Dwarf Lionfish Questions

[aaaustin]

Hey everyone. im looking into getting my first lionfish And have a few questions.
1. can you have more than one per tank if your tanks big enough?
2. Is 75 gallons big enough for one of these guys. Im looking at tanks sized anywhere from 50 gallons to 90. Whats best?
3. I really wanna just feed it live. I like watching them hunt their food. I dont wanna have to feed any frozen or pellet food. but i also want to feed him fish not just shrimp.
thanks!

 

[ALW]

Dwarf lions are perfectly ok to have in a 50g tank let alone a 75g. You can keep more than one lion in a tank yes, I would say that it will be better if the lions are of different species. A 50g tank will be ok for two to three dwarfs. The 75g you could maybe go for one of the larger species like a radiata. Lionfish are not an active fish, so don't be expecting them to be prowling around constantly looks for food. Dwarf species to consider would be the zebras, fu Manchu and the fuzzy. Tank mates for any lions fish will include anything that the lions can't swallow so a fish that is at least 2/3s the lions size will be ok.

 

[AmtotheBurr]

I would love to see this when you get it all set up! Lions are a uniquely gorgeous fish.

 

[adam98150]

Hey everyone. im looking into getting my first lionfish And have a few questions.
1. can you have more than one per tank if your tanks big enough?
2. Is 75 gallons big enough for one of these guys. Im looking at tanks sized anywhere from 50 gallons to 90. Whats best?
3. I really wanna just feed it live. I like watching them hunt their food. I dont wanna have to feed any frozen or pellet food. but i also want to feed him fish not just shrimp.
thanks!

The first reply gave some good info. I'll answer the last question. So you want to feed it live fish? That's not a great idea. Firstly, it'll be a pain to feed as you'll have to make trips to the pet store on a regular basis to obtain the live food. Second, if you feed it live and then decide you want to feed it regular food (frozen) it will be much harder to wean off the live stuff onto the frozen (and they can be fussy feeders at times, especially the fu manchus). Third, it will be expensive buying live food all the time. And lastly, its cruel and unnecessary. Anybody who gets off watching a fish chow down on another fish should probably ask themselves why. It's like those people that feed their red bellies goldfish even though they'd happily take frozen meat.

 

[simonas]

having kept lionfish both dwarf and volitans I can only say dont bother with live fish. They hunt down a wiggling frozen silverside so save some cash, be more humane and feed frozen food.
 
Great fish I loved mine and the dwarf which was a fuzzy was a model citizen with some really quite small fish like royal grammas and gobys

 

[Anonymous Comment]

I'm also looking into getting a dwarf lion, and I've heard that having Angels as tankmates, though recommended by some, could be harmful. From what I've read, angels occasionally bite holes in the lionfish's fins...

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