lionfish bad?

[noobsauce]

i plan on buying a lionfish in the next few days, and i wanted to know if it was a good idea. My tank is 200 gallons with a damsel in it. I also wanted to know if they are generally reef safe? will they eat my coral? i only have a few frags in there now but i plan on going full reef. I also read that lionfish need poor lighting or they will be blind? so is it a bad idea to get one since i have halides? thanks

[Doug1]

What type of lion fish are you thinking of. The large ones should be fine in a 200 gallon but the damsel wont be around long
They dont normally bother corals per se but they do produce a lot of waste making water quality a struggle, as well as being hard on shrimp and other scavengers. Better suited to an aggressive species tank, if you provide shaded over hangs it will prolly be OK with MH light.
The other obvius factor is trying to aquascape a tank with a lion in it can get interesting to say the least. If you are sensitive to bee stings you might want to rethink the plan. From personal exp I can tell you mistakes are not fun

[noobsauce]

ithink i have got my aquascaping done and am happy with it. Will it knock over any of my rocks? Also if i get arm length gloves will the stings affect me? you're getting me scared about the stings. oh yea, i plan on buying a volitan i believe they are called.

[tims]

Voltons will get pretty good size, he will eat shrimp and fish that will stick out of his mouth, they are not really a knocker...

[Loverotties]

Lions will eat your damsel and like the others said shrimp or any other aminmal that will fit in his mouth.I got stung from the same kind your looking at.It was big and 14yrs old,It was a bad sting!It felt like a bad burning feeling deep inside my arm.Called poision control and they said your the 2nd one today!I had to poor BOILING water on my arm for a 1/2 hour to draw the poison out.Poison control was great! They called me 2 hrs later and the next day to see if I was ok.But I'd still want anougher one some day!

[pmh]

Yeah, everyone has hit it pretty good. It won't bother anything in your reef except the other possible occupants! They are great fish though. I've owned several. I've never been stung either. you've just got to be careful.


pmh

[rottielover]

Boiling water poured onto your arm for 1/2 hour ????

Wouldn't that cause at least a 2nd degree burn?

http://www.emedhome.com/features_arc...il.cfm?FID=169

Because the venom is heat labile, soaking in hot water is recommended:

• Hot water immersion technique
  
  • Heat treatment is widely recommended as effective initial treatment for envenomations by Scorpaenidae, as well as echinoderms, stingrays, and other venomous spine injuries.
    

• • Most references recommend that initial therapy consist of immersion in nonscalding hot water (upper limit of 114 degrees Fahrenheit or 45 degrees Celsius) after removal of visible spines and sheath, in order to inactivate the thermolabile components of the venom. Immersion is continued until the agonizing pain is relieved, usually a minimum of 30 minutes, and often up to 60-90 minutes.
    
    
  • Be careful not to inflict thermal burns by placing an insensate limb (as a result of local anesthesia or decreased sensitivity as a result of pain) in scalding water.
    
    
  • Local or regional anesthesia, if available, is a suggested means of adjunctive analgesia.

[Loverotties]

I thought that would happen ,but it took the deep down burning away.

[noobsauce]

hey guys. Bought the lion today!!! it is my first real fish and he seems pretty happy in the tank now. Here are some pics

[noobsauce]

full tank shot. I should have cleaned it before i added the lion but oh well. I think he popped the bag on the way home!!!!!!

[noobsauce]

is this coraline algae????????????????? my first bit of coraline!!! Ok thats all the pics of my new fine specimen.

[tabwyo]

The venom of a lionfish is not the same a a bee sting. More people who are envenomated by a lionfish are effected be severe shock rather than anaphalaxia. I am extremely sensitive to bee stings and I have been hit by a scorpion fish (sculpin) and a lion fish. Hurts like hell and swells up. The venom is intended to imediately effect tissue by causeing extreme pain. Bee sting venom actualy effects the nervous system. I was instructed to submerse the effected area in the hottest water I could possibly stand without doing more damage wich brings a rush of blood to the area to flush the venom away. People think it draws the venom out cause the wound seeps a little but it's more of a way to dilute the poisen in the blood stream to allow the body to get rid of it. I have also heard of people useing a hot diluted bleach solution to as a soak but I can't vouch for it.

[rwdandald]

Congratulations on the lionfish - they are a great fish with lots of personality. All the potential issues have been well covered by I will tell you of my experiences -

Train him to stick feed as soon as possible - it is more convenient and may make it possible to introduce other fish that will not become instant snacks. I have several small green chromis in the tank with mine for over a year and he has never touched them (I could not catch them either though so maybe that explains it). I believe if they get used to stick feeding and you keep them fed adequately they won't be much of a danger to most other fishes, especially if they are used to those fish.

They are very easy to train to eat from your hand - don't do it! If you do then every time you reach into your tank they will come towards you instead of away from you increasing the chance of an accidental sting.

When working in the tank doing aquaspaing and glass scraping, etc have somebody else there with you if possible on "lion patrol" to keep an eye on where the lion is so you don't accidently corner it ......

Use common sense when feeding it - when stomach becomes visibly full stop - if it takes more than 6 hours for him to make the tail of the last silverside disappear into its mouth you probably gave it either more than it needed or too big of a bite....

[noobsauce]

oh noes, i was told to buy some ghost shrimp and just throw them in the tank and he will eat them whne he wants. As soon as i dumped them in there he knocked out about 8 of them. So what kind of food would i have to wave with the stick? Its good, this fish doesnt seem as aggresive as i thought it would be. It would be pretty hard for lion duty though since i would be on the otherside of the wall lol but i will try my best to be careful.

[rwdandald]

I am sure he would enjoy a never ending supply of live ghost shrimp but you may get tired of being the one to provide it - a big bag of frozen silversides is about $8. and lasts a couple months for me (feeding both lion and snowflake eel)... every now and then I give then frozen krill or a piece of squid for variety ... I will try to get a picture of feeding for you - it is kinda fun really......