Nov reefkeeping on scorpionfish

[ertsaderaap]

Frank - thanx a mil for sharing your experience and research on lions. Just last week I fell in love with a juvi brachypterus and after much conversation with my trusted LFS guy, I took her home. I almost always do all my research before purchasing any animals but in this case I hadn't sought out the details. Your article was the first item that popped up when I googled for 'lionfish tankmates'. I'm certainly grateful as I was humbled quickly; comparing to the likes of having just gullibly purchased a new puppy unaware of the effort needed for care - compared to an 'easy' fish. But am certainly still enthralled. She's only about 1.5". I'm looking foward to watching her grow up and am already planning her new estate once she outgrows the 29 gal I currently have her in. I reckon 6 months to a year and she'll get upgraded to a 55+.

Anyway - just thought I'd add to the accolaids of gratitude already posted.

Loads of respect for your cancer reserach as well - you da man!

Will

 

[FMarini]

Thanks Will....much appreciated.
I hope your new Dwarf fuzzy does great

(if you liked this article, keep your eyes out early next year for a certain book with a similar title)

 

[Cb20202]

kool

 

[desolo]

great article!

 

[Finsky]

Inspiring article!!

Three weeks ago I purchased a 3 /12" and 3 1/4" pair of Yellow Hawaiian Leaf Fish from Drs. F & S for my four year old five foot 120 gallon reef tank with 150 lbs. of live rock. They are still on live ghost shrimp.

Tomorrow I am receiving a 4" Fu Manchu Lion Fish and 3" Red Finned Waspfish from That Fish Place where they both were eating frozen food from what the fishroom told me although I have to check tomorrow with the person who was feeding them.

I had ordered a Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish to go with the Waspfish when my wife called me at work and they told me my order changed as they did not have the Fuzzy Dwarf. I called them and asked what else they had in smaller size. They had one Fu Manchu which is what I wanted to begin with as it is the smallest of the lions from what I have read. I hear varying maximum sizes ranging from 4" to 7"?

I live on the southern edge of Puget Sound in the state of Washington. I also have six bubble tip anemones which I purchased a pound of razor clam and three pounds of squid the other week. I also feed the fish once a week when I feed the anemones, just cut up the half inch pieces to smaller sizes.

I have frozen shrimp, scallops, squid, razor clam, and krill which I cut in 1/2" pieces for the anemones. I started a new tupperware container with smaller pieces for my fish.

I also have five different types of fish store frozen food cubes like mysis and brine shrimp, food for smaller carnivores, etc. I put them in a small green net and melt with hot tap water before feeding in the tank.

I also do a Tuesday feeding of freeze dried mysis and brine shrimp, cut up seaweed for two surgeons and two angels and soak them lot in Selcon and Kent Marine-C. I also dose the tank every day with Kent Marine-C.

I am really excited about the Fu Manchu. It cost me 69.99. The pair of Leaf fish were 79.99.

I looked a Drs. F & S Divers Den and they started selling a pair of Fu Manchu about 2 1/2" each for 199.99!

 

[FMarini]

Finsky--
Welcome to the addiction.
I think you'll find those scorpionfish to be quite and interesting addition.
Just be aware that both the leaf fish and the FU will be difficult at best to wean onto dead prepared foods. Infact most folks never get leaf fish to take anything but live.

 

[Finsky]

Thank you. I am "really" aboard with my tank fully stocked with five little carnivores.

I added a four inch Fu Manchu Lionfish and a 1 1/2" Redfin Waspfish about two weeks ago.

Yesterday, I received a four inch Cream and Maroon Wartskin Angler
(Antennarius maculatus) which took two days to arrive due to a Fedex routing error and I used a battery operated airstone in the shipping bag to bring it around as well as adding tank water. It started out floating on its side and was swimming around in five minutes. I acclimated for one hour and it is now situated in the right front substrate against a lavender montiopora next to which it blended in quite well.

