20L Lionfish Garden

[Corsair]

Edited to add current tank shot

2/26/11



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Original Post:

This is my little lionfish tank. The 'centerpiece' is this little guy, a Fu Manchu Lionfish. The aquascape and livestock selection was centered around that fish, and keeping him happy in such a tiny space.




The tank is a 20L, with a pretty basic T5 lighting. The filtration is a Subcurrent internal filter, and a 100gph pump with a rotating head for circulation on the other side of the tank.

The whole thing is kind of an experiment. I wanted a large amount of rock to give the lionfish plenty of surface area to play with. They are like their big cousins in the way they move around. The lionfish rules out alot of the usual clean up critters. No shrimp are safe, and I wouldn't trust that fish around hermit crabs either. I decided to toss in several types of macro, some softies, and let them all have at it to see who can take over the tank. Along the way I'll intervene as I see a need to, but I'd like to see how it sorts itself.


These pictures are about a month old






If you look closely under the center of those zoas there is a little bumpy yellow thing. It's a sea cucumber that hitchhiked in. There are at least two, but they are not very photogenic.




Current
*note: there is only one clown, the little bugger got in the panorama shot twice, lol






Everybody is doing well. There is the lionfish, a black percula, 3 blue green chromis, and a pajama cardinal. Astrea and nessarius snails help clean up, and 4 emerald crabs to go after the macro. I might try some tuxedo urchins to help out, but I need to glue a few of the rocks in place, and let the clam dig in better before I try.

The tank has been going about 6 months. I do bi-weekly water changes, and things stay pretty consistent. Nitrates are always present, but stay dead stable at about 20ppm. Not terrible for such a heavy stock load. Especially with the Fu Manchu eating live.

Let me know what you think.