12" lionfish questions

[Frag Freaks]

One of my buddies was thinking about getting into saltwater after done freshwater the past few years. He has an opportunity to get a 12" lionfish from someone on craigsl

Would a 4 foot 90 gallone tank be enough space?
What type of food does it need? Can it eat prepared foods or does it need live?
Tankmates?

 

[pjryan21]

Thats a big lion fish for a 90 gallon! I just got rid of my lion and it was about 8 inches in my 150. I fed it frozen food never live and tankmates got to be big enough not to fit in his mouth.I would imagine you would be limited to only a couple fish.

 

[B.rian]

i wouldn't get it. that fish needs at least a 180 with lots and lots of swimming room.

 

[zeal]

that would be all i would put in if he did get it

 

[jwaka11]

You would need at least a 6' tank possibly an 8 footer. Silversides is what I used to feed mine with.

 

[Frag Freaks]

Well I guess he is he decided to also buy a 180g tank off the person also to give him more room.

 

[pjryan21]

problem solved

 

[Frag Freaks]

With the 180, what else could he keep?

 

[gregsreef26]

Larger fairly docile fish. Snowflake eel, marine betta,maybe a tang. Perhaps something like a dogface,stars and stripes. It has to be big but not aggresive as it may harass the lion. Triggers for example are imo a bad tankmate for lions. Keep in mind the bio load of a few large meat eating fish. Keep up with those water changes!!!

 

[B.rian]

i wouldn't recommend puffers or triggers. both are prone to nipping the spines of lion fish. i would go with a docile eel (snowflake or zebra moray), large wrasse (bird wrasse, sunset wrasse, etc.), harlequin tusk, tangs if they are full grown, and other such fish. and like greg mentioned, large fish mean lots of waste. make sure he has a good skimmer and does routine water changes. i do weekly water changes of 25%.

 

[Frag Freaks]

I know he is getting a sump with the tank, not sure on the specifics or whether it comes with a skimmer. I really wont know exactly what he has until he picks everything up on saturday. The tank was set up for approx two years.

Thanks for the help though guys, I will be sure to pass on the information to him.