new tank?

stings

New member
hi im new to the hobby so i need some help. i have a 40gallon breeder that i would like to fill with lions scorps and waspfish. im just having a hard time figuring out which would be good for my tank. alot of sites have differnt size needs for the same fish so any help would be great.
 
You could do any of the dwarf lions, any waspfish, and there are a few smaller scorps that would fare well in that size tank. Have anything in particular in mind yet?
 
dwarf lions would be good for this tank size.Dendrochirus brachypterus and Pterois radiata would be a good start.
 
IMO radiata lion might get to big. fuzzy dwarfs would bee good. i love mine.

i have a cockatoo wasp with a fu man chu and they are doing ok so far.

i had a very aggressive fuzzy that would chase the cockatoo wasp around the tank. i then put a clear frag rack in the tank on one of the corners. the cockatoo woudl sit on top . then the fuzzy would come from below and not realize that he cant get throught the clear rack lol. i have since seperated them. so i would recomend doing a bit of research on the different ones. you are doing the right thing asking on here before hand lol.

good luck
 
How will you be setting the system up? Will you run a sump (highly recommended)? If not, what is you filtration scheme? A good skimmer will help too.

P. radiata will become too big for a 40B for sure. I wouldn't keep one in anything less than a std. 55 long-term.

For that tank, You could keep a couple of Dendrochirus lions, maybe a fuzzy or barberi and a fu manchu and a couple of waspfish, maybe a cockatoo and a red-fin, possibly a small scorp if you can find something that will stay small such as Scorpaenodes littoralis, S. carribaeus, or S. strongia.

As for stocking order, I'd add the waspfish before you add any lions, as the waspfish need to be established and weaned first for best results.

If you haven't already done so, get youself a copy of Frank Marini's excellent book Lionfish and Other Scorpionfish (<$10 on Amazon.com). It's full of great info and photos.

You should also read his Lionfish Care Article .

I also recommend:

Scorpionfish Care Guide

Tools of the Trade: Equipment & Techniques to Convert your Fish onto Frozen
 
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i like the pygmy wasps and fu man chus. i would like to get all smaller fish so i can keep more it the tank.
 
I'd go with a Fu, a fuzzy, and two wasps. Add the wasps first like Greg said because they are less aggressive eaters and it would be tough to wean them with lions in the tank. Then the Fu, and once it's weaned you can add a fuzzy. The fuzzy would be a good addition because they swim (at least more than the others) and add movement to the tank. I just got a new Fu and he's great! Here's a pic for some inspiration.

a334b201.jpg
 
How will you be setting the system up? Will you run a sump (highly recommended)? If not, what is you filtration scheme? A good skimmer will help too.

P. radiata will become too big for a 40B for sure. I wouldn't keep one in anything less than a std. 55 long-term.

For that tank, You could keep a couple of Dendrochirus lions, maybe a fuzzy or barberi and a fu manchu and a couple of waspfish, maybe a cockatoo and a red-fin, possibly a small scorp if you can find something that will stay small such as Scorpaenodes littoralis, S. carribaeus, or S. strongia.

As for stocking order, I'd add the waspfish before you add any lions, as the waspfish need to be established and weaned first for best results.

If you haven't already done so, get youself a copy of Frank Marini's excellent book Lionfish and Other Scorpionfish (<$10 on Amazon.com). It's full of great info and photos.

You should also read his Lionfish Care Article .

I also recommend:

Scorpionfish Care Guide

Tools of the Trade: Equipment & Techniques to Convert your Fish onto Frozen

thanks for the article had a good read..BTW how big can a radiata get? in the wild i understand they'd get to around 10" max.but would it be possible to grow them to that size in a tank? i've had little experience with a radiata yet (last one i had went to about 4") but my LFS kept one and it grew to about 6-7".
 
i like the pygmy wasps and fu man chus. i would like to get all smaller fish so i can keep more it the tank.

To my knowledge, there's no such thing as a "true" pygmy waspfish, as none of them grow to much more than 4"-5", and that is HUGE for a waspfish. About the only wasp I've seen go that large is the cockatoo (Ablabys taenianotus). Most grow to around 3"-4". I'm not sure about cockatoos (I just can't even imagine them being nasty), but if you keep multiple red-fins, I'd keep a M-F pair or M-F-F trio, as I've seen males get a bit testy with each other.

A radiata lion will likely reach about 7"-8" TL in captivity if healthy and properly fed.

IME, the more room a lion has, the happier it is. In smaller setups, or in setups where they have boisterous tankmates, they have the tendency to perch more of the time.
 
I'm doing the same thing and started with a inimicus didactylus, or sea goblin. Tried it in a tank with other fish and got stressed and didn't eat, moved to his own home and is now eating. I looked at the raggy too, just don't know much about them.

Namxas why is a sump such a good idea? Wouldn't a hob skimmer work or is the sump for added water volume?
 
FWIW, a "raggy" will end up being a 8" fish or so in captivity, and they have pretty large mouths. Cool fish tho.
 
Choridactylus multibarbus
Dendrochirus barberi
Dendrochirus zebra
Dendrochirus biocellatus
Hypodytes rubripinnis (pair)

i think this might be to much but these are the ones i really like.
 
ok ive been reading and now i know that Choridactylus multibarbus wont work in the tank. will he work in a 20gallon tall tank? its 24long by 12wide by 16high with 20lbs of live rock and sugar sized sand. and will he eat baby mollies im breeding in saltwater.
 
IME, these fish are fairly small (4"), and they really don't swim at all (unless you stress them out, and even then, they generally just "flash" you and stalk away on their dactyls), so a properly 'scaped 30 isn't a bad tank for them. That being said, the larger stingfish genus (Inimicus) would do better in a larger setup, mostly due to its larger size.

I should also state that another reason for our choice of tank size is because we keep the fish on its own due to its very slow and methodical feeding habits.

Long tanks are better than taller setups of the same volume for this fish since its a "ground hugger".

HTH
 
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