Another Mombasa thread

[DaddyFish]

I recently purchased a fuzzy dwarf from liveaquaria that only lasted a few days. That fish was obviously not healthy from the time of arrival, and it was pretty small. Luckily I was able to replace it with the lionfish that I originally wanted, a Mombasa that arrived yesterday. Presently, the Mombasa is in QT, but will eventually move into a 54-corner DT FOWDR (Fish-Only With Dead Rock) where it will have several tankmates.

Before anyone starts preaching about tank size, you should understand that I run two large canister filters on this well-established tank in series (Oase Biomaster 600 x 2), and a 18w UV. There's over 10-liters of Seachem Matrix in that tank along with 7-stages of foam/poly and two stages of carbon.

My question is about tankmates and lionfish in general. This is my first lionfish experience.
Tankmates are...
Snowflake Eel
Diamond Watchman Goby
Valentini Puffer
Spotted Puffer (not sure exactly which puffer this one is, small, about the size of the Valentini)
Yellow Tang (temporary occupant from another DT)
Large Red Hermit Crab (we're talking BIG, uses a palm-size conche shell for housing)

The snowflake is well-acclimated to hand feed without biting anyone else, or me. I built a large and tall coral structure (about 30-lbs) for the back corner. The snowflake hangs out in a sunken submarine decor and only the valentini tends to venture in and around the coral. The crab frequently attempts to escape by climbing the coral tower and pushing up on the cover. Maybe someday he will succeed. Then the snowflake and Goby will dive out together in a lovers' leap, carpet surfing for eternity. They LOVE each other. I digress...

I'm worried about the Mombasa fitting into this predatory fish tank. Photo attached.
I assume that right away I need to switch down to the much less intense blue light?
Other constructive suggestions and advice?

 

[Doctorgori]

I don’t see any corals so the color temp of the light doesn’t matter,
I don’t see much useable bio-surface .... I’d fill at least one filter with mechanical media

You said “cover”? As in solid plastic not screen?

 

[DaddyFish]

I don’t see any corals so the color temp of the light doesn’t matter,
I don’t see much useable bio-surface .... I’d fill at least one filter with mechanical media

You said “cover”? As in solid plastic not screen?

Sorry, probably buried that piece of info too deep. There's 10+ liters of Seachem Matrix biomedia in the filters. One filter is full plus one tray in the other.

Tank is completely covered, glass and plastic. Air pump with two airstones running and I fabricated a baffle plate for one corner cutout that's eel escape proof.

This tank has been running for a year, but it took me eight months to sort out the filtration. It was my first saltwater tank ever!

 

[DaddyFish]

Bumping this one.

Lionfish #2 (Mombasa) remains in QT and has refused to eat everything I've tried except one unfortunate baby guppy that I kidnapped from my freshwater tank. So far I've tried...
Live Ruby Red feeder fish
slivers of frozen shrimp
frozen kreel
slivers of freshly killed freshwater fish (don't ask)
pellets of all sizes

He adores his reflection so I added a large piece of carbon foam to the QT tank bottom, thinking that might be the problem. Nope!

LFS only had Ruby Reds and said that would do the trick. Nope!

Suggestions??? He's going to starve to death if I don't find a solution.

 

[lion king]

Inwould immediately start treatment with general cure. Lions come in with internal parasites so frequently it is really a necessary to treat. Unless you are very, veru confident to able to observe and immediately be ready for action, general cure is the best course. No other meds is suggested.

Live ghost shrimp, appropriate sized live mollies, live feeder guppies or appropriate sized fancy guppies are all foods he may accept. If you want to spend the money and your lfs doesnt run fish with their inverts, a live peppermint shrimp. These guys almost always come in eating live food only, and it will be very challenging to keep him at all unless you are willing to include live food. Even if getting him to take dead food, it will unlikely to get him to take dead food that will be nutrtionally balanced in a way to keep him long term.

Ruby reds or goldfish are not advised.

 

[DaddyFish]

Inwould immediately start treatment with general cure. Lions come in with internal parasites so frequently it is really a necessary to treat. Unless you are very, veru confident to able to observe and immediately be ready for action, general cure is the best course. No other meds is suggested.

Live ghost shrimp, appropriate sized live mollies, live feeder guppies or appropriate sized fancy guppies are all foods he may accept. If you want to spend the money and your lfs doesnt run fish with their inverts, a live peppermint shrimp. These guys almost always come in eating live food only, and it will be very challenging to keep him at all unless you are willing to include live food. Even if getting him to take dead food, it will unlikely to get him to take dead food that will be nutrtionally balanced in a way to keep him long term.

Ruby reds or goldfish are not advised.

Thanks!!!
I typically run copper in the QT but I've been running carbon for a couple weeks in the QT, so GC should be no problem. I have GC on hand and will start it tonight.

Live foods are a challenge to find in my area right now. I may have a batch of guppies born in a few days that could be used. Ruby Reds were the only local live option I could find.

