Bad lionfish!

[lbannie]

A few days ago I picked up 3 green chromis. They WERE so cute! My YT damsel even took a liking to them and all 4 would swim around nicely. From the minute they were in the tank my fuzzy dwarf lionfish was eyeballing them. After 2 days 1 chromis was missing. Now 2 days after that the other 2 are gone! My lion is looking a bit fatter than normal as well! I don't get it, my damsel is the same size as those chromis and he doesn't mess with him. I guess I won't be able to add any more small fish to my tank!! My lion eats any food I put in the tank so he's not starving! Maybe he was a bad choice
Just a little bit bummed......

 

[lubeck]

You will need to get fish larger than the dwarfs lions mouth when it is open. Otherwise it will keep eating them.

 

[geridoc]

And...remember that a lionfish's mouth is about the same size as its body at its widest. It probably is familiar with the damsels, so it doesn't regard them as food, but any new thing in that size range will be fit-tested, and eaten if possible. We used to have a volitans that tried to eat every newcomer, regardless of how big it was. If it fit, it was eaten, but if it didn't fit on the first try the lion ignored it forever.

 

[lbannie]

Yeah I was thinking since the chromis were hangin with my damsel they would be ok. WRONG!! Now I really have to think about my future fish!!!