Fu Man Chu lion

Fireworm

Fireworm

New member
I would like to get a fu man chu for my reef. I was wondering if any of you have any words of advice from owning one in the past or present. Not real worried about him eating any other fish in the tank, and I know he won't eat coral. The LFS said that they start them on guppies, and then over to krill with in a week or 2.

Any advice
 
Stay away from fresh water fish!! If you have to feed live then choose a saltwater fish maybe like a damsel if you have really have to. You asking for all sorts of disease.
 
I guess you can do that. Personally I would get silver sides and stuff them with NLS pellets and put it on a feeding stick. If you can get it to eat NLS pellets without the use of silver sides that will be even better as silver sides are fatty. Kinda like you eating salami all day, not the best for you.
 
There are some people talking about fu man chu lions among other lions in that thread "my wife wants a lionfish", I don't remember if it was in Reef Fishes or Fish Only subforum.
 
I've been able to switch ours over from sw ghost shrimp to krill in like two weeks. First get it to eat the shrimps. I like to place the live shrimp on the tip of a bamboo skewer. Soon the lion will associate the skewer with food. Once its eating the live shrimp good. Skip a meal and feed one live, one krill. Then at some point you will be able to just feed krill. I have also found it helps to provide some movement to the krill.

My fu manchu did not care for silversides and would spit them back out.
 
thats fantastic you were able to get your fish to wean over so quickly

my comments about krill still stand
please do a search for krill, lockjaw, and lionfish, a google search will reveal more than you'll want to know
 
the foo man ...

I used to have one back when i had my 75 fowlr setup. At first he was finicky and did not eat at all. Than I chopped up some clams and mix with garlic. He gobbled it up.. Than next came the silversides and shrimp. The one i had did not eat for a whole week, after that he ate like a pig.
 
Wow... sounds like like I have some reading to do. I really want one..

If you feed it clam meat with garlic, do I need to worry about it attacking my clams that I have in my tank now?

Where is a good place to get salt water ghost shrimp? I know I can get fresh water ones, but not salt locally.

How will they do with gobies or blenny? I don't have any now, but I have my eye on one, it is like around 4" usually at the LFS, so will the lion try to swallow him
 
lions won't eat anything that doesn't fit into their mouths. i do recommend getting a juvie and growing it up, as they are easier to wean.

IME, you'd be doing yourself a favor if you work on weaning the Fu while it's in QT. as mentioned, start it on live, gutloaded ghosties, and once you get it eating well, you can try weaning it. this will also give you the chance to see their hunting display...simply one of the coolest/weirdest in the world of scorpionfish.

we use a modified acrylic feeding stick pretty much exclusively now for all of our scorps (i think we currently have 15 specimens). it has a length of 50 lb test monofilament attached to the b'ness end. this allows you to put a good wiggle on the bait as well as keeps the fish from swallowing the stick and becoming "stick shy".

here's what the stick looks like:

stick900.jpg

sticktip700.jpg


here's the fu feeding from the stick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrD4ln1xm3g

HTH
 
Nice video. That was pretty cool.

My other problem is not having a QT tank. I had one at one point in time, but it just became another hobby tank. The wife was fine with it being a hobby tank, but did not like the extra empty tank. So it is either sink or swim with having any fish in the reef tank. I get all of my fish from a LFS that I trust. They are probably the best in our area when it comes to the health of all of their stock, fish or coral. So with that said, I am not worried about protecting my other fish from disease. Not even worried about him eating my other fish that I have now. My only other stock is a pygmy angel, a yellow tail damsel, and a 6 line wrasse.

I do have a RBTA, does that pose a threat to a lion at all?

If krill is not recommended as stated above, and I have had bad luck in the past with silver sides, how about getting fresh raw shrimp from the grocery store? I can soak them in garlic if that would help with anything.

Sorry if some of these questions seem retarded, I just want to make sure I can do everything possible to give me success in bringing home such a wonderful fish. Also calling a guy about getting my 8g nano back to see if I can use that as a QT tank to get it to feed.
 
you could try weaning it in the DT if you have non-boisterous fish, but Frank's method is a good one as well. he uses a weaning basket. if you haven't yet read his excellent article on Lionfish, it's a must. he also describes his weaning technique.http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/fm/feature/index.php

we recently added a female red-finned waspfish to the Fu's tank which feeds from the water column, and i'll be dipped if the darned Fu didn't pick up the behavior, so it also takes a bite or two in this manner in addition to the stick.

by all means go to the fish market for your fish food! it's fresher and less expensive than food from the LFS. we've been doing this for quite awile. you can pre-cut it into chunks and freeze it for later.

as for the RBTA, i don't think it will be a problem.
 
Ok, after a quick glance, and a diaper change for the baby, I wonder if I would be better off with a fuzzy dwarf? I only have a 57g, and wonder if that would be to small for a dwarf.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Cyano and nutrients
2 3 4
Replies
77
Views
11K
Elmareefer
E
R
Copperband Fasting?
Replies
13
Views
2K
shred5
shred5
B
Ritteri Swollen Mouth
Replies
8
Views
663
Bakeman
B
E
What's Old is New Again
Replies
2
Views
423
Uncle99
Uncle99
F
Starting tank again
Replies
6
Views
1K
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Back
Top