Lion fish

[Steven91]

I was looking at keeping a lion fish in my reef tank, i cant keep inverts right now as i have a Saddle Valentini Puffer. I love the look of the fu manchu but no one seems to have them right now. I have a 120 gal display so i have the room and most of my fish are good size. If I cant find a fu manchu, I was looking at getting a fuzzy drawf lionfish though according to liveaquria it can get to 7" which the fu manchu will only get to 4", is that accurate? Also, from what I've read they can be picky eaters at first so how has people gotten them to eat?

 

[tupes]

I had a fuzzy and he was about 4-5" and would only eat grass shrimp.

 

[Steven91]

I had a fuzzy and he was about 4-5" and would only eat grass shrimp.

was he eating when you first got him or did you have to get him to eat?

 

[tupes]

I tried to find a picture of him released but couldn't locate it.

 

[tupes]

was he eating when you first got him or did you have to get him to eat?

He was eating from day 1. I got him from liveaquaria. He was one of my favorite fish. Follows you around the tank like a puppy dog.

 

[4FordFamily]

Difficult to keep, difficult to get feeding or on to frozen foods. Neat fish though!

 

[Steven91]

Difficult to keep, difficult to get feeding or on to frozen foods. Neat fish though!

yeah so i've read and heard. trying to do some more research before i get a lionfish

 

[lion king]

The tricky thing about dwarf lions is feeding, they always come in eating live food only and there is no guarantee you will be able to get them to take dead food. Even people that do get them eating dead food it can sometimes be short lived, and they will never eat enough from the water column to sustain long term, So if you do get the dwarf to take dead food you must target feed, so keeping them long term is a bit of work.

I have 2 fu manchu's and one ate dead food as an addition to her diet for a few years, but for the last year or so hasn't taken any dead food. I've found for long term success a combo live/dead diet is best, my lions get a majority of live foods. The fuzzy is the easiest to convert and some have had long term success feeding a dead only diet, I do say some because most do not. The dwarf lions are a tricky bunch and also are a challenge because of increased incidents of coming in with internal parasites, they have a very high mortality rate.

Best chances of success would be to have a qt tank to treat for internal parasites and work to convert to dead food in a tank alone before introduction to the dt. Also be ok with feeding them a live diet for their entire life just in case you are unable to get them to eat dead food.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

I tried to find a picture of him released but couldn't locate it.

I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure thats a dwarf zebra lionfish, not a fuzzy. I beleive only the zebras have the two spots on the cadual peduncle. If I remeber correctly I think dwarf zebras only get 1-2 inches longer than the fuzzy dwarf.

I’m far from an expert though

 

[tupes]

I'm like 99% sure it was a fuzzy but I could be wrong its been a while.

 

[Steven91]

I did end up getting a fuzzy lionfish and he is eating frozen, loves to eat frozen mysis and is fun to watch him eat, i think he knows when im there as he is starting to show himself more and more when i come up to the tank