Lion Fish
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Fish
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about fish.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1266
Printed Date: July 11 2026 at 8:08am
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Topic: Lion Fish
Posted By: Kull
Subject: Lion Fish
Date Posted: November 14 2003 at 10:23am
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Anyone have any experience with Lion Fish? I just purchased a Zebra Lion fish and am pretty happy with it. I just want to make sure that I am providing for all of its needs. Things that I am looking for answers to are: What kind of fish can I have with it. Are corals ok, Worms, shrimp. crabs, what will he leave alone. All the stuf fI have read on it say that it reef safe with caution. Meaning it may or may not eat stuff. Thanks in advance. I'll put some pics up of the new fish when I get a chance in the next few days. |
Replies:
Posted By: Will Spencer
Date Posted: November 14 2003 at 10:47pm
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LBJS has a Volitan (spelling?) Lion and has had no problems with it other than this one: She put her feather duster in the tank and withing just a few minutes the Lion tried to take the feathers off the worm. The duster is now back in her smaller tank. As for fish, keep anything that won't fit in it's mouth. Lions eat their food whole and don't often nip at things so if it won't fit in it's mouth it is usually safe. Also just about any kind of shrimp is "expensive dinner." |
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: November 14 2003 at 11:40pm
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Usually a Lion Fish will not bother corals, but will eat any small snails, crabs, fish, etc. ------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 15 2003 at 9:48pm
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IMO they are fantastic in a reef. They become the center of attention but as said above they ambush and eat any moving animal that they can get into their huge orifice!
Volitan Lionfish can grow to a foot long in a couple years in a decent sized aquarium! But they are so easy to catch, it's silly to worry until you are ready to remove them. Net ready - food dropped - caught 
Dwarf lions are great too, but not all are as pretty as the Red Volitan. I had a beautiful Dwarf Lionfish for years. I fed it schools of saltwater Mollies that grow wild at http://www.seabase.net - Sea Base northwest of Grantsville, UT The mollies are easy to keep right in the tank so the lion eats when it's hungry. As far as I could tell, there are no worries about liver problems as occur when feeding it freshwater fish.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: November 16 2003 at 5:20am
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Be careful! It really hurts to get stung! This guy I know had to be on
antibiotics for a month and it hurt so bad he was begging the doc to amputate! |
Posted By: bubblenbrain
Date Posted: November 17 2003 at 3:44am
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I agree with Mark......they are great attractions...just beware that there mouths are like a big mouth bass, they can swallow a good bit....they tend to inhale prey's mouth first...and I have on many occasions had my dwarf swimming around for hours with dinner hanging half way out..... Also....avoid any freshwater feeders...they don't contain enough fatty acids, and will over a meduim period of time weaken it's immune system.....Silverside are good......but I will have to try and locate some of these saltwater mollies for my future predator reef tank. good luck....and if you do get stung......use chew tabaco or vinager to extract the venom.... Just stay away from banded cat sharks....the juvies love fingers(and the adults them all! ------------- Tiny bubbles in my head :) what was the count again....1, 2, 8, 3 |
....raised one from a pup till it was too big for the tank and it didn't care what size the fish were...it ate them allPosted By: bubblenbrain
Date Posted: November 17 2003 at 3:46am
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oh and also.....remember that lions usually hang in the rocks...and feed on what ever swims in the path...they are generally very lazy predators ------------- Tiny bubbles in my head :) what was the count again....1, 2, 8, 3 |
Posted By: Kull
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 9:24am
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Ok My new lion is now happy in his new home. I am trying to ween him off of live food. I would rather he ate the frozen stuff (wouldn't we all!). Are there some articles I could that would help me in this regard, or any particlular thing any of you have tried that works with moderate to high levels of succes? Thanks in advance. |
Posted By: crazy-sps
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 9:48am
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Try feeding a couple live ghost shrimp and frozen krill at the same time for a little while. Then, hopefully, the lion will not know the difference. Or you can get a clear acrylic feeding stick and wave krill or silversides around in front of him. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 11:07am
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It has been my experience that, if there are no smaller fish or inverts in the tank, that it can eat, as soon as it gets hungry enough it will learn to take whatever floats by! ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: rstruhs
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 5:47pm
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Would a dwarf lion eat brine shrimp? If so, are there plans on this site for a DIY shrimp hatchery? I looked, but ... (As my wife always tells me, "You didn't look very good did you?") |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 7:34pm
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Rstruhs, to answer your question, yes a Dwarf Lionfish will eat BS but not newly hatched BS, because they are too small. It takes a lot of food to raise BS to adult size and it would take a heck of a lot of baby BS to feed even a baby lionfish.
Now if this isn't a lot of BS... 
To answer your second question, there are no plans for a hatchery on this site but I believe there are links to them on the www that others have found and posted here previously. What do you have in mind for a lionfish? ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: rstruhs
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 9:56pm
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Mark, I already have a fuzzy dwarf I still trying to get to eat frozen food consistently. And I was thinking of a BS hatchery for my main tank. So, I said to myself "Self, what if the lion and trigger would eat baby BS?" I am still thinking of putting together some sort of BS hatchery and sharing the BS with my son for his cichlids. I don't really want to raise BS just hatch & feed, if possible. I am currently looking for a larger tank for my lion and trigger. I had a lion a few years ago, he lived with us for about 3 years. One of my clowns harassed him |
(I think), got stung & died the next day
, then I found the lion dead the following day.
Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: November 25 2003 at 6:48am
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I think you could make a hatchery out of a Diet Pepsi bottle! Turn it
upside down, with the lid on. Cut off the top and add a piece of airline tubing. Don't put in a air stone. The tubing would have to sit in the lid, 'cause the eggs want to be in the bottom. You could make a stand out of wood or acrylic or something. I hatch ours in phytoplanton and selcon so they are way nutritious. If you started a batch every other day or so, you could have continuous live food in about 12 days! They grow fast, if they have food. Rob and I have been growing live food for a while now. I don't raise the BS to adults just because our fish eat frozen,though. I have raised them accidentally when an egg has gotten in the phytoplanton bottles!You are welcome to come see our setup! (Then you could look at our wiring!) |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 25 2003 at 8:27am
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Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp are soooo much better than store bought!!! If you can wait till next summer, come with us to collect GSL BS and see your fish go absolutely crazy for the nutritional content of our own native BS! ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: rstruhs
Date Posted: November 25 2003 at 10:50pm
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Mark, That is defintely a trip worth taking. I fed my fish GSL BS last year. I went out about every week after work. I just went to the Marina and scooped up the little guys by the boats. I also got scared by the big ugly spiders! I hate spiders! |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: November 26 2003 at 7:27am
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Are you sure about that? I want to disagree on this. I don't think I would recommend people go out and collect brine shrimp. And better than store bought, I can't think of any reason why. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Mark Peterson wrote:Posted By: rfoote
Date Posted: November 26 2003 at 8:01am
| Wouldn't there be some concern getting any GSL water in a tank? I don't know how collecting is done, so maybe it isn't a concern. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 28 2003 at 9:42am
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Yes, Adam I'm sure.
Ryan, I rinse the Brine Shrimp in tap water three times then freeze them in enough freezer bags to last a year. A few drops of GSL water is transferred to the aquarium when I take the left overs, alive and dead, and place them directly in the aquarium. The fish go crazy for the fresh BS. Though a small amount of GSL water would pose no problem. I once used it for a water change but only once because coral didn't seem to like it for a few weeks! For some reason there is a residual belief of a big threat of pollution in the GSL. I don't know what the actual figures are but I'm sure they are much better than 40 years ago when my friends and I did a school report on pollution of the waterways feeding the GSL. I saw the appalling condition of those waterways at a point in history when the EPA was just forming. More than 10 years ago I worked at a company that would have been one of those polluters but because of the EPA that company only discharges fairly clean water. More recently I was noticing how extremely pollution and garbage free the waterways are now (they will always be muddy). Of course there is former pollution to be considered, but over the many years, it appears to me that whatever it's effects, life is flourishing in spite of it. In fact, natural processes of life are the decomposers of most pollutants! I will change my tune if persuaded that I have judged this incorrectly. My personal viewpoint is that pollution is no longer any problem and my personal experience is that GSL Brine shrimp have more natural nutritional value than commercially prepared Brine Shrimp, with no deliterious effects on our aquariums. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: August 14 2004 at 3:05pm
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i just bought a dwarf lion fish, got a great deal $0.03 wondering if its possible to culture lions to adapt to freshwater... any advise is greatly appreciated :) |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: August 14 2004 at 5:34pm
No, not possible. Where did you get a dwarf lion $.03..... hard to believe to say the least. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Skyetone
Date Posted: August 15 2004 at 9:48am
I feed my tank tigershrimp form albertsons. If you put the shrimp in HOT water for a few, peel the skin, then you can almost smell the shrimp. It's amazing that the fish LOVE the smell of JUST BARELY cooked shrimp. I poor the water the shrimp are soaking in into the tank. Wait a few seconds then put in small chunks of the shrimp. Let it float around. They will find it.  ------------- I will just give my warning that your system will flood, bulbs will burn out, and things will take continuous maintenance... get over it. Magna |
Posted By: smatney
Date Posted: August 15 2004 at 9:54am
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Everyone, correct me if I'm wrong. But in when I teach nutrition, I teach that cooking takes away vitamins and minerals and denatures (starts the breakdown) of the food. Isn't it better for the tank to get raw fish instead of partially cooked? ------------- Susan Matney Farmington, UT |
Posted By: Skyetone
Date Posted: August 15 2004 at 10:00am
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yea but By partially I mean JUST enough to make it start to smell. then when they get used to eating it (nummy) then I just throw it in raw.. Stil skinless ------------- I will just give my warning that your system will flood, bulbs will burn out, and things will take continuous maintenance... get over it. Magna |
Posted By: Skyetone
Date Posted: August 15 2004 at 10:08am
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I don't even BOIL the shrimp... Just soak them in as hot of water that your tap will give. Then after about 30-60 seconds you can put the 3-6 ounces of water in the tank... NOT directly on a fish or coral though For mark...I edit ------------- I will just give my warning that your system will flood, bulbs will burn out, and things will take continuous maintenance... get over it. Magna |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: August 15 2004 at 10:13am
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That makes sense to me.
EDIT > Skye  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: August 15 2004 at 11:37am
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I've never had anyone in my tank turn down fresh, raw, thawed in tankwater shrimp. But I doubt hot water does anything bad to the shrimp... when you buy krill at the LFS it's been cooked. ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: August 15 2004 at 5:32pm
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im not from utah by the way, just found your forum to be of my interest also. im from the philippines and reef tanks are rare here so they sell lions very cheap. i bought it for 15bucks phil currency and $1=55 you can do the math. ive seen before salt water fish culltured to adapt to freshwater but they were small specimens so i was just curious if it was also possible for lions. thanks for the reply adam, its greatly appreciated... |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: August 15 2004 at 7:17pm
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etharanz, Well I can speak for everyone here when I say I am totally jealous of you. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
