Fish that do not require "live" food.

[wen tom]

Hi again, I have fish that I was told would do fine, am spending a fortune feeding a young dwarf lion (zebra). and have been looking at a green or mandarine dragonette and am finding they need pods. the tank is 75 gal. Will have 1 fire fish, 1 green goby, 1 lion, he ordered me 1 sweetlips, 1 cowfish, 1 tang and 2 clowns for hopefully some reef eventually. Have concerns with cow and sweetlips now, but feel if I ordered them, they're mine.
Anyhow, any thoughts or knowhow appreciated.

 

[geridoc]

Whoa...slow down partner. There are some very bad choices in that stock list. Your cute little sweet lips will be around 30 inches long soon. - far too big for your 75. Most tangs won't fit either. You need to train the lion to take prepared foods instead of live. There are many training methods on the Internet that work well. Mandarins can be trained to take prepared food, too, but it is hit or miss, mostly miss. ORA-derived mandarins seem to have a better success rate, but still less than a sure thing.

 

[mx#28]

Quote:
Originally Posted by GeriDoc http:///t/395315/fish-that-do-not-require-live-food#post_3519305
Whoa...slow down partner. There are some very bad choices in that stock list. Your cute little sweet lips will be around 30 inches long soon. - far too big for your 75. Most tangs won't fit either. You need to train the lion to take prepared foods instead of live. There are many training methods on the Internet that work well. Mandarins can be trained to take prepared food, too, but it is hit or miss, mostly miss. ORA-derived mandarins seem to have a better success rate, but still less than a sure thing.
Not to mention that the mandarin will also likely be additional, expensive lionfish food...

 

[jay0705]

agreed. who told you,you could mix those fish? the llion will eat them all except the tang. thats only if there too big.

 

[xnikki118x]

If your reef is well-established with lots of live rock and some rubble piles, you may have enough pods in your tank for your mandarin to eat. I'd be worried the lion would eat most of those fish though, not to mention many of them will get too big for your tank. A 75 gallon is a great size but you need to make sure you don't get fish that are going to get huge.

 

[flower]

Hi,
Get this book before you purchase anymore fish.

Here is page so you can see the info...take note that this book tells you the tank size the fish needs, and it's adult size. This book will be very helpful to you.