Volitan Lionfish

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landshark

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
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Location
Texas
Does anyone know how many Volitan Lionfish I can put in a 125 gallon tank???
 
I would say only one. Do you have any other fish and what kind of filter do you have?
 
Dont want to put anything else in it...just the Lions.....still in the planning stage.....going to get the free tank in a couple of weeks
 
If you want multiple lion fish you could probably have at least 2 fuzzy dwarf lion fish
 
Does anyone know how many Volitan Lionfish I can put in a 125 gallon tank???

What you need to keep in mind is that Volitans get to about 15"-18" so they do need some space even tho they are not as territorial as other fish. You often find them in the wild in pairs or small schools. PLUS, they do better on a live diet and some won't go for a dead food diet so it comes down to how many can you feed? The more you have, the better the filtering needs to be.

Hope this helps (y)
 
4 dwarf lions sounds about right. Volitans can get big and produce lots of waste
 
Thanks for all the great advice......maybe Ill get the dwarfs,but the Volitans look so much more elegant.
 
Thanks for all the great advice......maybe Ill get the dwarfs,but the Volitans look so much more elegant.

For what it's worth, years ago, a company I worked for supplied most of the Pacific fish and sharks for Atlantis resorts in the Bahamas. The wanted large Volitans for their public display tank. All the fish needed to be 10" +. As they started coming in from our supplies, we got to really appreciate the beauty of a large Black Volitan. With the size came the elaborate finnage and display.
I'm just sayin' ;) :whistle:

Maybe split the difference and go with the medium lions, Antennatas, Radiatas, Hawaiian Sphex lions for example. I've had all these and they are more "frilly" than most dwarfs (y)
 
They won't eat each other. They know better than that. It would be more of a matter of not having too many for your filtration to handle. They produce significant waste when they get big.
 
I really would suggest looking towards other lions. The volitans are gorgeous and have amazing finnage when they are juveniles, but the fins and antennaes shorten up as they grow into adult size.
 
I have a volitan in my 150 (5x2x2). It is truly beautiful. The body is about 7" and the fins stretch out at least a foot right now. It's grown 3" in just four months. I know most 125's are only 18" front to back and that would be tough for them just to get around each other. Especially with their spines during feeding time. Just throwing that out there for more thought. I feed frozen silversides and that's about all it will eat aside from live fish.
 
Still cant get my Volitan to eat frozen foods......tried every trick in the book.Even starving him for 3 days.
 
Only one. They have to be able to swim the length of the tank. People say they're lazy and that they just sit around but I've seen em darting across tanks. A few fuzzys would work well though.
 
Still cant get my Volitan to eat frozen foods......tried every trick in the book.Even starving him for 3 days.


That's because by nature, they eat live food not dead. They stalk their prey before bouncing and if the food isn't moving, the fish moves on to something better and alive.
A couple of tricks you can use is to put the frozen food ( shrimp piece or fish) on a stick and wiggle ( not shake ;)) it within view of the fish to get him excited to eat. Once you see him look at the food and show interest, make the food act like it's trying to get away by SLOWLY moving it away from the lionfish while still wiggling it. Once he starts to follow your stick, you can let him catch it and eat it. The key is to see him swallow the food and not spit it back out. If he spits it out, you'll need to switch to live foods.

Hope this helps (y)
 
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