Lookin To Startin Lion Tank. Need Some Advice, Guildlines And Recomendations

[rastaangel]

So I am looking at possibly setting up a Lionfish tank.
I will start off by saying that I have fish for my whole life but always been afraid of marine sets ups. I have been breeding discus for the past fews years and have made enough money from that to hopefully take the plundge and start a nice marine aquarium, and I have an extra 75gal sitting around...
Since I was a little kid I have always loved lionfish so if I am going to go marine I want to do lions.
I have been doing some nets research on them and some basic marine things but am finding myself totally boggled and overwhelmed by the amount of differnet info I am finding and have not really been able to find a sure fire dead set list of things I have to do and guildlines I have to follow to succesfully run the tank.
So basicly im coming here for some help... I need some advice on what to do and how to get started, recomended books and websites to visit to gain the knowledge I need and recomened equipment to buy and things to consider.
Thanks.

 

[cranberry]

In a months time there will be an excellent book hitting the shelves. Lionfishes and other Scorpionfish: The complete guide to the sucessful care and breeding of these spectacular and popular marine fish by Frank Marini. Any article that is out there onlline written by Marini is also a good read... you can just google Frank Marini and Lionfish.
Maybe we should start with what kind of lionfish you were interested in.

 

[fmarini]

--wow-- what Cranberry said. (see my avatar)
If you do google my name and lionfish, you will find the lionfish info sheet online- it is an in-depth primer to keeping all the lion species. I've kept lions for more than 18yrs. At one point I had a 180 gal w/ 8 species of lions in it.
I'll also follow Cranberry response-- what kind of lion(s) are you interested in

 

[saxman]

Originally Posted by FMarini
http:///forum/post/3252522
At one point I had a 180 gal w/ 8 species of lions in it.
wow Frank...what was the stocking list?
rastaangel,
since you're talking a 75 gal, anything from a P. russelii on down would work fine. a 75 is a bit tight for a P. volitans.

 

[fmarini]

hummmmm, looking back at the lionfish info sheet.
I guess its was
red morph-P volitans, P russelii, P radiata, P antennata, P mombasse, P sphex, D brachypterus, D biocellotus
I know there was one or two i am missing. All of my lions were weaned and eating prepared foods. I did have issues w/ D zebra, and just as a point of interest, I was able to introduce all of these fish w/in a few weeks of each other w/ no long term problems. However over the years i tried to introduce new juvenile lions to this pre-established mix and had a few cannibalized. I had a spectacular P radiata juvenile get slurped down by the established P volitans. After that I didn't add any more lions for years.

 

[cranberry]

Originally Posted by FMarini
http:///forum/post/3253035
hummmmm, looking back at the lionfish info sheet.
P volitans, P russelii, P radiata, P antennata, P mombasse, P sphex, D brachypterus, D biocellotus
I'm jealousssssss. Especially about the sphex.

 

[saxman]

OK Frank...now i'm officially never speaking to you again due to severe lion envy!
you mention that you had "issues w/D. zebra". does that mean you haven't been able to get one to do well for you? i'm just wondering because we've had a couple of them that simply "never made it". they ate, they looked OK at first, but just didn't thrive.

 

[cranberry]

Did we have 2? I only remember one that died in short order.

 

[saxman]

Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3253500
Did we have 2? I only remember one that died in short order.
perhaps i'm having a "senior moment" and remembering a zebra that i had BC (before Cranberry)...

 

[jarrod13]

A few quick basics for a lion only tank would be
1. Excellent water quality (since you've been breeding discus I know this won't be a problem for you)
2. No tankmates that are small enough to be eaten, which means nothing smaller than the lions mouth
3. No tankmates that will pick on the lions, including most triggers, angels, puffers
4. At least one nice big cave for each lion
these are just a few to get you started
frank, I'm going to be doing something similar in a 220 gallon, except it's not going to be just lions, I've got some other scorps that will be in there too. I would like to hear your input on the P mombasse, I acquired one recently and he is one of the most interesting lions I've kept. What I'd like to know is what was your success rate with them and how big did yours get?

 

[fmarini]

I've had a few P Mombassae and as long as you can wean them over- they do great. I think the longest i kept one was 4 to 5 yrs. I want to say they stayed relatively small, like P antennata size.
My experience puts P volitans>P russelii>P radiata>P antennata=P mombassae> D zebra, then D brachypterus>P sphex> D biocellotus