question about mixing of the fish
- Thread starter cjbots
- Start date
dmanatee
Member
all your answers are going to be related to the lion fish.
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What type of Lion fish are you thinking of getting? With lion fish, anything they can fit in their mouths they will try to eat. Small clown fish are a no go.
What size of aquarium will these fish go into? Tangs and need lots of room to swim. And larger lion fish do best in larger spaces.
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Also note, Some clown fish and known to nip at fins if they become territorial of their section of the tank.
My best recommendation is yes to tang and lion fish, if the tang is greater in size that the lion fish's mouth. Lion fish grow quickly and can easily out pace a baby tang in terms of growth so always think ahead. If you are getting a dwarf lion fish you might be able to get a Tomato or a Clarki, but I am not 100% on that one. I do know some dwarf species are harder to take care of, because they don't tend to gravitate towards frozen foods.
[list type=decimal]
[*]
What type of Lion fish are you thinking of getting? With lion fish, anything they can fit in their mouths they will try to eat. Small clown fish are a no go.
What size of aquarium will these fish go into? Tangs and need lots of room to swim. And larger lion fish do best in larger spaces.
[/list type=decimal]
Also note, Some clown fish and known to nip at fins if they become territorial of their section of the tank.
My best recommendation is yes to tang and lion fish, if the tang is greater in size that the lion fish's mouth. Lion fish grow quickly and can easily out pace a baby tang in terms of growth so always think ahead. If you are getting a dwarf lion fish you might be able to get a Tomato or a Clarki, but I am not 100% on that one. I do know some dwarf species are harder to take care of, because they don't tend to gravitate towards frozen foods.
brent mccloskey
Member
Like DM said, anything that will fit in a lion fish's mouth will be dinner, small fish and shrimp. They are also opportunistic feeders.
The volitan I had gorged himself on feeder shrimp that I though would be a great idea to add to my main tank. He made very short work of them. Around 100 of them gone in about 3 days.
The volitan I had gorged himself on feeder shrimp that I though would be a great idea to add to my main tank. He made very short work of them. Around 100 of them gone in about 3 days.
geridoc
Well-Known Member
Don't be misled when we say anything that will fit into a lion fish's mouth. When you look at their mouth, it looks relatively small. The true size of the mouth is approximately the size of the animal's body at its largest point, so it is pretty large when it decides to gape.
S
saxman
Guest
cjbots,
This may seem like a silly question, but when you say "red volitans", do you actually mean Pterois volitans, or are you referring to P. russelii, which are often either mistaken as a volitans, or some LFS owners actually incorrectly refer to Russel's lionfish as "red volitans". I actually asked a LFS owner whom I KNOW knows the difference, and he said "It avoids confusion, and the people who know the difference know..." I can't say ADDING to/proliferating the confusion is avoiding it, but OK. The reason I ask is because there is a size difference in the two lionfish...the volitans can be expected to reach 12"-15", while the Russel's is more like a 10"-12" fish. There are about 9 other lionfish species of various sizes that make it into the hobby, and for the most part, there is a lionfish for almost every tank size.
Since you have a 125, I'm assuming it's 72" x 18" x 22" or thereabouts? Altho it's "doable", I'm not a big fan of keeping a volitans in an 18" wide tank, the reason being once the fish reaches its full adult size, it will be a minimum of a 12" cube of fish (counting finnage). This means that in an 18" wide tank with aquascaping along the back (like a normal setup), the fish won't have a lot of room to turn around, so rather than swimming, it will perch someplace until the food god appears. A Russel's is a better fit, as would be one of the "medium-bodied" Pterois species (P. mombassae, P. antennata, P. radiata, or P. sphex). Also, being smaller, a medium-bodied lion will open up your tankmate list a bit.
FWIW, a full-grown volitans can, and will eat a 6.5" adult female maroon clownfish, so any clownfish in the tank is toast.
Here's a good article on lionfish, and it also contains photos of each of the commonly-available lionfish species but one, P. sphex, which being extremely rare here on the mainland, we did not own at the time...P. sphex is a really great fish tho, and a feather in your cap if you happen to find one:
http://www.lionfishlair.com/careguides/lionfish.shtml
Give that article a read and hit us back with any questions.
Quote:
Don't be misled when we say anything that will fit into a lion fish's mouth. When you look at their mouth, it looks relatively small. The true size of the mouth is approximately the size of the animal's body at its largest point, so it is pretty large when it decides to gape.
Like this?
That's the last photo in the article...lots of room in that mouth...
This may seem like a silly question, but when you say "red volitans", do you actually mean Pterois volitans, or are you referring to P. russelii, which are often either mistaken as a volitans, or some LFS owners actually incorrectly refer to Russel's lionfish as "red volitans". I actually asked a LFS owner whom I KNOW knows the difference, and he said "It avoids confusion, and the people who know the difference know..." I can't say ADDING to/proliferating the confusion is avoiding it, but OK. The reason I ask is because there is a size difference in the two lionfish...the volitans can be expected to reach 12"-15", while the Russel's is more like a 10"-12" fish. There are about 9 other lionfish species of various sizes that make it into the hobby, and for the most part, there is a lionfish for almost every tank size.
Since you have a 125, I'm assuming it's 72" x 18" x 22" or thereabouts? Altho it's "doable", I'm not a big fan of keeping a volitans in an 18" wide tank, the reason being once the fish reaches its full adult size, it will be a minimum of a 12" cube of fish (counting finnage). This means that in an 18" wide tank with aquascaping along the back (like a normal setup), the fish won't have a lot of room to turn around, so rather than swimming, it will perch someplace until the food god appears. A Russel's is a better fit, as would be one of the "medium-bodied" Pterois species (P. mombassae, P. antennata, P. radiata, or P. sphex). Also, being smaller, a medium-bodied lion will open up your tankmate list a bit.
FWIW, a full-grown volitans can, and will eat a 6.5" adult female maroon clownfish, so any clownfish in the tank is toast.
Here's a good article on lionfish, and it also contains photos of each of the commonly-available lionfish species but one, P. sphex, which being extremely rare here on the mainland, we did not own at the time...P. sphex is a really great fish tho, and a feather in your cap if you happen to find one:
http://www.lionfishlair.com/careguides/lionfish.shtml
Give that article a read and hit us back with any questions.
Quote:
Don't be misled when we say anything that will fit into a lion fish's mouth. When you look at their mouth, it looks relatively small. The true size of the mouth is approximately the size of the animal's body at its largest point, so it is pretty large when it decides to gape.
Like this?
That's the last photo in the article...lots of room in that mouth...
brent mccloskey
Member
2 tanks are always better than one lol
S
saxman
Guest
You could slap up an AIO for the clowns...something in the 24-30 gal range.