Need Advices for lionfish setup

[anothermix]

Hi everyone, i'm new to the hobby and currently am going to start up a 2x2x1.5 tank with a 2x1 sump. Could anyone here give me some advice on whether a chiller would be necessary for this FOWLR setup, and also some recommended tank mates with the lionfish? And are there any bros here with experiences in keeping lionfishes?

Thanks!!

Ed

[cutebarra77]

I did not use chiller at all with volitan and spotted lion fishes. There shd be a balance of caves and free swimming spaces...I kept them super well fed tt they left my cardinals and mandarins alone. BTW, I feed them with live fw glass shrimps everyday.

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[anothermix]

alright thanks! however, i've been advised that feeding them fw shrimps or fishes is not recommended as they might fall sick. how long have u been feeding them with fw shrimps? may i also know the temp of ur tank atm?

[cutebarra77]

Yes. But not in my case. Maybe the place u buy the fw shrimps matters. I even buy in bulk and kept a small tank of shrimps for my lions...I kept the lion fishes for 9 mths before giving them away. Now I'm doing softies

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[cutebarra77]

Anyways, the temp of my tank is room temp. Just on 2 x 39w at night when feeding and viewing in a 3x2x2. I dun think a lot heat generated.

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[anothermix]

Alright thanks alot! May I know where do u get your shrimps from? I live in central area and the LFS around here hardly have ghost shrimps.

[yeo99]

The best to train the lion fish to feed on market pawn, it needs some patience. Lion fish grows very fast, mine within 5 months is 6 inches long. It feeds on market pawn, it saves me a lot of trouble to buy ghost shrimps. One thing I found is lion fish is quite hardy.

[anothermix]

Hmm what's their max size? I remember reading its 7inches for the spotted fin lionfish right? Also Do they do well with invertebrates? Like bimac or pistol shrimp?

[limsc]

Volitan lion fish is one of the easiest to wean to frozen food.

Share with you my experience..

Starve them a few days (max 3 days but can be slightly longer depends on size), test feed with market prawn every day..

I punch a small hole (using needle, etc) in a small piece of market prawn and use a fishing line through it.

Make a bend at the end of the fishing line such that it form a "L" at the end to prevent the prawn from falling off easily.

Drop it in front of the LION and wiggle the prawn meat.

If it does not eat, try again the next day.

By day 4, still not eating market prawn, feed a live ghost shrimp to reduce its starvation.

Day 5, the cycle starts again until day 8, still not eating market prawn then live ghost shrimp.

Once it taken its first bite of the market prawn, you are almost 80% success..

Hope it helps..

Lastly, any fish that can fit into its mouth will potentially be its food.

Thus choose the smallest you can find.. as it will grows fast... really fast. (same as yeo99 mention)

No chiller needed

[cutebarra77]

Alright thanks alot! May I know where do u get your shrimps from? I live in central area and the LFS around here hardly have ghost shrimps.

I think tiong bahru market has fw aquarium shops rite? The building next to the Chinatown hawker center also has.

I got mine from Clementi 328. $1.50 per packet with about 20-30 shrimps. I feed around 10-15 shrimps per day.

It's an enjoyment watching them ambushing the shrimps with lightning speed...

[yeo99]

I think tiong bahru market has fw aquarium shops rite? The building next to the Chinatown hawker center also has.

I got mine from Clementi 328. $1.50 per packet with about 20-30 shrimps. I feed around 10-15 shrimps per day.

It's an enjoyment watching them ambushing the shrimps with lightning speed...

Personnelly I do not encourage that. It will not train the lion fish, end up too busy visiting the freshwater lfs buying shrimps.

[anothermix]

Hmm alright. I'll try feeding it with market prawn. I'm actually planning on keeping a bimac octopus with the lionfish. Any advices on this? Is a chiller required for keeping an octopus?

[dragonfly_sg]

Hmm alright. I'll try feeding it with market prawn. I'm actually planning on keeping a bimac octopus with the lionfish. Any advices on this? Is a chiller required for keeping an octopus?

I do catch octopus (those seen in the LFS eg. Ah Beng) in Malaysian waters. So I doubt they need chiller, I happen to see some in rock pools too and water from those pool could get pretty warm so I guess they are rather tolerant.

And I am not sure if you know it's pretty hard to keep an Octopus inside a normal tank I also think hard to keep both in the same tank too, either might try to eat each other

I have never actually tried keeping one in the aquarium thou, but I do find it hard to keep those Octopus I catch in a pail as they always manage to climb out.

[anothermix]

Haha yea I'm aware that it wouldn't be an easy task but I'm sure these fascinating and intelligent creatures will make it all worthwhile. Any advices on whether I should introduce the octopus to the tank first or the lionfish?

[Guest]

it is best if you can try them to take market prawn as food .You can try feeding one or two of the prawn meat pcs during your next feeding of live food to try to get them to feed and once it accept market prawn meat, you would be able to switch over.

[kohwhl]

I wouldn't advise a 2 ft for a lionfish... I doubt you are going to keep one or two onli, even though lionfish doesn't move much... It's still more suitable for a 4 or more... unless u wanna go with dwarfs, reason being, they grow real fast in like a span of 6 months.

But to ur qn, no lionfish doesn't need any chiller... They are considered pesky fishes in some areas so they realli can go with lousier conditions