Fuzzy Dwarf Lion

M

mclay3

New member
Debating getting one. Only 2-3 inches.

I'm worried about a few current tank mates.
Mandarin Goby - extremely fat and well established.
Lyretail anthias - 3, 1 male 2 female. 2 are 2 inches one is a little smaller
bonded paid of ocellaris clows
mystery wrasse

Tank is 150 gallons

Too risky?
 
I wouldn't advise getting one with the fish currently in your tank. Especially with your mandarin, it would be an easy snack, always searching for food... one day it will search too close to the lionfish. Same thing happens with carpet anemones.
 
I don't see a dwarf fuzzie eating a large mature mandrin. I have two species of dwarf lions in my tank, a fuzzie and a antenna. They are roughly 3 years old and their mouth is still pretty small, my fuzzie tried to eat a SMALL silver side I was feeding to a puffer and he couldnt do it. Adult mandrin is 4x larger than a small silver side. On a plus side, fuzzies take frozen food pretty well, almost immediately. So weaning wouldn't be an issue. But you still never know. like joshky said, might be risky. Ive seen big fat mandrins and I don't see my adult fuzzie being able to eat it. Just my opinion tho
 
Fuzzy dwarf lions get plenty big enough to eat a mandarin, and it's pretty well known that they will even try to eat prey bigger than themselves. They are best in species only tank unless you're okay with potential loss.
 
joshky said:
Fuzzy dwarf lions get plenty big enough to eat a mandarin, and it's pretty well known that they will even try to eat prey bigger than themselves. They are best in species only tank unless you're okay with potential loss.
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
joshky said:
Fuzzy dwarf lions get plenty big enough to eat a mandarin, and it's pretty well known that they will even try to eat prey bigger than themselves. They are best in species only tank unless you're okay with potential loss.
Click to expand...
Just to add that the potential losses include the lion as well as the fish it tries to eat.
 
I must own gods aquarium then with all the fish ive had housed with my DWARF lionfish and not one casualtie. People hear "lionfish" and go thats a bad idea. A smaller sized dwarf at 2" simply cannot eat a 2" fish. Its not a frogfish with a black hole of a mouth. I bet i couldnt fit my pinky finger inside the mouth of my 3" dwarf lion.
 
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I have a dwarf fuzzy and a rhinopias in my reef, I have a school of small glass cardinals in with them as feeders, the rhinopias has no chance and the fuzzy has managed to pick of 2 in a couple of weeks, I do however believe the cardinals were on their way out and slowed down a bit, contrary to popular belief fuzzys are not that aggressive but more opportunistic, and if they manage to grab prey to big 9 times out of 10 they manage to get away... I did introduce a school of goldbelly chromis of which one was tiny, the lion tried like hell to get him but no way, in the end he actually rounded him up and pushed him toward the rhinopias, the last I saw of that chromis he was in a very precarious position in between the two..
 
Spslvr said:
I have a dwarf fuzzy and a rhinopias in my reef, I have a school of small glass cardinals in with them as feeders, the rhinopias has no chance and the fuzzy has managed to pick of 2 in a couple of weeks, I do however believe the cardinals were on their way out and slowed down a bit, contrary to popular belief fuzzys are not that aggressive but more opportunistic, and if they manage to grab prey to big 9 times out of 10 they manage to get away... I did introduce a school of goldbelly chromis of which one was tiny, the lion tried like hell to get him but no way, in the end he actually rounded him up and pushed him toward the rhinopias, the last I saw of that chromis he was in a very precarious position in between the two..
Click to expand...
+1 more good points.
 
I also have a small six line wrasse (much smaller than a mandarin) who likes to slap the rhinopias in the head with his tail then scoot off..
 
I think the problem is most people relate the dwarf lions to the volations, or they pass on bad info they have read from somewhere else. Dwarf lions simply dont have the mouth size that the volations do, for obvious reasons. Ive seen my fuzzie struggle to swallow a large ghost shrimp before.
 
You are the exception, not the rule. Just because you have luck with a fish does not mean everyone else is crazy. I wish you continued success, it's not personal.
 
joshky said:
You are the exception, not the rule. Just because you have luck with a fish does not mean everyone else is crazy. I wish you continued success, it's not personal.
Click to expand...

Are you speaking from personal experience? or just regurgitating outdated text?
 
Fuzzies do not need to be in a species only tank, but they do need appropriate tankmates. With the right choices, there isn't the risk of loss. When the fuzzy gets to adulthood, some of your stock could be a problem, depending on the other fish's size and shape. Depending on personality and hunger, the fuzzy could give the mandy a go and the clowns and mystery wrasse could be close, albeit they may be the ones to beat up a fuzzy. He will not be able to eat the anthias. If the lion is not big enough as an adult to be questionable with those three, they are not receiving a complete diet. Being fat and looking well fed has nothing to do with a complete diet. Now, fuzzies can be taken from the wild large, but they won't reach that size when raised in captivity. They should NOT be too small to eyeball a mandarin, however. That's an issue if they are.
 
I haven't had one in my tank but I know from first hand experience that a larger fuzzy dwarf is capable of eating larger fish. If you have a smaller one I imagine it's not much of a risk for a while, I'm not sure how fast they grow or if their growth is stunted in aquaria so having a smaller specimen may be helpful to success. Also adding the lionfish last could be beneficial if you were to try this.
 
Last edited:
joshky said:
I haven't had one in my tank but I know from first hand experience that a larger fuzzy dwarf is capable of eating larger fish. If you have a smaller one I imagine it's not much of a risk for a while, I'm not sure how fast they grow or if their growth is stunted in aquaria so having a smaller specimen may be helpful to success. Also adding the lionfish last could be beneficial if you were to try this.
Click to expand...

Ive had mine 2 years and i swear he hasnt grown 1 bit.
 
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