New Aquarium

[exotip]

Hi,

I'm kinda new at this whole saltwater aquarium thing so i was just looking for some help if someone could answer a few questions for me that would be awesome.

I was looking into setting up an aquarium with live sand and live rock. I was wondering if there is any way you could put a Volitan Lionfish, a Porcupine Puffer, or a Wolf Eel together. These are the 3 fish that i would really like to get but i'm not quite sure if they would work together, if they don't can 2 of them work together?

OK after I've decided what fish that i can get i was wondering. If all 3 can live together peacefully what size aquarium would i need? I was looking at a 90 gallon. would that be big enough for all 3? or if only 2 can live together will it be big enough for them?

Lastly i was looking and it seems that all 3 of these eat crustaceans.... i was wondering if there are ANY crustaceans out there that will be compatible with the 3.. or 2? of these fish.

Thank you very much,
exotip

Also i forgot to ask, Do i NEED coral, or can i just have a fish and live rock only for these fish.

[LCP136]

It sounds like you like predatory fish. In my opinion, none of these fish would go together in a 90 gallon tank. The lionfish would be okay in that tank size, but the puffer and wolf eel will outgrow tanks bigger than a 90. As far as coral goes you don't need it. You could do a species tank for lionfish and have coral, as they won't eat it. Some people keep them with butterfly fish, which would eat coral. As for crustaceans, if you can find one that is too big for the lionfish to swallow like a large banded coral shrimp or large hermit crabs, they could live together, but any ornamental shrimp or smaller crabs would be eaten.

Good luck

LCP

[exotip]

Ok so lets so i was to do just the species tank for lion fish in the 90 gal. How many lion fish would be suitable for a 90 gallon?
Or i might not even get as big as a 90 I might do something even around a 70 or a 55, how many could fit in them.

Thanks very much again,
exotip

Also, are there any other predator fish that i would maybe like that could go with lion fish? or do they have to be separate? i was also looking at a Toad fish. And when you said any crustacean that couldn't fit in the lionfishs mouth.. seriously anything? could i do like.. even a starfish ,small lobster, clams, or an urchin?

[Reefland]

Hi exotip, Welcome to Reefland! Going to move this so our fish expert can help you out.

[exotip]

ok thanks alot

[LCP136]

You have to be careful with invertebrates and lionfish. Remember, lionfish for the most part swallow their prey in one bite. Starfish are tough to keep in captivity with or without lionfish. I don't know too much about lobsters, so no comment, but im not sure if a small lobster exists. Clams for the most part need MH lighting which is very expensive, especially if your not doing coral. A large urchin would be okay. Like I said above, look into banded coral shrimp. They get very large and they are very cool.

As for the amount of lions, this is a more complicated question. Lionfish are very messy and put a lot on the bioload. Also, filtration and amount of live rock play a role in this. Because of these variables and my lack of personal experience with lions, i'm not going to give any specific guesses as to the amount of lionfish that could live in any of those tank sizes.

I hope someone who has experience with lionfish will come and correct any mistakes I have made, but do some research on your own. I certainly don't want to be responsible for the death of any fish or invertabrate.

LCP

[leebca]

exotip,

You want to read this and get a 'bigger picture' of the stocking limit issue: Fish Stocking Limit - for FO and FOWLR

As LCP136 has pointed out, there is bio-load considerations which are a part of the big picture. The type of equipment and what equipment you choose affects the maximum load the system will handle. And then, even if there is a magical X limit, the space and/or swimming needs of the fish need to be taken into account.

You mention Lionfish and narrowing the process is a good start. However, Lionfish come in all sizes, including those that remain small and those that grow very large. The size of the system and the capacity has to take into account the size of the fish years into the future.

So what kinds of Lionfish are you interested in? Dwarfs? Large? What are the scientific names of those that you fancy the most? Or am I missing the point that you have in mind a group of just Volitan?

The above answers and a firm understanding of the options given in the above linked post will begin to bring the answer you want into focus.

Have you read this post? Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

[exotip]

Okay i am going to read the articles you suggested but first i figured i would tell you, I was planning on getting Mostly the normal lion fish instead of the dwarf but i am always open for dwarfs. I have found a cheap aquarium that my friend is selling its a 110 gal. not a long aquarium its high though. Also i'm not sure i'm going to do the live rock because I've heard for predator fish a lot of people just do fish only tanks. and it would be much cheaper. So i will have 110gal aquarium (fish only) .. i'm still not sure what filters/skimmer/everything else i would need.. (any suggestions?) does any of this help you on how much lion fish i would be able to hold? or am i going to have to decide what equipment i'm going to use first. If you can figure out.. approx. it would be nice if i could know. Approx. how many larges by themselves approx how many dwarfs by them selves. and then approx how many like. a mixture of the 2. dwarfs and regulars. thank you very much.

[leebca]

You apparently have a sense that a 'tall' tank is not very good for marine fish. That is a good sense. You are correct. It is the 'foot print' of the tank that primarily gives a boost to bio-load capability. So, I will need to know the dimensions of the tank -- the foot print dimensions (length and width).

Equipment does influence the bio-load capacity. It is however, the type of system you setup which is most important. Decisions on a sump, refugium, plenum, deep sand bed, and filters make up the system.

You'll get a handle on the above from the referenced links.

The answer you seek, without any more information, but assuming the system will be medium to high-end, is about 2 of the large Lionfish without any dwarfs, or about 5 dwarfs.