V- Lioness READ

[tanks alot]

what is the best thing and the safest thing to put with my volitan lionfish. right now he is 4 inches and he is with a orange shoulder tang

 

[v-lioness]

Well if you like triggers look at the Blue throats, you could have a male and female blue throat in your tank. Your orange shoulder is Acanthurus Species, you could look at another tang species. If you like clownfish look at maroons. All of these will be fine with your volitan...
What kind of fish do you like?
Kaye

 

[unleashed]

i am not kaye (aka V lioness ) but I have been keeping vol lions sinse the beginning of my sw hobby (5 yrs) vol lions as with any lion can be kept with a large variety of fish .go with the fish that are larger than the lions mouth .some smaller species can also be housed with V lions due to their natural instinct to to avoid large predators.flame hawk being one of these highly intelligent fish some dotty backs are also lion safe due to their speed and hightened senses of avoiding these preditorial fish(they hide well)triggers and aggressive wrasses should be avoided with lions due to their aggressive nature and they will nip at the lions fins causing damage to the lion and sometimes death to the triggers or wrasses.bird wrasses are good tank mates for lions as far as the wrasse family goes. I have 2 vol lions each in different tanks for now one being 12 inches other being about 9..the 12 inch is housed with 3 moray eels (3 dif species) silver scat, panther grouper,lunear wrasse,6 ft tank.. the 9 in is housed with white spotted bamboo shark,majestic foxface,scopus tang,eyelined surgion ,hippo tang,sailfin tang,unicorn tang,green chromis,bi colored damsel,cardenal,flame hawk,queensland dottyback, various snails ,shrimp ,crabs.i have also housed maroon clowns in anenome with the lions. with lions its always a toss up of whos going to be a snack if it fits in the mouth its possible but if you keep them well fed they normally wont hunt..I have lost a few fish to my lions and almost always it was due to me forgetting to feed one nite.if you feed just before lights out the chances of nocturnal hunting is reduced greatly

 

[tanks alot]

i have brownbanded sharks but they were just way to much work. i like foxfaces and tang and i like V Lions bird wrasses. could i put 1 tang 1 foxface and a bird wrasse with the lion in the 125 or only 1 or 2 things.
also i just got the lion fish and i tried to feed him some silversides he wouldnt eat them in the begining because they floated so i had to go to the lfs and ask what they fed him of course it was guppies

so i finally got him to eat a silverside i had to make it so it would sink so that it was moving but what other ways can i get him to eat. and how many silversides should i feed him a day. and what are some other good foods to feed him i have krill mysis and silversides but running low so i was going to by food 2mrw so what else should i get him.
do you guys run a UV on your lion tank

 

[unleashed]

i run no UV on any of my tanks as for filtering I am running wet dry's on both 125 and 300 gal. you can house about 7-9 fish in a 125 depending on the species and sizes your wanting, most of my fish are large lion 12 in,scat 9 in,p grouper 12 in,lunear wrasse 7-8 in, 3 eels 2 being aprox 20 inches 1 being 2 ft.i recently lost my bicolored foxface and spiney boxfish due to return pump failure while i was at work had both of those fish for over 2 yrs. as for feeding your lion he needs a variety of meaty foods i soak all foods in a cup of fw to thaw(fw will kill any unwanted paresites that may be harbored in the raw foods such as tapeworms ect that can be passed on though the meat)rinse off then soak in selcon and garlic extreme before feeding each meal this will help keep the fishes imune system up to help combat illness and paresites(such as ich) meaty foods include silverslides ,krill, squid,mysis shrimp,scallops, sw variety fish fellets cut into small chunks.never feed your sw fish fw species . avoid freeze dried variety of food products as the freeze drying proccess removes alot of essential nutrients your fish need. your lfs should carry long clear acrylic feeding sticks these work very well for getting your fish to feed stab the food on one end of the stick and move the food around to mimic life once the fish gets used to captive feedings of prepared foods drop feeding will be easily acheived.this at times takes a little time depending on the fish.for drop feeding drop it in front of a powerhead this will blow the food about and the fish will normally chase it.this works best with thawed mysis..ps your lion will grow fast.. i hope this helps

 

[v-lioness]

I would go 2 more, but add them one at a time to make sure your tank can handle the Bio-load, than add from there.
You can pick up a feeder stick from most LFS to help with feeding your lion. Just place the food on the feeder stick and wiggle it, the lion should go for it. Just feed until you see a slight bulge in the stomach, A volitan should only be fed every 2-3 days, not daily.
I feed a variety of foods, for example: Raw Shrimp, Crab, Mahi, Mahi, Shark Steaks, Cray Fish, Ocean Perch, Squid, Octo, Flounder, Red Snapper, Frozen Silversides, Frozen Sand Eels & Scallops, I soak all of my foods in vitamins (Zoe / Selcon)
I do not have a UV on my tank.
Kaye

 

[tanks alot]

ok thanks guys what should i add first or does it not matter foxface or bird wrasse. i have to get more live rock though before i get any more fish i got about 50-65 lbs in my 125, so i just got paind and about to go get probably 150 lbs so i can add some to my 10gallon
where can you get shark steaks i have been looking and couldnt find them i want some for me and the shark all my friends have had shark steak and they say its good

 

[v-lioness]

You can add either one first, I try to buy most of my fish foods from the local grocery store, that's where I find the shark steaks also......
Kaye

 

[tanks alot]

mine dont got it and do you chop it up into cubes or into the shapes of small fish? and feed it to him raw

 

[v-lioness]

You want to use only raw foods when feeding, I cut my foods into chunks and feed 2-3 small chunks at a time.
Kaye

 

[tanks alot]

will this stuff work this is what my lgs has
Boneless Cod Fillets
Fresh Flounder Fillets
Fresh Ocean Perch Fillets
Fresh Grouper
Fresh Haddock
Farm Raised Salmon Steak
Fresh Mahi Mahi Fillet
Fresh Chilean Sea Bass
Fresh Blue Marlin Steak
Fresh Boneless Tuna Steak Yellowfin
Raw Gulf Shrimp
Lobster Tails Warm Water
Sea Scallops
Cleaned Squid Loligo

 

[unleashed]

everything should be ok minus the farm raised salmon.wild caught is ok but farm raised salmon is bred and raised in fw and wont have the diversity in its diet that wild salmon will have.remember when it comes to feeding meat eaters the fish your using to feed follows the rule of a key fraze you are what you eat