You know, it's nearly impossible to get clear info up-front before you purchase the fish. There's lots of watered-down posts that don't cut through the chase.

One last question... any chance the lionfish will survive a well-fed snowflake eel, or is it inevitable that the lionfish becomes a midnight snack?

 

[lion king]

Thanks!!!
I typically run copper in the QT but I've been running carbon for a couple weeks in the QT, so GC should be no problem. I have GC on hand and will start it tonight.

Live foods are a challenge to find in my area right now. I may have a batch of guppies born in a few days that could be used. Ruby Reds were the only local live option I could find.

You know, it's nearly impossible to get clear info up-front before you purchase the fish. There's lots of watered-down posts that don't cut through the chase.

One last question... any chance the lionfish will survive a well-fed snowflake eel, or is it inevitable that the lionfish becomes a midnight snack?

If you click on my name and find all threads, you get more info than you need on caring for ambush preds like lions.

Copper is a killer, even if they make it through treatment, they likely won't live that long afterwards, never more than a year, guaranteed.

 

[DaddyFish]

So here's the latest Mombasa update...
Tried live ghost shrimp and small Ruby Red feeders, he's not interested. Fish won't eat, period!

He will swim around a little if you disturb him, otherwise he hangs out nose-down staring at his reflection. I blacked the bottom with a piece of black foam and that didn't help. He still latched onto a coral tree decor and went back to staring downward 24x7.

Is this fish dainbramaged???

 

[lion king]

I would treat for internal patasites immediately, or it will likely be too late. Lions usually come in very hungry and a healthy lion should eat almost instantly if given something live.

As far as his actions, you are talking about a being tsken from the ocean and put in a glass cage. A head down posture is a common position.

If you want to save him, start general cure right now.

 

[DaddyFish]

I would treat for internal patasites immediately, or it will likely be too late. Lions usually come in very hungry and a healthy lion should eat almost instantly if given something live.

As far as his actions, you are talking about a being tsken from the ocean and put in a glass cage. A head down posture is a common position.

If you want to save him, start general cure right now.

Started GC yesterday.

 

[lion king]

Gc sometimes causes a loss in appetite, but it will give hime a chance. I've treated with diagnosed cases of parasites and had them eating within 2-3 days.

 

[DaddyFish]

Happy to report Mombasa is eating well. API General Cure did the trick. Thanks LionKing!!! I'm planning to leave him in the QT for a couple more weeks.

I relocated the eel that was in Mombasa's final DT destination. That was special fun. Who knew an eel could bury itself into the sand to avoid a net! Had to remove everything from that tank to catch the eel.

Now there's two small puffers (Valentini and Spotted), Diamond Goby and a Spider Crab waiting on the Mombasa. Any thoughts on the prospect of them all deciding not to kill each other???

 

[cd459]

Happy to report Mombasa is eating well. API General Cure did the trick. Thanks LionKing!!! I'm planning to leave him in the QT for a couple more weeks.

I relocated the eel that was in Mombasa's final DT destination. That was special fun. Who knew an eel could bury itself into the sand to avoid a net! Had to remove everything from that tank to catch the eel.

Now there's two small puffers (Valentini and Spotted), Diamond Goby and a Spider Crab waiting on the Mombasa. Any thoughts on the prospect of them all deciding not to kill each other???

Lion can probably eat the goby, might try the puffers if they’re small enough (which will be fatal). How big is the lion?

 

[lion king]

I don't trust the puffers with the lion, valentini's are notorious nippers. When you say spotted puffer, there's a green spotted that's usally a brackish water inhabitant, they are also notorious nippers. There's also a blue spot which is a valentini puffer. Just keep a close eye on it, an accidental nip can happen in a feeding frenzy, which is no big deal; but they sometimes actually get aggessive and purposefully nip. Many times this could actually end worse for the puffer than the lion. Diamond gobys do get quite large, so if sized properly it will probably be ok. Hard bodied inverts are ok, just no shrimp, yummy.

 

[DaddyFish]

I don't trust the puffers with the lion, valentini's are notorious nippers. When you say spotted puffer, there's a green spotted that's usally a brackish water inhabitant, they are also notorious nippers. There's also a blue spot which is a valentini puffer. Just keep a close eye on it, an accidental nip can happen in a feeding frenzy, which is no big deal; but they sometimes actually get aggessive and purposefully nip. Many times this could actually end worse for the puffer than the lion. Diamond gobys do get quite large, so if sized properly it will probably be ok. Hard bodied inverts are ok, just no shrimp, yummy.

Both puffers are 3-4", good size for a Valentini and the Spotted Puffer (no specific species for him) is definitely 4"+.
The Diamond Goby is a 4"+ and had a love affair with the snowflake eel before I relocated the eel. That goby is large, fast, and oh so annoying. Se la vie!

Presently the Mombasa is also in the 3-4" range. Much depends on how you measure him. He can be as wide as long, sort of a big spiny ball. I think everyone is sized appropriately. The Valentini is my biggest concern. It's an ****** like them all. Maybe they'll duke it out!