Lionfish in Reef Tank

[northernlights]

Hi Everyone
I just recently bought a baby volitan for my 72 bow. I know lions dont bother corals but what do u recommend to be good tankmates for a reef with a lion. I was thinking a dwarf angel species ( though I heard from the LFS they might nip at the lion) or how about maybe 3 lyretails. I had my tank up for about two years +. My tank was actually full at one point because a couple of my friends decided to take up the hobby but couldn't follow through so I was on the recieving end of their corals and live stock.

 

[liontamer]

Thats a very, very bad idea. They dont eat corals, yea. but they get HUGE and make an effectively sized bioload. You would need some serious filtration efforts, and even then, yer corals could still succomb to the amounts of waste in the water. A smaller one, like a radiatus lion, or a dwarf lion of some sort, would be a WAY better choice. Tankmates are limited with volitans cuz they will eat most of anything that will fit in their mouth, thuis ruling out most reef safe creatures, leaving only tangs and small angels and maybe some other choice fish as yer other livestock, but then those fish would all be too big for yer tank, thus also ruling that part out. U cant have crustaceans, smaller clown fish, damsels, gobies, blennys, dragonets, pretty much nothing. Id bring the thing back anyway cuz it would eventually too big even if it was the only thing in that tank. Stick with a different fish, like a smaller lion, if u insist on having one. Fu Manchu lions are great, and so are dwarf zebras.

 

[dboy999]

yeah bad idea...i got a dwarf he he got hugr he's like 6-7 inches long in for aboutt any sort of shrimp/crab....