Voltian Lion-fish aggression.

[sirfishmaster]

I have had my Lion fish since a tiny 2-3" long fish. It started out like most of us are familiar with only live food accepted...after long patience and few months later he is eating now anything i offer it. My issue is and not sure its an issue more of a curiosity thing! About a week ago its getting very aggressive and now attacks my glass magnet! is this indicative to a mature lion fish?

I have a youtube vido of him attacking it...pretty amazing isnt it?


Peace and thanks for your time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTh-h_YycFY

 

[namxas]

Your fish is merely defending itself against a perceived threat. If you move more slowly, it will likely stress the fish out less.

None of our lions mind my hand in their tanks with a cleaning pad, but they're super used to us. In fact, I other have to "relocate" our adult volitans (12"+) to another area of the tank by tapping its tail, after which it slowly cruises over to the opposite end of the tank.

HTH

BTW, it's going to outgrow that 70 gal, but that's another story...

 

[Wolverine]

I'll admit it, that video cracked me up. Great shots of lionfish behavior protecting itself.

Now, to the real question, I don't know how much it's an aggression versus a size and fear issue. Lionfish usually would rather avoid confrontation, IME, even though they often win. It's hard to tell for sure, but it looks to me like there's not much room for the lion to get away from the front of the tank. Is there room for him to slip behind the rocks? If not, then he'll consider that small width of the tank in front as his only safe territory, since he can't get far enough away from the magnet, so he sets up the defensive posture. It's on the verge of being too large for that tank anyway.

In a related topic, I would not stick unprotected hands into that tank, if I were you, for pretty obvious reasons.

In a semi-related topic, when that angelfish gets big (which will ultimately be too big for that tank), you may find it killing your lionfish. Those spines and fins look like tasty treats for large angelfish, and they're pretty adept at picking the spines down, like triggers do (see the sticky in the aggressives forum about lionfish and triggers for some nice video work of this).

 

[Wolverine]

Greg types faster than I do.

 

[namxas]

Greg types faster than I do.

:lmao::lmao:

Actually, that's a good point you make regarding "flight space". I find that our volitans acts much differently in a 24" wide tank than an 18" wide tank. It simply has a lot more room to swim, and I believe it is one of the reasons it spends most of its time in the water column.

Our fuzzy and barberi seem to be quite happy in the 60 gal the volitans outgrew, and they have lots of room to cruise.

Of course, we're talking FOWLRs as opposed to a reef setup, so the aquascaping was done with fish in mind.

 

[sirfishmaster]

Thanks guys! Al good responses with legit concerns. As far as my hand in there with him he has no problems with my hand or arm, as a matter of fact he purposely avoids my arm when i am close to his spines and he does not dart around and also can touch him gently and he moves out of my way nicely.

I am going to upgrade (hopefully) by Next year but will have to deal with that when time comes.

He has a place on the right side under overflow that he can get behind and stay out of sight.

thanks for the responses and warnings! will now have to decide who will go and who will stay when the time comes

Doug