[fishguy_8]

Hey everyone. Well it was bound to happen. My 45g tank that is holding my now rather chubby eel in a fowlr set up is now on its way to being a reef. I just robber bits and pieces of polyps, shrooms, tree corals, leathers etc. and just stuck them in the tank. The tank has 4X55w pc's (2 white 2 actinic) and TRE (my snowflake eel) is loving it. One piece in particular he has decided to hang around alot lately is a piece of frogspawn that I had laying around. Ever since I added these pieces he's out and about swimming ten times as much as before. I dont know if its possible but I think he was a little bored by the blandness of just rocks and what not. But he sure does like it in there a bit more. I have been considering getting a tankmate for him but am undecided. I was kind of thinking along the lines of a lionfish just to add a little extra eye candy. I was in particular thinking of a small volitan. Mainly the volitan because they are the easiest (so ive read) to get off of live foods and onto silversides, which is what i feed tre. The only filtration besides the rock is just a biowheel which i use mainly for a little extra circulation more than anything. Another powerhead would be too strong i thought and w/o the biowheel i thought it was a little stagnant for my liking. The other fish I was considering was an angler purely on looks I know very little about them as far as how they act w/ corals in particular but I just thought Id stick the idea out there and see what you fine folks thought of my idea.

[Ninong]

Suggested reading: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i2...lionfishes.htm

[fishguy_8]

Hey Ninong, thanks for the link. Now I just read it, and it says pretty much what Ive read out of other links and books. I have kept lions before, dwarf lions only, and they did really well I ended up selling him to a friend of mine because my lion would only eat when he would feed and never when I would so I did what I thought was in his best interests and its worked out. But one part I read is conflicting on your site to what I have read on another and seen in other tanks. The site you linked me to says eels prey on lions in the wild, which makes me very weary about putting lion w/ ol' tre. But I see lions and eels in display tanks and I also checked a compatability chart on www.liveaquaria.com saying eels and lions would be fit companions so long as one cant fit the other in his/her mouth. So now Im a bit sceptic on this little endevour. The reef is a go but now I am not sure about what would make a good tankmate for him. I wouldnt want a trigger or puffer not only because they would pick at the corals but they are hogs and would eat my eels food before he had a chance. so what say you? any ideas for a buddy for my snowflake? thanks
Jon