Lionfish lovers thread

Redneckreef90 · Jul 1, 2016

hey guys I have looked and don't see one so post up your favorite lionfish pictures. I just got a dwarf zebra and maybe adding a fuzzy in a week or two. I love lionfish.

eatbreakfast · Jul 2, 2016

Great thread idea. I love lions, but love small fish a little more, so I don't have a pic to add currently, but I can live vicariously through the pics here.

DracoKat · Jul 2, 2016

I've always wanted a lionfish. I have a tank being set up and I can get a dwarf, but I am not sure. I am a bit apprehensive about their care.. I am getting conflicting info.

like.. are they reef safe? Aggressive to other fish? hard to feed?

Redneckreef90 · Jul 2, 2016

DracoKat said:
I've always wanted a lionfish. I have a tank being set up and I can get a dwarf, but I am not sure. I am a bit apprehensive about their care.. I am getting conflicting info.

like.. are they reef safe? Aggressive to other fish? hard to feed?

They can be reef safe as long as they can't eat any of there tank mates. This will be going in my 90 gallon DT when I get him eating frozen food and not live. They can be difficult to get to eat frozen some times. I have only had this guy a few days and have bit tried frozen with him yet.

Waters · Jul 2, 2016

Have always been one of my favorites....have kept multiple species although I don't have any now do to the higher flow in my SPS tank

GroverSenpai · Jul 2, 2016

Two lions I had in the past

DisneyMatt10 · Jul 2, 2016

I absolutely love Lionfish!! Sadly I don't think they will be compatible with my tank setup, so instead I will just have to keep viewing awesome Lionfish photos here!!

That being said... This is by far my favorite Lionfish photo.

~Matt

rayn · Jul 2, 2016

I will get back to this one when I get to my computer.

Great pics so far.

JaimeAdams · Jul 2, 2016

George (who was a girl). My first Saltwater fish. that was her looking like a dragon inside her Castle in QT.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 2, 2016

This little guy was one of my favorites.

Redneckreef90 · Jul 2, 2016

Nice lions. Let's keep it going.

Jenz · Jul 3, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
This little guy was one of my favorites.

Excuse my ignorance, is this a Fu manchu (?)?

Redneckreef90 · Jul 3, 2016

Jenz said:
Excuse my ignorance, is this a Fu manchu (?)?

I do believe so.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 3, 2016

Oh I'm sorry, I should have said. Yes, this is a Fu manchu. Dendrochirus biocellatus.

Jenz · Jul 3, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
Oh I'm sorry, I should have said. Yes, this is a Fu manchu. Dendrochirus biocellatus.

Its all good, am trying to learn how to identify each species before heading to LFS to purchase my stock when ready...ie the last thing I want is to be tricked into a FuManchu as have read they are a lot more fragile, and fickle than the Fuzzy Dwarf and Zebra Dwarf Lion fish

cnseekatz · Jul 3, 2016

After looking for about 2 years, I bought a bonded pair of yellow dwarf fuzzies. Absolutely stunning... I lost them both during a tragic tank crash. I was crushed... I haven't seen their equal.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 3, 2016

Here's a full side on shot.

GroverSenpai · Jul 3, 2016

Lovely lions folks!

@cnseekatz Those yellow guys are really stunning! Sorry to hear that they're gone :/

@Lionfish Lair, as we say here in Singapore, you "win liao lorh" [emoji23]

FeliciaLynn · Jul 3, 2016

DracoKat said:
I've always wanted a lionfish. I have a tank being set up and I can get a dwarf, but I am not sure. I am a bit apprehensive about their care.. I am getting conflicting info.

like.. are they reef safe? Aggressive to other fish? hard to feed?

If you mean coral safe, yes, they are 100% coral safe with all types of corals. They won't eat or bother any corals and I keep my lionfish with softies, gorgonians, SPS, LPS, zoas/palys, etc. The reasons they aren't considered fully reef safe is because:
(1) They'll eat any fish that are ~3/4 of their size or smaller. So you can really only keep lionfish with larger fish. However, as long as your fish aren't big enough to be eaten, lionfish are actually very peaceful tank mates and won't harass your other fish.
(2) They'll eat any and all shrimp and potentially other invertebrates like crabs. However, things like snails, fighting conchs, starfish, and tridacna clams usually do just fine with lionfish.

So basically, if you're willing to not keep any shrimp or small fish, then lionfish are completely reef safe. The only other thing to consider is that predator fish like lionfish tend to be a heavy bioload, so you have to have really good filtration. I run an oversized skimmer and a biopellet reactor on my system, and I do 25% water changes once a week. Even with all that, I still have nitrates between 5-25 ppm.

Jenz · Jul 3, 2016

FeliciaLynn said:
If you mean coral safe, yes, they are 100% coral safe with all types of corals. They won't eat or bother any corals and I keep my lionfish with softies, gorgonians, SPS, LPS, zoas/palys, etc. The reasons they aren't considered fully reef safe is because:
(1) They'll eat any fish that are ~3/4 of their size or smaller. So you can really only keep lionfish with larger fish. However, as long as your fish aren't big enough to be eaten, lionfish are actually very peaceful tank mates and won't harass your other fish.
(2) They'll eat any and all shrimp and potentially other invertebrates like crabs. However, things like snails, fighting conchs, starfish, and tridacna clams usually do just fine with lionfish.

So basically, if you're willing to not keep any shrimp or small fish, then lionfish are completely reef safe. The only other thing to consider is that predator fish like lionfish tend to be a heavy bioload, so you have to have really good filtration. I run an oversized skimmer and a biopellet reactor on my system, and I do 25% water changes once a week. Even with all that, I still have nitrates between 5-25 ppm.

In your opinion how do you think they'll go with a sandmopper sea cucumber?
Was advised to consider one by LFS to help manage a deep substrate, but opinions differ as to whether it'll be harassed by this predator species