lion fish

[blackstrips85]

i have bee wanting to get a lion fish for a while now but sometimes i just say forget it. but i recently saw a picture her on masst of a radiata lion fish i love the colors and they way it looked but thing about it the pic said that it was a 37 gal cube and i have a 46 bow front , i have about 9 more gals,. and he had two in his tank well the other one was a dwraf. is my tank to small and its really aggressive i have avery large clown and i tang in my tank. has any one had one of these guys thakns

[pilot_bell777]

As long as the other fish are too big for it to eat, you are good to go. Tank should be ok until it gets bigger. They are not that aggresive......shoot they remind me of a big fat lazy dog waiting to be feed adn they give you this look like you are torturing them if you make them come to the top to eat! LOL

You should be ok....

[C.Mydas]

Im assuming you're talking about my old tank :innocent You can mix lions with other fish, however, you need to plan it carefully. Lions hunt at night and if your fish sleep in the open (like clowns tend to) it will end up being food. That is why I stuck to wrasses that bury themselves at night. Other than the fact that they like to eat other fish they are very docile fish. Beware, however, if you are serious about getting a radiata. They get to a max size of 7-9inches so you will probably have to upgrade your tank fairly quickly (that is why I had to get rid of mine). The 2 I had in the 37g were small and I found them a new home when they reached about 5 and 6 inches. Also know that in the wild radiatas are mainly crustacean eaters...so they are safer than say volitans when it comes to other fish but they WILL eat them if they are hungry. Another thing, lions ship badly, and radiatas are notorious for coming in with ripped fins...they will heal with a proper diet. The most important thing of all to keep in mind is that radiatas (contrary to volitans, russels, etc) are difficult to get to eat frozen food. So plan on supplying live gut-packed SALTWATER ghost shrimp for the first few months until you can (if you're lucky) get it to accept frozen foods. Do not feed freshwater feeder fish, they lack the proper nutrition and are actually bad for saltwater predators.

Hope that helps.
Christina