Back from the LFS... :D

good luck. i tried dwarfs but had no luck. hopefully i can try again when i have the room. very nice!!

 

Congrats! Great pick up.

 

He is gorgeous! More handsome than pretty. Good choice! I hope he does well for you!

 

Thanks i hope he does well, i dropped a weeks pay on him... lol

Yes i'm impressed too!

I was seriously considering a dwarf, in the end i decided that even a dwarf would out grow this tank, so i figured i may as well get the real thing and upgrade to a suitable tank for his adult size in 12-18mths.

I've done some reading about this, and hopefully i'll be able to manage his diet with out 'over feeding' so that he doesn't grow at an insane rate. I figure if he does his thing solo then i'm at no risk of losing any fish .

They grow to enormous sizes, the LFS has two that are about 30cm (12") that have been there for a while.

As far as naming goes, i think i've settled on Simba. It was a toss up between that and mufasa. -- Have a guess on my fav. child hood movie lol

 

They are really peaceful, as long as you don't have any thing that fits in it's mouth. They do grow big but it takes them a while since they can live for many years. What are you planning on keeping with them? have you considered adding more lionfish and stonefish?
Great choice btw, awesome looking fish.

 

Wasn't really thinking about adding any more fish in that tank. It would get cramped very soon. Apart from maybe an urchin or the like. I'm assuming its not bold enough to eat a spike ball

However i was considering an eel in the future and possibly some triggers. Although i've heard they can be mean on the fins...

 

Lionfish won't eat anything with a hard shell, they like to swallow soft bodied creatures. You could add most inverts, just not shrimp or small fish. Eels would be good tankmates but I really don't recommend adding triggers, besides the niger or the larger (some say reef safe) sargassum or blue jaw triggers. I know from experience that triggers enjoy picking the spines off of lionfish. But either way you might have to look into an upgrade later, since predatory fish like bigger aquariums.

 

An upgrade is def on the cards, i'm almost content to leave him as the only fish in the tank. He is a very nice fish to both look at and enjoy in the tank, any thing else might take away from this. Perhaps some other inverts - beach snails, urchins ect...

As far as diet goes I'm still a little unsure about the amount. I'm worried about over-feeding. I was thinking half a block of frozen mysis/brine per day and a frozen feeder (with vitamins) every other day ? Too much/not enough ?
A ghost shrimp or something similar every now and then as a treat perhaps?

I figure its better to ask too many questions than have a dead lionfish.

 

why have 1 pic, when you can have 7!? hahaha hes lookin great im jealous!

 

exactly , i was trying to coax him into swimming so that he'd 'flare' out all his spines, from a front view its amazing. Its a shame i couldn't, once he gets eating expect pics and maybe a video