2 Lions

[aidos]

I am currently setting up my 76 gallon tank that will become a FOWLR.
my main question is how will a dwarf lion, FuManCh, Antennata Lion and Dwarf Zebra Lion cope being in the same tank. i will not keep all in the same tank only 2.
I ask this cause l love each species and as they are relatively small had the idea that could keep them both as i believe that they are not aggresive to other fish(if they do fit in their mouths).
i will a 3 inch sandbed and bout 80-100 pound of LR.
i will also have a SFE. how many more fish will this size tank be able to hold.
thinking of anthias, angel or butterfly.
Cheers

 

[moraym]

Yes, they will work together. I have housed all four of those fish at one point or another, used to have four dwarf lions in four separate tanks. I then put two lions in each of two larger tanks for a while before I moved. Actually, when I moved a few weeks ago I sold off my four dwarf lions, and for a few days, they were ALL FOUR housed in my LFS's 200g tank as I waited for my consignment buyers to filter in. So I've seen it work.
I would advise strongly against getting a butterfly, they are often hard to feed, and when feeding they are easily spooked. So not only will it take more diligence and maintenance to keep the butterfly well fed, it will also take calming your lions down somehow. Dwarf lions quickly develop food response and know when it's feeding time. So when you try to feed the butterfly the lions will be out and about and inevitably spook the butterfly, so even if you get him eating well he'll be too timid to come out to accept the food.
Two dwarf lions with a large SFE would be a sufficient bioload, and would allow you to keep a clean-up crew as well.
I'd add at most one other fish, not sure what type though. Maybe a scorpion of some sort. Depends on your entire filtration system, but you've got a good indea putting in 100 lbs of LR.

 

[harlequin]

I have a zebra and antennatta in the same tank with no problems with aggression. The only real issue is the antennata is faster than the zebra so usually will get food first although if it gets away the zebra has a longer attention span and will hunt it down longer. Neither of them are faster than my percula clown which will snatch a live shrimp from the antennata or and eat it instead. I have read that zebras do not like each other but havent ever had two to see if its true.

 

[aidos]

if i was to add a protien skimmer would this allow me to increase my bioload.
i have heard that anthias add grealty to bio load so i may skip them but i would really like a wrasse, a tang and maybe a dwarft angel, like a bicolour.
would adding protein skimmer do a big enough job or am i better of only having one lion fish.

 

[moraym]

A skimmer definitely helps, as would RO/DI water and UV sterilizer if you really want to get serious (dwarf lions, in my experience, are pretty susceptible (sp?) to bacterial infections and popeye).
Watch out for the wrasse, I've seen dwarf lions suck down some pretty fast wrasses who were pretty sizeable too.

 

[moraym]

Two lions, SFE, and bicolor angel sounds doable, so long as you make sure the filtration is working well or do more frequent water changes.
Definitely skip on the anthias, I wouldn't try the wrasse. A smaller wrasse may be lunch, and a huge wrasse would add to the bioload and if it's big and fast it'll likely steal food from the stalking lionfish.
As far as a tang goes, I'm one of those odd people who believe tangs need like 100g, since they're open water fish. Also, a tang requires a lot of greens and vegetation, seaweed clips, etc. So it'd take a lot more maintenance to have to prepare all that food and feed the three aggressives (2 lions, SFE), making sure they all get enough food. And then have to go back and specially feed the tang and monitor him. Better to have the aggressives and another fish that can just chow down on simple Formula flake. Or is that just me being too lazy.:notsure:

 

[aidos]

cheers apprecite the advise, think i'll stick with 1 lion, SFE, a dwarf angel (bicolor) and maybe somethin else down the line when i see how my filtration system deals with the bioload.
saying that my mind will wonder and i'll probably change this list several more time. definetly keepin the lion and SFE though. cheers for info.

 

[chandler04]

You can do a yellow tang, kole tang, scopas tang. Choose one. Then, two of the species of lions that you specified b4. It is possible to pair off fuzzies cuz its easy to tell the difference between sexes. You should get the snowflake at a smaller size so it could grow with the lions, but it could still have the potential to take a bite outta the dwarfs stomache. I dont know if it has happened, but it is a possibility. UV sterilizer is a good idea for lions.

 

[fmarini]

Well I can tell you if given enough space keeping all the lions together may work. I kept 7 lion species and a few scorpion species together, all in the same 180 gal tank for quite a while. I only had problems introducing new lions to the tank once everyone had grown up together. Even at this point the larger Lions (P volitans and russells) would occasionaly check out the Fu and the dwarfs to see if they were food items. One problem w/ a lionfish only tank....boring... except for feeding time.
Lastly you do have to worry about each lion getting the appropiate amount of food,since they are considerably slower feeders than fas tmovin angels, tamgs B'flys, wrasses. but i agree w/ Moray here, 2 lion and eel and the angel should be fine.
Just to be sure, make sure everyone is weaned onto prepared foods before adding the fast eaters, and ensure you train the eel to stick feed else he may bite your fish.
frank

 

[moraym]

I kept 7 lion species and a few scorpion species together
Have any pics? I'd love to see it, i'm mad i never took a picture of my four dwarf lions when i put them in the LFS

 

[fmarini]

Moray- if you email me I'll send you a link.
Have you had the chance to read the "lionfish info sheet". I wrote it for a Fish magainze a few years back, its available online and has photos and lots of info
frank

 

[moraym]

i'll drop you a line when i'm back in my home office (i'm in baltimore right now, making a weekend of it and stopping by the aquarium for the fifth time this year)