Ocellaris and Lionfish

[jasonv]

Hi everyone,

Just starting up my tank, and have come up with a dilemma already. The two fish that I would most love to keep is a lionfish and a pair of clownfish with anemone. I have a fairly large tank - 300L not sure what that is in gallons with a fair amount of live rock at this stage...will the lionfish/clownfish combo work?

Thanks
Jason

 

[fishfreek]

Probably not.

The lion fish is a preditor and will eat just about anything it can get in its mouth. Unless you get a very small dwarf lionfish species and get clowns that are a fair bit larger than the lions mouth the clowns will probably wind up as lion food.

Acording to our site calculator 300L converts to 79US Gal.

 

[Hara]

I think if you started with a very juvenile lion, and a large clownfish, it could work.
by the time the lion would be large enough to eat the clown, it would be well used to eating frozen and looking for its food elsewhere. My 12 inch volitan never bothered my tomato clown. I would also recommend letting the clown really establish himself in the tank before adding the lion.

 

[goldy]

the rule of thumb with a lionfish is if it can fit in his mouth it is food.

 

[Hara]

yes, that is the rule of thumb...having owned two, I can tell you it was not the case with either.