusively keep predator only tanks, if you are looking for a community tank for a fuzzy, I recommend starting with a tank in the 75g range. In this tank good tank mates could include dwarf angels, tomini tang, engineer gobie or snowflake eel, marine betta, maroon clowns; and larger bennies like the midas, orange spot, starry, or lawn mower.

In tanks large enough you can keep multiple lion species, males with tend to get into with each other a bit, but in larger tanks with multiple caves and perching spots, it usually doesn't turn deadly. In smaller tanks the male's angst between each other sometimes becomes deadly. If you plan on a pair of fuzzies, I would not suggest 2 males, to definitively sex a female they have to be at least 4.5". Scorps are good tank mates as well as the warty frogfish and smaller frogfish species. The popular painted angler or anything larger could eventually eat the fuzzy.

I would love for people to post their tank mates successes with their fuzzy. Please include tank size and how long you kept them. What size did you get them at and what size did they grow to.

 

[Jason Coy]

I keep multiple, multiple predator tanks. Feeding can be a challenge as is, feeding live gets even trickier, and fuzzies are a pita. In general, fuzzies are insatiable, so monitoring your intake is very important. I lost a fuzzy to bloat due to overeating and then realized that a fuzzy just will not stop eating, their eyes are bigger than their stomach. Most other fish I keep will actually stop eating when they are full, that's why it is also important to feed smaller food items.

The red is the one I lost to bloat, the yellow is with my rhino, and I just added my baby fuzzy with a blackfoot and a yellow spot scorp. I use a rigid stick to manage feeding, when a particular fish seems to eating too much, I simply push him away with the stick. When i'm trying to allow a specific fish to catch more food, I'll use the stick to guard the area. Yellow fuzzy, forget it, I have to use a net, he will bulldoze right through the stick and eat food right out of the rhino's mouth.

I was concerned to put my itty bitty fuzzy in the blackfoot's tank, the blackfoot is a very efficient hunter. In just 2 months, the itty bitty went from under 2" to over 2.5"; still the blackfoot is double his size. i wasn't concerned about the blackfoot eating him, i was concerned of him out competing him for food. What a joke, the fuzzy is a beast, he has no problem blowing up a t feeding time. I wonder how long it will be before I have to manage the little fuzzy from out competing the rest of the tank.

No other lion, or scorp I've ever kept, comes close to relentless pursuit of food that comes from a fuzzy.

Thanks for trying to keep everybody informed and for caring so much about the health of these beautiful creatures. Is that a zebra on the left in this last pic?