i'm thinking leaf fish, but i've got questions????

[lucy.lou.glass]

hello,
i'm thinking about a leaf fish. right now i have a maroon clown and a damsel fish. i don't want to over crowd my tank, but these guys seem to stay small (4 inches) i only have a 20 gallon tank. is this a bad idea??
any links to where i could get more info??

 

[stykthyn]

a leaf fish will eat it's room mates

 

[FMarini]

lucy-
let me make two suggestions. 1) your tank is small and the clown and damsel will be pretty territoral, i'm surprised your not seeing aggression now, 2) in regards to a leaffish eating larger tankmates, leaf fish have very small mouths for a scorpionfish, so they eat quite small other foods. So your other fish are prolly safe....w/ one caveat
Leaffish are extremly difficult to feed, as they only eat live food. You'll have to get live ghost shrimp and lots of them. The main problem is getting enuf food to the leaffish before your other fish eat them, leaffish are slow methodical stalkers, and "crutch" across the bottom. Leaffish do well in groups -but pretty much in a tank of other leaffish and NO other food comeptition.

AS for what to read-see the issue of reefkeeping magazine on keeping scorpionfish Nov2002
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/
Henrys article on scorpionfish is excellent
frank

 

[lucy.lou.glass]

hey thanks.
so far my damsel and clown seem to get along pretty well. i guess i'm just going to have to pass on the leaf fish, maybe if i get a second tank in the future.
since i've gotten my saltwater tank its been all i can think about. i'm totally hooked at this point. i'm glad i don't have the space for another tank, because i know i shouldn't afford it right now.
do you think i would be able to put one other fish in there? is there anything you might suggest or do you think i should just stick with the two?
tanks for the advise.