Last Monday I woke up and fed at least one dead ghost shrimp on the end of a wooden stick to my Fu Manchu Lionfish. As I wanted to keep my mated pair of Leaf Fish I received from "Drs. Foster and Smith" a month ago from starving I purchased and fed 12 live ghost shrimp to them.

Around 6:00 pm I decided to thaw some cut up bite size pieces of frozen krill, silver side, and small grocery store shrimp.

I started tickling the nose of the Fu Manchu Lionfish with a piece of krill or shrimp and zap, it grabbed it off the stick and swallowed it. I then tried a second piece with the same waving the piece of krill/shrimp in front of its face and tickling its two "Fu Manchu" extensions on either side of its face. Zap, it took the piece whole and swallowed it. Emboldened by my success I put a piece of silverside on the stick and after some more wiggling and tickling, zap, it swallowed the piece whole. It ate a second piece of silverside for a total of two pieces of krill/shrimp and two pieces of silverside eaten off the feeding stick tonight. Hurray!!

Now I have to keep trying to get the pair of Leaf Fish and the Wartskin Angler to eat off the stick. I have had the larger male eat a dead ghost shrimp once off the end of the feeder stick. As I had filled them with live ghost shrimp, both the Leaf Fish were not having any frozen food.

The work goes on and I think feeding the dead ghost shrimp on the end of the feeding stick helped as both the Leaf Fish and Fu Manchu Lionfish were fed live ghost shrimp from the places I got them from. A Redfin Waspfish came with the Fu Manchu Lionfish and it was eating anything at "That Fish Place" out of Lancaster, PA.

 

[duoc9119]

Any articles on other species of Scorpionfish? What about those bottom dweller Leaf fish and the ever popular Rhinopias? I can't find much on them.

 

[chrislail]

As everyone has already said in here WONDERFUL JOB on the article. Two weeks ago I bought a 1.5in Fu Man Chu from LFS for $50. He had told me he was feeding it freeze dried krill, I couldn't get the dang thing to eat for four days until I read a post in another forum about using a "feeding stick". As was stated in a post up a few I tickled his whiskers with the krill and he gobbled it up! I haven't had any trouble getting him to eat since.

I do have a question though... Can they live on krill alone? If not what else should I be feeding him? I have read that they eat squid, octopus, shrimp, and other things but I would like to know what I can feed him that is readily available to one who lives an hour away from the mtns! The LFS's don't have much in the way of any of that stuff! Is there a supplement I can soak the krill in to alleviate having to buy anything else?

Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[billsreef]

Krill is actually bad as a primary food source. Since he's stick trained, it will be easy to get him eat a variety from seafood section of the supermarket. Bite size pieces of uncooked cocktail shrimp (you can cook some for yourself ), pieces of squid (calamari), pieces of fish fillet, etc.

 

[namxas]

Krill is actually bad as a primary food source. Since he's stick trained, it will be easy to get him eat a variety from seafood section of the supermarket. Bite size pieces of uncooked cocktail shrimp (you can cook some for yourself ), pieces of squid (calamari), pieces of fish fillet, etc.

Great advice!

Do go to your grocer's seafood/meat counter. See what's on sale...I always pick up one of those little pieces of salmon for like $4-$5. They make several meals. Tuna, snapper, swordfish, shark, lobster, shrimp, scallops, clam, crab, squid...all great foods, and cheap when bought in small qty's.

Once your grocer gets used to it he won't look at you funny when you buy a couple of shrimp or a small piece of fish...honest!

 

[reefme]

Just returned from The Grand Cayman where one restaurant "TAKKU" serves deep fried Lion fish. I hated to do it,but i just had to try one out. Turn out they are very delicious and have a bright white meat.

 

[Sonnyg56]

Great article. Very informative

 

[Sharkdog22]

nice read frank, on the stings ive been told they are like a bad bee sting, then a friend of mine got popped by one and was cussing up a storm i lol at him cause he was yelling "bad bee sting my ***....you all(his friends at the local fish shop) are a bunch of ******** liers" we all had a good lol at him.