Felicia's Lionfish Mixed Reef 40B

[Felix T Cat]

How do you keep your feeder shrimp ?. I've considered getting a lion for my 60g cube but the closest place I can get feeders is about an hour away. Do you have another tank set up to keep the live food until you get them to eat frozen ?

 

[flsvedlund]

Wow. Your tank is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing the set up photos. You sure put a lot of work into the tank. You are really good, it looks great. Your photography skills are impressive too. I've had a great time looking at your creatures. Love the pictures of the little lions with the big clams! Also liked the mini movie of the lion " gronking".

Thank you so much! I really appreciate all the compliments. I'm enjoying doing something different and I'm thrilled it is coming together so well.

My photography is nothing special. I actually used my iPhone 5 for all of these photos. It really has a good camera on it and I like that I always have my phone at hand so I can snap quick photos when the lions are doing something interesting or while I'm feeding.

The lions just love to perch on that huge clam. Its definitely a cute photo op. They do that thing with their jaw a lot when they're just sitting. Its almost like they're practicing for the next time they suck in their food, haha.

 

[flsvedlund]

How do you keep your feeder shrimp ?. I've considered getting a lion for my 60g cube but the closest place I can get feeders is about an hour away. Do you have another tank set up to keep the live food until you get them to eat frozen ?

I have a basic 5 gallon glass aquarium in my closet that I keep them in. They're freshwater shrimp, so its easy. I just threw in a heater and used an Aquaclear filter I had lying around. They have some cheap plastic plants to hide in and that's it. I just do a weekly 2 gallon water change, which is so easy with freshwater. I go pick up around 15 shrimp every couple weeks from the LFS that carries them (40 minutes from my house) and keep them until I run out. I gut load them for the lions by feeding the Ocean Nutrition flakes and pellets so they're nutritious. I'm hoping to get them onto frozen soon. I was making really good progress, but then I had family in town for over a week and I didn't have time to tempt them with frozen for forever, so I just went back to handing them a live shrimp since its fast. About to start over on starving them and then offering them frozen. The big Fu Manchu is entirely on frozen though and eats like a champ. Its just the dwarf zebra and antennata that I need to wean.

 

[Devaji108]

I agree this is a great tank.
what size will the lions get. don't know so much about them. will they all stay in the 40br long term?

 

[flsvedlund]

I agree this is a great tank.
what size will the lions get. don't know so much about them. will they all stay in the 40br long term?

Thank you! The dwarf species are supposed to stay smaller and do well in smaller tanks around 30-40 gallons. The Fu Manchu is the biggest now, but will stay the smallest long term. Both the dwarf zebra and the fu manchu should be fine in this tank long term. However, the antennata gets a big bigger (its technically a medium-bodied lion and not a dwarf), so it may need a bit bigger tank once its full grown. Its really small now though, so it will take it quite a while to get full grown. Right now, all three have more than enough space and there haven't been any issues with fighting or aggression.

 

[Devaji108]

cool I always wondered what size dwarf needed. but never looked into it..haha
more of a peaceful kinda guy...but I do love the look of the fu manchu defiantly somthing to consider for my up and coming 40br that i never thought about.

 

[vokrey09]

Sump

I have been looking all over to figure out what flexible plumbing connections I need for my tee'd off return. Can you please let me know what you are using? Thank you!

 

[shaggss]

Great tank, very cool. I love that eel!

Your photos are great too for using the iPhone. Are you editing them with an app or software?

Thanks!

 

[flsvedlund]

cool I always wondered what size dwarf needed. but never looked into it..haha
more of a peaceful kinda guy...but I do love the look of the fu manchu defiantly somthing to consider for my up and coming 40br that i never thought about.

Well the Fu Manchu's stay the smallest and need the least space, so one of those would be a great choice. I really wouldn't categorize the lions as aggressive. They're really very peaceful fish and not aggressive like some of the other predators. As long as you don't have any small fish or shrimp for them to eat, they're super peaceful with their tankmates and very relaxing to watch.

 

[flsvedlund]

I have been looking all over to figure out what flexible plumbing connections I need for my tee'd off return. Can you please let me know what you are using? Thank you!

I'm just using some of the clear tubing you can get cut by the foot at Ace Hardware. I believe its 3/4" diameter, but I don't remember. When you buy it, it says the ID and then I just found a hard PVC barb fitting at either Ace or Home Depot that was for that size ID. The barb fitting connects to my hard plumbing and then the flex tubing just slides right onto the barb fitting and I used a hose clamp to hold it in place.

 

[flsvedlund]

Great tank, very cool. I love that eel!

Your photos are great too for using the iPhone. Are you editing them with an app or software?

Thanks!

Thank you so much! The eel is quite the character. Definitely livens up the tank

I actually don't do any editing with the photos. The iPhone camera is great but its hard to set the white balance, so what I do is just adjust my tank light more white until what the iPhone is picking up matches what I see in person under the normal light setting.

 

[flsvedlund]

Took some new photos tonight, so let's start with the full tank shots.

FTS 7/5/15






Left side


Middle


Right side

 

[flsvedlund]

Fun side shot of the tank.


Let's start with the photos of the fish. First off, the dwarf zebra lionfish since he loves to pose for photos.






Fu Manchu Lionfish


Fu Manchu and Dwarf Zebra


Fu Manchu and Snowflake Eel

 

[flsvedlund]

Snowflake Eel








The clownfish

 

[flsvedlund]

Ok now for some coral shots.

 

[flsvedlund]

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

What is that bright yellow coral on the left? I thought Figi Coral at first, but now I don't think so. What is it? It's beautiful.

 

[flsvedlund]

What is that bright yellow coral on the left? I thought Figi Coral at first, but now I don't think so. What is it? It's beautiful.

Its actually a sponge and not a coral. I believe its usually called a yellow frilly sponge.

 

[vokrey09]

I'm just using some of the clear tubing you can get cut by the foot at Ace Hardware. I believe its 3/4" diameter, but I don't remember. When you buy it, it says the ID and then I just found a hard PVC barb fitting at either Ace or Home Depot that was for that size ID. The barb fitting connects to my hard plumbing and then the flex tubing just slides right onto the barb fitting and I used a hose clamp to hold it in place.

Thanks for the response! What type of hose clamp are you using, I don't want to use the metal ones, and it looks like yours is plastic. Could you find a link to it if you have a sec, I would like to stop by the hardware store after work with pictures of what I need so I can finish up my plumbing

 

[flsvedlund]

Thanks for the response! What type of hose clamp are you using, I don't want to use the metal ones, and it looks like yours is plastic. Could you find a link to it if you have a sec, I would like to stop by the hardware store after work with pictures of what I need so I can finish up my plumbing

Yeah, its a plastic hose clamp that I had laying around in my aquarium plumbing supplies. I believe I originally bought some from Bulk Reef Supply, but some of the other aquarium retail websites probably also sell them. Also, I've seen them at some local fish stores that sell a good selection of plumbing parts. Looks like Amazon has some too:
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Little-Fishies-ATL5420W-6-Piece/dp/B0002Z7TWU