Fu man chu or Radiata

[salisbury a d]

My book says that the Fu man chu lion is hard to acclimate. Who here has had good luck with it. I want to get a lion and I would either want the Fu man chu or the Radiata lion. My book says the Radiata is also is called the clearfin and gets to be 9 inches. This web site says 13 inches. Which is true. What lionfish should I get.
Adam

 

[grouperhead]

IMO, radiatas are prettier, but fu man chus look cooler. I have never kept fu's before, but have read they are hard to acclimate. Radiatas can easily be kept in a 75g tank, fu man chus in smaller. Hopefully FMarini can spread some light on the fu man chus. Bo

 

[fmarini]

Hi:
you have choosen two difficult but do-able lionfish. Both fish are harder to keep then the traditional volitans or dwarf fuzzy.
W/ patience you can ween either fish over, it will take focused attention on your part especially if you have other fish in this tank (do you?) and of course you might want to feed live ghost shrimp for the first 2-3 week to establish your fish.
Thats said, either fish has alot of appeal and both are very pretty and cool. In a tank full of live rock the Fu will spend most of his intial time hiding, and is a non swimming lionfish, basically a ground crawler, whereas when hungry the radiata will swim. To me the key w/ either of these lions is getting a good fish to startout, next is getting them eating, and 3rd)ensuring they don't have alot of competition at first w/ getting food. I will also say that radiatas are considerably less toleratn of poor water quality than the other lions,
An adult Fu is prolly under 6" while My adult radiata reached about 10" in 2 yrs. I currently have a 5yr old fu, the radiata passed last yr at 4
Common names on lions are a joke. Clearfin is also the common name for a russell lionfish. Radiatas are unmistakeable, as are the fus.
frank

 

[salisbury a d]

I have a 45 gallon I want to set up with a lionfish. This won't be anytime soon I want to get everything sorted out, save up some money and do it right.
Thanx for the input.
Anymore info is appretiated.
Adam
Oh also how will I recognize a healthy lionfish in the store.
Adam

 

[salisbury a d]

What could you tell me about these lionfish.
Dendrochirus brachypterus/ shortfin lion
Dendrochirus zebra/Dwarf lin
Pterois antennata/Antennata lion
or
Pterois mombasae/Mombasa Turkeyfish
Adam
Which ones including the Fu Man Chu and Radiata are readily seen in aquarium stores.
Adam

 

[iechy]

Adam
I see fu manchus pretty regularly at the lfs. I used to have a 30 tall setup with all lions and my fu manchu did fine it was good in the tall tank since he stayed at the bottom and some others were at the top. He was really cool and did well with no problems feeding or acclimating. Black Volitans is still my favorite but fu manchu is close behind.

 

[fmarini]

Salisbury:
I'm not sure what you want to know about thse lions.
In general terms all lions needs the same thing, high quality food, good-decent water quality and places to sleep. Some of the lions are more tolerant of neglect (like volitans) and poor water quality and some are less tolerant (like radiatas). Some lions ween over consistantly easy (like volitans) while others give you fits (like Fu's)
All the lions are pretty sedentary, swim only when hungry and most when given the chance -will hide.
In general the dwarfs lions fit in smaller tank better 30-50gals (althou they enjoy my 180gal).
Dwarf fuzzys, dwarf lions are about the same, fuzzies have more personality, and tend to be more tolerant of poor water, but i have had a few dwarf lions which have been outstanding. They both require work to ween over, but do so. Fus as mentioned are neat little fish, but IMO you need some lion experience w/ them first, they are just plain hard to ween over.
Mid bodies lions like antennatas, mombassa, and radiata are great mid sized lions, all ween over okay (not as easy as volitans), all grow to about 8-10" (al tad bit smaller), and in general they don't tolerate poor water quality. The radiatas are very suspectable to anorexia when your water quality drops. I've only had 2 great radiatas and one lived for 5yrs, otherwise they are difficult. Antennatas and mombassa are the essentaially the same fish (meaning the require the exact same thing) and are a good lionfish for a 75-100gal aquarium. (I have 2 mombassas now) by the way-their common name is devil lion, becuz they are dark red w/ huge eyes.
Large bodied lions like volitans, russell, and miles needed to be in huge tanks (they all reach about 12-15")all are great lions very tolerant of poor water, all ween over easily, and all will eat their tankmates. I recently got rid of my two a russells and volitans as they were eating new tankmates, and generally harassing fish during feeding. I found them great fish.
Few places identify lions as turkeyfish.
Remember that most "rare" fish are considered seasonal. My LFS has a 4-6 mombassa for sale right now, but this has been the only time this yr I've seen them.
Also remember that most lionfish are misidentified. Antennatas/mombassa are commonly marked antennata or dwarf lions. Dwarf fuzzies and dwarf lions are called dwarf lions, all the large bodies lions are call volitans.
So I'm not exactly sure what specifically you want to know about the lion
Email me and i will send you my lionfish info sheet
frank