Felicia's Lionfish Mixed Reef 40B

[VWD]

Great looking tank

 

[sniceley]

I love predator reefs. I saw your stock list and am surprised you haven't had losses with the clowns. Even at the small sizes I would have thought the clowns would be food with all those lions. Beautiful tank and execution. Fish look great too.

 

[flsvedlund]

It is definitely unique and absolutely beautiful. Great job!

Thank you so much for the compliment

 

[flsvedlund]

Well done. Outstanding actually. You are amazing.

Do you happen to have a full tank shot or did I miss it.

Thank you so much for the kind words!

Here's the latest FTS. The lions were lurking at the time, but you might be able to spot them if you look closely.

 

[flsvedlund]

A dream tank. What's everyone eating?

Thank you The Fu Manchu lionfish and the snowflake eel eat frozen. I feed them a mix of frozen silverside chunks, krill, and mysis. The antennata and dwarf zebra lionfish are in the process of being weaned onto frozen. They've been eating gut-loaded live ghost shrimp, but I now have them taking some frozen mysis and krill. Still working on getting them to eat frozen regularly.

 

[flsvedlund]

Nice tank.When I look at the pics, the clam and soft corals look like they need more light.

Thanks! The one clam was gaping for a while because it was originally on a rock and then it moved itself and fell off. When it fell, it ripped its foot and its been recovering. Its looking much better now with much less gaping. The light is a Maxspect Razor 27", 180W fixture that is on about 85% at its maximum during the day, so its plenty of light for this tank. I had been messing with the light cycle a bit before that photo though, so a few things might have been a bit annoyed.

 

[flsvedlund]

Great looking tank

Thank you so much!

 

[flsvedlund]

I love predator reefs. I saw your stock list and am surprised you haven't had losses with the clowns. Even at the small sizes I would have thought the clowns would be food with all those lions. Beautiful tank and execution. Fish look great too.

I was actually a bit surprised myself. I was really on the fence about whether to risk trying to keep my clownfish when I switched over to a predator tank, but I just felt like it would be sad not to have them hosting in my 5 BTA anemones. I also thought since they have 5 big anemones that they live in that they might be safe from the lionfish. Honestly, the lionfish completely ignore the two clowns. I've never seen any of them exhibit any hunting behavior towards the clowns or even really get close to their BTA rock. I'm glad they seem to be doing well together. The dwarf zebra and antennata are both a bit small to easily be able to eat the clowns, but the fu manchu is big enough to eat them if he wanted. I'm glad he doesn't even seem interested. I keep him well fed with frozen so he won't go hunting.

Thank you for the kind words!

 

[flsvedlund]

Just wanted to share a few videos I've taken of the predators and the tank.

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l_Ns4f_w3ZA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q0Tk9XTcqM0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rhunX_z0WyM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2uvx8bUia80" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4HBRd8Lp8Vc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NmfO4RQ5ZRk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ti6Pd1R9bY8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ReefCowboy]

Congrats! Very nice tank, loved the plan and seeing it come to life!
No black lionfish?

 

[flsvedlund]

Congrats! Very nice tank, loved the plan and seeing it come to life!
No black lionfish?

Thank you!

A volitans lionfish would be WAY too big for this tank. I had to stick with the dwarf species for the 40B.

 

[flsvedlund]

How about a few shots of the other tank inhabitants?

Starry Blenny

Clownfish

 

[davocean]

Cool pics and nicely done!
I like the well trick you used for boring holes in glass.

 

[flsvedlund]

Also, here's a few coral photos.

Micromussa

Bowerbanki and red ball sponge

Fox coral

Purple sponge

Duncan

Clams

Bali green slimer

Green nepthea

BTA's

 

[flsvedlund]

And finally some partial tank shots I took a few weeks ago.

 

[flsvedlund]

Cool pics and nicely done!
I like the well trick you used for boring holes in glass.

Thank you! I got the idea for that from watching a bunch of Youtube videos of how to drill glass tanks. This was my first time drilling a tank and luckily it was a success!

 

[Michaelous37]

Your tank is amazing. I like how it's laid out.

 

[flsvedlund]

Your tank is amazing. I like how it's laid out.

Thank you! I changed the scape a few times, but I'm really happy with how its turned out now.

 

[Ryan15236]

awesome tank! I love all the Dwarf Lions. I really want to add one to my 125 gallon tank but I plan on having some smaller reef fishes in there and I am afraid they will make them lunch. Like clowns, basslets, firefish. Also I am worried I won't be able to get them on prepared foods. I love the Antenna Lion though. How was your experience with the Dwarfs been and are they worth giving them a shot?

 

[flsvedlund]

awesome tank! I love all the Dwarf Lions. I really want to add one to my 125 gallon tank but I plan on having some smaller reef fishes in there and I am afraid they will make them lunch. Like clowns, basslets, firefish. Also I am worried I won't be able to get them on prepared foods. I love the Antenna Lion though. How was your experience with the Dwarfs been and are they worth giving them a shot?

Thank you! I wouldn't recommend them with any smaller reef fish unless you're ok with the possibility of the other fish getting eaten. I took the risk with my clowns because my clowns live in a big group of 5 bta's so I thought they might be safe. So far so good. However, basslets and firefish are probably a bad idea with lionfish since they'll be out in the open or in the rocks and are small enough for anything but a super tiny lionfish to eat.

I really love the dwarf lionfish so far. They're very fun to watch and very interactive. They will come up to the front glass and swim around whenever anyone gets close to the tank. The fu manchu that I got was already on frozen when I bought him, so he's been the easiest. I'm working on weaning the dwarf zebra and the antennata onto frozen. They've both taken a few pieces of frozen now and I'm working on getting them onto frozen entirely. Right now they also eat some live ghost shrimp that I gut load with Ocean Nutrition formula one flakes and pellets.