Mixing lionfish?

[namxas]

I know this might sound ignorant, does this mean something like venting the fish won't help?

Are you referring to "scoping" the fish thru its vent (similar to the way birds are sexed)?

Frank would know for sure, but IMHO it may be possible as long as you can find someone willing to hold a venomous fish while scoping it (you'd need to sedate the fish tho).

 

[FMarini]

a usual method of determining sexes of fish is assessing differences in gential papillae (or pores), many cichild breeders use this method- and we kinda sorta have figured out banggai cardinal sexes based on papillae positions.
but i'm not aware of any data on counting bumps on lionfish.
As greg mentioned -it might be a bit risky holding the business end of a scorpionfish while someone counts bumps.

 

[StephLionfish]

I don't know how to put pictures on here..Doesn't that require Photobucket or something? The rays on the fins look like the P. mombassae up there ( they extend a good inch or so). But, his face and colors aren't the same. Mine has darker bands and the face doesn't have the red blotches across the mouth. The..pectoral fins are different colors too. They have green on them and they are "rounder" than the one with the "rays " above. So, if the other lions have no way of telling is it's female or male..does that mean I can't put..say a volitan and a radiata together in the 210? Because...if they are both males....they'll fight? Or will the volitan try to eat the radiata..

 

[seahorsedreams]

Any fish that is "mouth size" a lion will eat. A large fuzzy lion will eat a juvie fuzzy lion.

If I put a zebra with my volitans, he would eat it. If I put my adult antennata in there, he would not... the specimen is too big. If you had a juvie antennata, he would eat it.

It's more the dendros that are the fighters. Our male fuzzy gave the female fuzzy and the female hawaiian a run for their money when they were introduced. So it's not even a pleasant experience when introducing a male/female. The female fuzzy jumped.

 

[namxas]

Steph,

I didn't mean to suggest that your fish is P. mombassae...I was illustrating the difference in pectorals. The problem with this family of fish is that they're often mis-ID'd. Coloration can vary from specimen to specimen, and in some species (such as the fuzzy, there are color morphs (brow, red, yellow, etc).

For instance, this fish is also P. mombassae:

Photobucket is free, so you can use the account just for posting photos to the boards, if nothing else. There are a couple of other photo hosting sites out there, but I have no experience.

 

[StephLionfish]

Oh...ok, my Fuzzy doesn't have the extended "streamer" things on it's fins. Now, I must ask, can a Radiata go with a Dwarf Zebra? I have my eye on this Radiata at the store...It's about the same size as the Zebra, ( I haven't bought it yet.) I really want it...and I can put it in another tank. I had a Volitan once that tried to eat everything in the tank. No matter the size. so, that's why I'm a little iffy on putting a Radiata and a Volitan together...would hate for the Volitan to grow huge and think the Radiata as food..

 

[StephLionfish]

Oh ok. I used to have a volitan that ate anything and everything that moved. No matter the size. That's why I'm a little iffy about putting a volitan with a radiata...I would like to put a radiata and a dwarf zebra together ( they are the same size. I don't have the radiata yet) but, I'd hate to put them in the 210, them fight, and not be able to separate them. Thanks guys for all the advice.

 

[StephLionfish]

Whoa...didnt mean to repeat myself..I didn't see the first one pop up...sorry.

 

[namxas]

Steph,

You really need to stop and embrace what I mean by "size differential"...an adult fuzzy will eat a baby volitans, an adult volitans will eat a fuzzy, etc. We kept a couple of small scorps in a SH tank for awhile, and I got away with it because the SH were too big for them to eat at the time.

IIRC, there are some folks here keeping Dendrochirus lions with medium-bodied Pterois species with no issues. If the fish grow-up together, there's even a lower chance of trouble. I'd keep our Mombasa (a medium-bodied lion) with our Dendrochirus and other small scorps/wasps and not give it a second thought, but I wouldn't do the same with our antennata because it came in as an adult, and it's on the hairy edge of being too large, IMHO.

Also, realize that generally speaking, if you obtain juvies, they will only obtain about 75% of their "wild" adult size.

Does that make sense?

 

[StephLionfish]

Yes, makes sense. I'll have to do a lot more "homework" on the subject before I act on it though...Again, thanks everybody.

 

[namxas]

Do yourself a huge favor, and get a copy of Frank Marini's book Lionfishes and Other Scorpionfishes. It has a LOT of great info and photos and is less than $10 from Amazon.com. It's a great "success guide" for keeping lions.