Help me Fuzzy dwarf lion tank setup & care

Hey guys i have a spare tank thats 24"lx18"wx15"h (cant go bigger). im planning on a fuzzy dwarf. I wana go either FO or FOWLR, might add a green paly as thats the only coral thats not doing well in my mixed reef, rest all are thriving.
i need advice from experienced lion fish keepers, some who has kept lions for really long as good as full length life of a lion fish, as i hate if my fish dies early or due to my mistake.
iv read that they need to be fed live food like guppies or mollys or ghost shrimps or mysis. after reading online, my plan is to breed SW mollys, feed the fries best food like cyclop and nori (gutload), once they are a good size, just feed them to my lion. Also will try feeding mysis on a chopstick once in a while and freez dried ghost shrimps that i feed my turtle on weekends.
I would like to add a few suitable tank mates like bicolour dotty back and an angler maybe wartskin and inverts like some wild caught crabs and hermits..... Can these things stay with a fuzzy dwarf lion? also can i feed the same way to my angler?
The tank setup will be either DIY LR or LR or dead rock with hardly half inch crushed coral sand, lights not descided as no corals, for filteration, 1 internal skimmer, 1 eheim HOB with diy surface skimming and a hydor Koralia 2800. i guess the total flow will be around 40 times, i guess thats enough......

 

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Hey, iv read this..... wanted some extra info from people who have been into lion fishes since long time. also wana know about the tank mates...

 

A Dotty back will most likely become a meal or the victim of a Dwarf Lion fish that though it could swallow that size of fish.

I can not emphasize enough the information to be gathered and shared at Renee's site, you will not find a better source of information. They have been at this a long time and made great strides in education regarding husbandry of Lion fish and alike.

 

so anglers can stay right? any other fish/invert you suggest?

 

To be honest, anglers really do best in species/specimen setups. They can swallow prey up to twice their size, so it MAY try your fuzzy out, or vice-versa, depending on the size differential between the fish. Also, with a hungry fuzzy in residence, would likely suffer in competition for food.

Non-hermit type crabs will be likely be eaten, or they may go after your fish, so I wouldn't consider them other than as food items.

As for stocking, a single fuzzy will be a significant bioload on a 28 gal tank, so you're pretty much at the limit fish-wise. You might want to keep a waspfish or small species scorpionfish as a tankmate. Some hardy soft corals and/or live macro algae will add some nice wavelike motion to the setup.

As for feeding, try to stay away from freeze-dried anything...they aren't good for the fish nutritionally.

HTH

 

Hey thanks, can you suggest the tank mates more specifically? and what about the gutloaded black mollies? are they ok?

 

The mollies are OK, depending on their size in relationship to the lionfish.

Specific tankmates would include:

Waspfish:

Ablabys taenianotus (cockatoo waspfish)...our fave.
Paracentropogon rubripinnis (red fin waspfish)
P. longispinus (long-spined/wispy waspfish)

Scorps (to name a few):

Scorpaenodes littoralis
S. caribbaeus
S. strongia
Taenianotus triacanthus

 

I ment the mollies for feeding to dwarf. i will gutload the feeder mollies with cyclop, nori and spirullina. the size will be approx 1" or less. will be breeding mollies in SW, as i already have mollies in SW for algae and surface grazing.

 

thats ok?