Leaf Scorpion Fish

I want to get 2 leaf fish for my 46 gallon. Does anyone have one have any first hand knowledge on their behavior. I would love to find a pink one.
Thanks,
Adam

 

Leaf Fish

I posted this in the wrong section
Sorry

 

They generally leave corals alone, but I noticed that you have quite a few inverts, so I'd be careful: they like to eat them, specially the smaller ones. Would probably also go for smaller fish.
Also has very venomous spines. Be careful handling it or your in for a pretty sleepless and painful night.
Other than that, they seem to be pretty hardy and easy to keep

 

I would worry about your clowns and your mandarian. They will def eat your shrimp and crabs...but they might be tempted to go after those also. Your wrasse I would think would be fast enough to get away but since clowns tend to stay in one place they might be "to dumb" to get away and the mandarian since they are also bottom dwellers might just be too tempting!

I do not personally have any right now, but have been doing a lot of research on them as these are going to be my next purchase I think for my next species tank. They dont move much, just kind of blend into their surrounding. But what I read that seems cool is that they will sway back and forth to immitate the leaves in the current. I doubt that we will see that in a tank but still...and they will also shed their skin to imitate a leaf at times.

They have small mouths compared to lions. They remind me of anglers who can extend their mouths very, very large. But I still would not trust them with those fish.....

Now I did keep a V. Lion and dwarf lion with a cleaner shrimp in a reef tank for a long time before the cleaner was lunch. I never lost a fish either, but I kept them very, very well fed. It was only when my dwarf decided to go on a hunger strike against frozen food that my cleaner disappeared.

They are venomous as mentioned before so you dont want to grab them ..will just hurt like h... for a while, unless you happen to be the few that are allergic to it! I got stung by my lion and I was instantly in pain, vomitting from the pain, diaphoretic and my hand went numb. It was my fault that I got stung, not Killers fault but he got me in 2 fingers and I wished I died when it happened! That is when he got the name Killer!

 

i believe they are better off in a species only tank

 

I had two leaf fish that were about three inches in length each. They are very entertaining in a reef tank and get along well with others. The only problem I had is with feeding them. I could not get them to eat anything that was not live. Generally they eat any shrimp or fish small enough to fit in its mouth. My LFS only had freshwater ghost shrimp, so thats what I fed them. They only survived on them for about 3 months each. I later found out that without saltwater feeders they would not get the nutrients necessary to survive in captivity for a long period of time. If you can get live saltwater feeder fish or shrimp then the leaf fish are great to have in any reef aquarium.

Joe