[SupaJSK]

How much damage can a lionfish's stingers do to another fish?

[junkzoo]

None that i have ever seen,,, have had one in a 180 FO, for over 5-6 yrs.(from small to large over this time ) will "head -down" to clown trigger and others if it feels threatened (and me) never "jabbed"anyone yet, usually just a threat pose. don't think you need to worry about other fishes, just you and your cleaning sponge stick/hand. [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

[FMarini]

Right on the money. The lions use their spine strickly as defense. They usually head-down/spines up to ward off threats. But ingenral they don't use them. If they do use them they can be lethal. I had only negative experience I have w/ a lion envenomation on another fish was when i introduced an adult emperator angel into my 180gal lion tank. The angel went on a fin nipping spree and denuded 2 of my lions. One of them got pissed off enuf and stuck him multiple times...the angel wnet to corner and gilled for 2 days before it died. It never recovered and neither did I. i will never ever put a large form angel in w/ my lions
my experience
frank

[Ninong]

Originally posted by SupaJSK:
How much damage can a lionfish's stingers do to another fish?

Since your question is how much damage can be done and not whether or not it is likely to happen, I think you should be guided by Dr. Marini's account of what happened to his angelfish.

Here is what Scott Michael has to say on this topic:

"Lionfishes have been known to jab tankmates with their venomous spines. This is more like to occur in a crowded aquarium. The fishes targeted by lionfishes are usually slow moving or sedentary (e.g., other scorpionfishes or porcupine fishes). Envenomization can occur in one of two ways: the lionfish may make aggressive advances toward a tankmate and intentionally impale it, or a fish may accidentally swim into the lionfish's spines when startled or pursuing food. When struck by a lionfish's spines, a fish will usually develop lesions in the impaled area, and these may appear inflamed and reddened. The tissue around the wounds may then die and slough off. Other symptoms of lionfish stings include an increased respiration rate, color loss, jerky swimming movements, and inactivity in fish species that are normally active. In many instances, death is the end result. Most fishes (including squirrelfishes, groupers, goatfishes, and damselfishes) injected with a large dose of lionfish venom (more than that delivered by one normal sting) die within 10 to 30 minutes."


Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]


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Irrational Exuberance!

[Triggers]

based on the accidental equation(swimming into the spines),
seems like quite a risk. unless it is a species tank, not sure if i would be willing to take the chance.
thought of getting a small one but not sure now.

[SupaJSK]

Has anyone had any luck in getting lions to eat frozen brine or squid? If so, how did you eventually get it to switch over to it?

[nts9]

I recently had a group a fish in my 75g. tank which included
a 8" Miniatas, 8.5" Porcupine puffer, 9" Black Volitan Lion, and a 4.5" Undulate trigger.
They all ate fresh dead squid I used to cut up and all more than doubled in size in the year and a half or so I had them.
I truley think they all really enjoyed this food as well.
They could all be somewhat hand fed with caution.
They looked real healthy and fat and rarely had conflict marks on them.
The Puffer and the Lion never had an issue.
The Lion however, would attack the Undulate whenever it crossed its path.
And the Undulate would ocassionally chase the Miniatas.
All in all, they all seemed to do very well together.
The Lionfish has since been donated to the Long Beach Aquarium, the Miniatas & Puffer have their own 75g.,
and the Undulate was an unfortunate victim of owner abuse.
IME.

[junkzoo]

best way to offer food to a lion is: "just do it"!my 8" volitan eats EVERYTHING!,shrimp,clam,squid,silversides,tilapia, tetra food sticks, hikari pellets,and everything i offer it! just keep trying ,it will learn when you "lift the lid" it will watch for food when it's hungry. my lion ,clown trigger porc. puffer,Queen angel,and morays go "nuts' when i get the feeding container and head to the freezer![img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

[SupaJSK]

I had a lion and a porcupine puffer about 4 months ago. The puffer was there first. He was basically the "king" of the tank. I added the lion and a few days later, the puffer had basically eaten all of the lion's spines off. I guess it never really got jabbed by them though cause the puffer was perfectly fine. Luckily, my LFS has been pretty cool with me and they took both of the fish back. (Didn't want a crippled lion, and i didnt want the puffer anymore since it basically tried to eat everything i put in the tank.)

[FMarini]

Hi:
if you email me directly i can send you a lionfish info sheet i worte which contains a how-to wen your lion over onto dead preapred marine foods.
There are many way to accomplished this, mine worked for me, and its simple
frank

[SupaJSK]

Would you say that lions like more or less current. Ive currently got two 295gph powerheads on either side of my 100 gallon. There are a few "dead" spots though in the tank.

[SupaJSK]

Yes, I got it thanks. Those are some really beautiful looking lions. There was some really helpful information there. I picked up a Lion yesterday at my LFS. its about 5 inches long. Its a black volitan and it seemed to be adjusting well yesterday. Now the eating challenege. Ive got an emperor snapper that basically eats EVERYTHING in the tank, so I'm gonna have to basically feed the lion separately for a while, til I can train them to come to the top of the tank like you did. thanks.

[FMarini]

Hi:
i wouldn't worry too much unless your tank looks like a monsoon. There are areas of slow water, and fast watwer in my tank, and my lions will sometimes swim head first into the "current" and other times hang out in an area of slow water to rest or "hangout.
Did you got the lionfish info sheet?
frank