Will my Lionfish eat my clowns?

I had three clowns in a tank, because i bought them that way from someone else that had them this way for over a year well about 6 months later in my tank it was war. So yeah stick with a pair.

 

FWIW, its been awhile since i had a lion, but the one I had was fine in a community tank, for a year or so, then he went on a killing spree, eating most everything in the tank in an hour until eventually he got to the yellow tang and tried to eat, but could only get half of it down, until he laid on the bottom and died from overeating. I thought if I kept him well fed, I'd be ok. NOPE, they do what they do, EAT.

 

Hahaha! This is why I have the majority of the fish I have can't break my kids heart. So I have a tank for them now instead of me.

 

Well I have one happy little girl when she saw me cleaning up the 10 gallon tank. She spent all evening working on getting it set up. I just need to come up with a decent light for it now. Any ideas on some cheap led lights for a tank this size? Or other lighting options.

All of this talk of clowns killing eachother and my trigger tearing apart my lionfish, I might just have to say an extra prayer tonight so I do no wake up to a bloodbath lol.

I sure wish the LFS would give better advise. The girl said she had several triggers a lionfish and several other big fish in her tank for almost 8 years and they all seem to get along fine. I will just have to hope for the best. I sure love triggers and lionfish.

 

You've gotten a lot of great advice, and are making the right decision. Just wanted to add a few things I've learned in my 39 years as a SW aquarist:

1) All fish love live food; if something fits in his mouth, it's food.

2) A fish does not necessarily need to be a predator to eat another fish if it fits in his mouth.

3) "Peaceful toward tankmates" only applies to tankmates that don't fit in his mouth.

 

Mr. Bill,

+1000

You left out:

"Just because a fish does/can eat smaller tankmates doesn't mean the species is aggressive...only hungry."

This is generally how passive species like lionfish end up in bad situations by being kept with truly aggressive fishes like "reef-dwelling" triggers.

 

good bad or indifferent, doesn't matter. Each fish is different. Some people may have the exact same group of fish live for years on end with no problems. But, as is usually the case, something does happen. Why take the risk?