Although I wouldn't recommend this as a 1st lionfish, Radiata lionfish aren't really difficult, IMO & IME. Everything else being equal, get the one you like. Your tank=your money=your decision. Because you're a fairly new RC member, I'll ask the obvious: How big a tank and what tankmates? I hope your public profile isn't current and you only have a 20 gal tank.
It (the lionfish I choose) will be going in a 180 gallon. Currently, there are no other fish in the tank. This is because I want two tangs, Scopas and Hippo, in the tank as the only other fish. And I want to add them together, just to be on the safe side, even though I doubt they'll fight. I would keep the lion in a "holding tank" ( 75 gallons), just to make sure that it is healthy. Some may argue with this decision, but...I'd prefer to do it.
The picture for my profile is a few months old. The volitan was 4 inches in this picture, and temporarily in a 75 gallon ( by himself of course)while I was making SURE that my 210 was ready for him. Four(?) months later I put him in the 210, the tank is a reef with LED lighting. Unfortunately, the lighting blinded him after just three days of being in there, and I moved him back to his 75 gallon. Two months later, he was still blind, but was eating and "scooting" around and happy. Two weeks ago he got ich. Out of nowhere. After a few days of it coming back, going away, coming back, I was about to try hyposalinity. But, when I got up the next morning, he was dead:sad2: I'd tried everything. The water was fine, temp. was fine. Nothing else in the tank ( he was 8-9 inches when he died, I was JUST about to put him in the 180 gallon before he got ich.)
I've got many other tanks. The smallest is 55 gallons, and I'm about to upgrade it to 120 gallons. Where does it say I have a 20 gal? I do, but, only thing in there is a turbo snail and a tiny CC starfish...:rolleye1: And it's about to come down. I've got two other lionfish- Dwarf Fuzzy and a Dwarf Zebra, that I've had for quite a while now, and they are very,very healthy.
Again, don't slam me about the volitan's death. I've never experienced that before. I'd never heard about lionfishs' eyes being sensitive to lighting. I guess put two and two together-they are rather nocturnal, they cannot handle bright lights. But, there are many, many caves for him in the 210... I went the extra mile when he was blind to feed him ( it was quite difficult). And, like I mentioned before, I feed them frozen, and shudder when I hear of people feeding them goldfish...*shudder*.
I don't want to keep aggressive fish with my lions, because in my experience, lionfish aren't aggressive. So, since the tank is only 180 gallons, should I go with the Radiata? Or would the volitan be fine in there?
Radiata if you have the patience for a fish that will need to be weaned off live food, and hides a lot.
