Dwarf lion with clownfish?

ZachsZoo · Dec 26, 2017

I have a small mixed reef with a pair of clarkii clownfish and I'm thinking about adding a dwarf lion. The smaller clown is about 1.5 inches and the larger clown is around 2 inches. I have read that they are reef safe with fish and corals, but just want to be sure. Anyone have any experience with them?

lion king · Dec 26, 2017

They are great reef fish with the exception, they will eat shrimp and fish smaller than themselves. The clarkii will be fine but you must size them appropriately, I not sure how fast the clowns grow, but a fuzzy or zebra lion will grow to 4" pretty quick. If those clowns will double in size in the next year they;ll be fine with a lion of equal size. Most of the dwarf lions come in eating live food only, I suggest making sure they are eating well before you add them to your display.

Gareth elliott · Dec 27, 2017

lion king said:
They are great reef fish with the exception, they will eat shrimp and fish smaller than themselves. The clarkii will be fine but you must size them appropriately, I not sure how fast the clowns grow, but a fuzzy or zebra lion will grow to 4" pretty quick. If those clowns will double in size in the next year they;ll be fine with a lion of equal size. Most of the dwarf lions come in eating live food only, I suggest making sure they are eating well before you add them to your display.

Ime clowns are a very slow growing group of fish. They have a steady growth rate for like 6m after hatching than take a few years for max size.

eatbreakfast · Dec 27, 2017

I have found clarkiis to be pretty fast growing clowns, they are also relatively deep bodied, so should be fine with a fuzzy dwarf.

ZachsZoo · Dec 27, 2017

lion king said:
They are great reef fish with the exception, they will eat shrimp and fish smaller than themselves. The clarkii will be fine but you must size them appropriately, I not sure how fast the clowns grow, but a fuzzy or zebra lion will grow to 4" pretty quick. If those clowns will double in size in the next year they;ll be fine with a lion of equal size. Most of the dwarf lions come in eating live food only, I suggest making sure they are eating well before you add them to your display.

Thanks for your feedback, I am prepared to feed live food, and I don't have any inverts in the tank so I don't have to worry about that. Is there a difference between a zebra and fuzzy lion? Is one of them usually safer or smaller than the other? One thing I am worried about is that I don't know what size it will come in as. I contacted my LFS and they said they don't know exactly what size it would come in as, so I guess that is just a risk I will have to take.

ZachsZoo · Dec 27, 2017

eatbreakfast said:
I have found clarkiis to be pretty fast growing clowns, they are also relatively deep bodied, so should be fine with a fuzzy dwarf.

I have actually only had my clarkiis for about 2 months now, and from what I've noticed they are pretty fast growers, but from what have heard the lion will probably grow a lot faster than the them.

lion king · Dec 27, 2017

ZachsZoo said:
Thanks for your feedback, I am prepared to feed live food, and I don't have any inverts in the tank so I don't have to worry about that. Is there a difference between a zebra and fuzzy lion? Is one of them usually safer or smaller than the other? One thing I am worried about is that I don't know what size it will come in as. I contacted my LFS and they said they don't know exactly what size it would come in as, so I guess that is just a risk I will have to take.

Fuzzies tend to be a favorite, definitely the one I would recommend for 1st or only dwarf lion. They tend to be the most social and easiest to feed. Size wise and growth rate they tend to be similar. They are both wonderful and have their own unique beauty, fuzzies colors can vary greatly; you can't go wrong with either one.

Clanger · Jan 12, 2023

Ahhhh but if the clarkii is aggressive could it get stung by the lion fish and die ..mine is nasty and will definitely have a go ha

danenelsen · Jan 12, 2023

Lionfish are tricky, they will eat anything smaller than themselves. I would wait until your clowmfish get a little bigger before getting one. Lionfish grow fast!

Clanger · Jan 12, 2023

danenelsen said:
Lionfish are tricky, they will eat anything smaller than themselves. I would wait until your clowmfish get a little bigger before getting one. Lionfish grow fast!

It's a big one about 2inch and very bitey ,I was thinking dwarf fuzzy , might stab it than eat it tbf ha