Newbie To Salt Water Looking At A Lion Fish

[Nala]

Good afternoon,

i have previously had fresh water aquariums - my bf wants to start up a tank and he was looking at fresh water fish but we went to one aquarium and they had salt water fish n he saw n fell in love with this lion fish now at the time i said we couldn't do salt water. but after thinking for a few days i thought we might be able to give it a go n it would be an awesome early xmas surprise for him.
so if someone could please help me out with exactly what i need, tank size ( i am happy to start off with the one lion fish) what coral i can use what i need for the water - just the basic for a newbie set up.

thank you very much to whoever responds.

 

[ben1987]

You need to research what type of lion you want. Some get massive and some of the dwarf ones stay reasonably small. Have a good google round and then we can help you one you have deciden on lion sp

 

[Nala]

it just had common lionfish on the label - i am from Australia so we dont have that much to choose from here

 

[seffieuk]

it just had common lionfish on the label - i am from Australia so we dont have that much to choose from here

If we are talking about a Volitans than you will require a tank at least 18 inches wide and five foot long IMO if we are talking dwarf, then you can go much smaller

So, as Ben says, you need to decide which fish you are going for and how much you are willing to spend on this Christmas present

Take a look at some of the start-up journels for smaller tanks and the big boys of about five foot, you will then get an idea of the commitment and price you are looking at

Seffie x

 

[Trod]

All lionfish vary greatly, and many sold are identified wrongly, have a look here http/reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/fm/feature/ to start you off, you must research this fish, they are truely beautiful, I have tried, unsuccessfully to keep these fish, have a look at my journel http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=282326 you may find it helpful.
The Pterois radiata is, imo, the hardest to keep, the volitan grows to around 18" and needs a large tank.
I would say you'd be better off starting with a dwarf lionfish, but please before you buy anything, read as much as you can, not only about lionfish but also about keeping marines

 

[Nala]

thats why i have posted here to make sure i am doing the right thing and to get the right information before i make the commitment - i will be going down to the fish shop either tomorrow or the day after to see what they also have to say and then do some more research. the tank i currently have is 6 ft by 2ft its not in use it has been used for tropical fish would i still be able to set this up as a marine tank?

 

[ben1987]

6x2x2 would be a very good starting point.
Although if you have ever had copper in it during its FW days, you'll never be able to start a reef in there or keep inverts.

 

[Nala]

no havnt had copper in the tank.
so iv got the tank how do i set up a marine? and what equipment do i need different to a tropical?

 

[Trod]

no havnt had copper in the tank.
so iv got the tank how do i set up a marine? and what equipment do i need different to a tropical?

If you are planning to keep a FOWLR tank then lighting is not to important, Lionfish don't like bright lights, I run 3 T8 marine white and 1 marine blue. You will need a good protein skimmer, lionfish are messy eaters, something like a Deltic MCE 600 would be good, you will also need powerheads, again lionfish don't like a lot of flow, around 15x would be ok. A couple of good heaters. If you didn't want the expense of LR you could use Ocean Rock which is a lot cheaper, but you would then need a good filter. Then the basics like, salt, test kits, refractometer, you would probably be ok with treated tap water, but if you plan to have corals at any time then I would recommend using RO water from the start.
Hope this helps, I'm sure others will add what I've missed

 

[scolby]

I've heard a lot of good things about lionfish, just be ready to have a few different foods for it to choose from incase you have trouble getting it to eat. I've seen freshwater feeder fish used but its not a good staple diet and should only be used if they won't take anything else. I also recommend lots of live rock. It may be expensive, but I have a 40 gallon marine tank with lots of live rock and its only means of filtration is one hang on the back filter, and i've never had any problems with it.

 

[Twizted Nibbz]

yeah thats true you can get problems with the eating habbits but like trod said its the setting up thats most expensive. Live rock - LR is the most important bit. If you have an external filter its gonna need cleaning OFTEN because they are a nitrite harbour... Live rock is expensive but does the job best in my opinion. Once it has fully "cycled" it will satisfy your filtration needs. You may want to get some good quality Aragonite Sand for the bottom also, not necessarily live sand because you could ask you local fish store for a handfull of theres and most will help you out because they stand to make money from the deal.

Regardless what people say if you have enough live rock and the tank is set up correctly you wont need an external filter. I dont run one on my 40 gallon reef and have no problems at all. The only thing apart from rocks i use is a skimmer.

Skimmer... This is a BIG part of the filtration also. It takes out proteins in the water left behind by messy eaters and lots of other things too basically mimicing the froth you see at the seaside. very important for fish like the lion fish.

You will need a full set of salifert test kits (the ost expensive but the only ones that are reliable in my opinion) a refractometer (hydrometers usually fail very quickly). You will need PH buffers up and down and also other treatments but you wont need them till you want to keep corals etc. this kind of tank also requires a water change once a week minimum of 10%.

You willl need the best quality salt you can afford and some water containers aswell.

If you take only one thing from this post its this... DO NOT USE TAP WATER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!!!!

You will REGRET it if you do... Algae will plague you and i promise you within 6 weeks you will be chucking the towel in. I have done this myself trust me you dont want it. Get RO - Reverse Osmosis water, that basically means thats it has been filtered EXTREMELY well and has had all the heavy metals silicates and other total desolved solids TDS taken out of the water. This stops the algae problem at its source and gives you the best start you can get. You can pick up a unit that filters tap water for you in this way for like £60 so its well worth it.

Sorry for the big post but with you being a beginner i thought you may need some explanations to all the abreviations. Oh n by the way FOWLR means fish only with live rock.

If you want to know anything else please give me a PM I aint done many posts on here but ive had my reef a long time and our family have been in the fish business over 20 years.

Thanks
Brett

 

[Nala]

thank you very much that has helped i am still thinking about the marine set up or to stick with fresh water but i do appreciate the info it is helping alot

 

[flyboy367]

its not as hard as it sounds. i did a 2 week startup. first i filled the tank half way with water from my hose. i added dechlorinator and some conditioner. my in house water is purified and dechlorinated. i mixed my salt with that and dumped it in the tank. i ran it for 3 days with no media and the heat on. also had the lights running on a timer. then i added my base gravel and 15lbs of liverock. i also added a damsel. everything in my tank is perfect except specific gravity. i do frequent changes of pulling out sw and adding fresh but it doesnt change much. i do have a black peacock lionfish, 4 damsels it didnt eat, a blenny, a sailfin tang, 2 anemone and some mushrooms going. tanks been up for a month now. its a nice but expensive break from freshwater.