New lionfish hiding

[karun]

I got a new volitans lion 2 days ago. He looked very good in the store. Swam around, came to look at me when I came near the tank, beautiful undameaged fins.
He has been hiding in one corner of the tank for the last 2 days. Fins are flared and looks alert but does not come out of the corner.
Other fish in tank are 1 regal tang, 1 scopas tang, 1 foxface, 3 clowns and 1 damsel. None of then are going near the lion.
Should I try to feed him guppies or just wait?

Karun

[chromis]

This is a normal reaction from any new fish. I wouldnt feed guppies yet, youve only had him for 2 days. What was he eating at the store? I would wait awhile before worrying anymore, and if I was the damsel I wouldnt be going near the lion either;).

HTH
Andrew

[tlc]

lions like to hide it is a natural instinct. what size tank???

[reefmack]

as long as we're on the topic of lions - i've always wanted one but have a few questions... i've heard 2 things about them - one that they eat any other fish they can fit in their mouthes - and two - that they grow very fast and very big... i have a 75 gallon reef w/ a yellow tang, a maroon clown and 2 firefish - can i add a lion? if so what are the differences in the types?

[fishguy_8]

first off.....dont feed freshwater fish to salt water animals....they, freshwater fish, have an abundance of fatty acid which will inevitably kill your lion within a year or two. best thing for a lion is krill and silversides. if you want to hear it from a expert ask frank marini over at reefcentral aka fmarini he sent me a lion info sheet it was great ask him to send it to you i'm sure he'd be happy to. it goes into detail about husbandry, feeding, and general info. and like chromis said a fish being a bit of a spook for the first week is not abnormal at all. just try and keep the room as calm as possible. and that should help him get used to his environment a little faster.
reefmack: the fire fish is the fish i'd worry about w/ lions. IF your lion were ever rather hungry and your firefish came swimming by......yea he might have himself a 20 dollar snack at your expense. but.....there is hope yet....the dwarf lion fish is a bit smaller it only gets half as big, 6", full grown where as the volitan can get up to 14".....the bigger the mouth the bigger the threat in my opinion. now what you also need to keep in mind is that lions do have a big apetite and if you have shrimp.....a volitan would surely pounce on them if he were so inclined. a internet friend of mine has a dwarf lion in a tank w/ a coral banded shrimp and its in a smaller tank than yours much much smaller. its basicly just the behavioral pattern of your lion i guess is what im trying to say. volitans do get big but they are beautiful. they are probibly my favorite fish. a volitan would be fine in a 75 i think but in your circumstances i'd say if you were willing to take a shot w/ a lion you might want to think about the dwarf lion.
both you 2 keep me posted.
Jon

[reefmack]

hmmm - this is the first i have heard about a "dwarf lion". Do they look much different (besides smaller of course )? I have a fire shrimp, a cleaner shrimp and a coral banded shrimp... all of which i'd like to keep ;)

[fishguy_8]

i cant really say for 100% certainty your shrimp will be fine but if you get a young lion like say one that is 1-2in....maybe even 3 in. i think you'll be alright....some people think if they grow up w/ the shrimp around and know there is food coming to them besides the shrimp they'll leave them alone.....i'm one of these people ....i personally really like the looks of both the dwarf lion and the dwarf fuzzy lion. both quite appealing to the eye. Dendrochirus zebra is the dwarf lion aka dwarf zebra lion. wonder where they got that name and then there is Dendrochirus brachypterus the dwarf fuzzy lion. i'll post some pics for you here is the DWARF LION i'll post the other one in a minute. the only difference between the volitan and the dwarf is size obviously and eating habits. dwarfs seem to be a little bit more challenging to get to eat prepared food they prefer the hunt like any animal would but like i said email fmarini and he's got a good method to get them to eat....it envolves letting them go a few days w/out food if they wont eat but that will make your shrimp look pretty good pretty fast so if i were you i'd deffinitely be on the lookout for a lion that can already eat prepared foods. unless you have a refugium w/out shrimp that'd be ideal you could ween him in that tank and then when he'd eat you can just transfer him/her over. i'll be back w/ the other pic in a second.
Jon

[fishguy_8]

and here is your DWARF FUZZY LION if you cant tell i'm having fun w/ the font sizes keeps me busy anyways the fuzzy lion has the same basic info. as the dwarf lion....the fuzzy stays about an inch smaller than the dwarf however. both are beautiful fish in my opinion.
Jon

[fishguy_8]

ok i'm an idiot and forgot to add the picture of the fuzzy and apparantly you cant add pics by editing the post so here it is.

[chromis]

did anyone see the scorpion fish in seascope? I am thinking about setting up a small tank for one. reefmack, a lion would cause major destruction to your reef. Lions will eat anything they can fit in their mouths. They are not the ideal reef inhabitant. All of your shrimps will eventually become snacks as will the firefish and maybe even the maroon clownfish if he is small enough. Dwarf lions reach 7-10" so anything 5" or less is a meal. Like fishguy said, a small lion might work but one day he will eat your shrimps and fish and you will wish you hadnt gotten one. If your serious about lions setup a large tank for large predator fish. I dont mean to push you away from lions, but they arent the ideal reef inhabitant. The exception would be a carefully planned reef for lions. It would have just corals, large protein skimmer, no small fish or crusteaceans. I beleive Aragorn has a setup simmilar to this.

HTH
Andrew

[fishguy_8]

a predator tank deffinitely would be best because there are just too many unknowns i think if you have a lion that hasnt eaten your smaller fish or shrimp you are really lucky and i wouldnt mind buying it off you but......the odds of coming across such lions isnt that good they are predatory animals.....if you went w/ a big predator tank i think you'd have a lot of fun....you could get puffers and triggers and volitan lions and a nice big skimmer would sure be nice as well.
Jon

[karun]

Thanks for the help. Now I'm confused about volitans of dwarf lion. The one I have looks a lot like the pictures posted. Anyway my lion has come out of the corner. He is giving my damsel the evil eye. Seems to lurk around waiting to catch her. I have been trying to remove the damsel for over a month. Maybe the lion will be more successful.
I got am email from Fmarini and will train the lion to eat frozen shrimps.
TLC my tank is 120G.

Karun

[fishguy_8]

here is a volitan*black. they also come in red*
Jon

[icemark]

Another choice for a small lion is the Fu Manchu Lion, they only get about 4 inches long.

[slapshot]

Well, I have a lionfish also, and I HAD a damsel also. He became a late night snack one evening. In my limited experience with my lion, they WILL eat anything they think they have a chance at. Mine ate the damsel which I kinda figured would happen, but he also ate a diamond goby which was almost as long as him at the time.
Right now, I feed him silversides (small fish) and some occasional shrimp left over from fishing (very limited due to the chance of infections). He really likes the silversides, but they don't seem to keep him full very long.
We have a trigger and an angel in the tank with him now. They both are safe from being eatten for now. Our tank is a 90 gal, so the lion will probably get pretty big. He has been growing fast.
The lions are such a cool fish though, you just have to be careful who his roomates are!!!!