Bad Lionfish!!

[lbannie]

A few days ago I picked up 3 green chromis. They WERE so cute! My YT damsel even took a liking to them and all 4 would swim around nicely. From the minute they were in the tank my fuzzy dwarf lionfish was eyeballing them. After 2 days 1 chromis was missing. Now 2 days after that the other 2 are gone! My lion is looking a bit fatter than normal as well! I don't get it, my damsel is the same size as those chromis and he doesn't mess with him. I guess I won't be able to add any more small fish to my tank!! My lion eats any food I put in the tank so he's not starving! Maybe he was a bad choice
Just a little bit bummed......

 

[Phranque]

Ouch.... sorry to hear about that.

Most people know that a lion will eat about anything that will fit into their mouths, they just don't realize how large their mouths are relative to their body size!! Think of a largemouth bass eating a full size frog.....

Was your damsel in the tank prior to the lionfish?? if so, it may view it as a tank inhabitant rather than a meal (doesn't make it safe, though).... anything added after the lion is seen as a potential meal.

 

[MacDracor]

Phranque makes an excellent point about introduction order, but also consider that the damsel is, by nature, far more aggressive. He may simply be better capable of holding his own when the Lion gets uppity.

 

[lbannie]

Yes the damsel has been in my tank since day 1! The lion readily eats anything I give him ( live or frozen) he even eats flake food! I guess I thought he wouldn't go after the fish since he's fed well! I'm limited on what else I can add so I thought small fish would be better. WRONG!

 

[Phranque]

What size tank?

 

[lbannie]

40 gallon breeder tank

 

[Phranque]

Well, you may have unwittingly (or unwillingly) created yourself a lionfish tank..... Even though it's a "dwarf", it's still likely to hit 6"-7" in size, and that's a pretty good size mouth!! There aren't many fish I can think of that wouldn't be a potential meal that would be comfortable in a 40..... Maybe a full size Clarkii clown.