Lionfish, what size tank really?

[chickenofthesea]

I have a buddy of mine that wants to get into the hobby but he really wants a lionfish. I have read that they require a large tank ie, 75+ gallons, unless you get a dwarf which is not the same thing in my opinion. If he is only interested in this one fish is it neccessary to buy such a large tank? In a normal situation i would just tell my friend to start with a bigger tank but we are in the military and he lives in the barracks which means he can have fish but the tank size is limited to 40g. He could easily get away with 50 and noone would know the difference but can you have a healthy lion fish living in a 50g for extended amounts of time?

 

[seattle989]

Imo if size capacity is an issue you could always go for smaller sized lionfish. Fuzzy dwarf lionfishes and fu man chu's are very popular and I myself had a antenna lionfish in my 50 gallon cube for two and half years in a mixed reef with no problem. (my avatar)

 

[NC2WA]

If you want a true Volitan lionfish, a min. tank size is 125g. there is a dwarf lionfish as you mentioned and the min. tank size is around 50-70g, but agreed not the same thing.

HTH

 

[steven11]

Hey Josh, my lion is only about a year old and wouldn't work in a 50. Another thing your buddy needs to think about is the filtration. Even if he tried a lion in a 50. He would need to keep up on the maintenance religiously.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[07FocusST]

Dwarfs should be in no less than 50G's. The larger Volitans need 125+ Gallons MINIMUM! Speaking from my experience. You're going to need one hell of a filtration system to maintain good water quality.

 

[07FocusST]

If you want a true Volitan lionfish, a min. tank size is 125g. there is a dwarf lionfish as you mentioned and the min. tank size is around 50-70g, but agreed not the same thing.

HTH

NC2WA It figures that I post before actually reading the whole thread. You beat me to the punch this time! lol

 

[chickenofthesea]

Like i said, Dwarf lions are a similar fish but not the same. He will just have to settle for fish with less need for space. Just out of curiousity, why the need for really good filtration for just one fish? Do Lionfish have a huge bioload?

 

[NC2WA]

Lionfish are waste producers, like groupers.

 

[returnofsid]

A member of our local club has a Volitan, in a 180 gallon predatory tank. The fish is EASILY 12"++ in diameter. It's by far, the largest Lion Fish I've ever seen.

This fish is still growing. There's no way it'd even be able to turn around, in a 75...lol.

 

[steven11]

Sid, Whos tank is that?.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[returnofsid]

His name is Matt. I'm not sure if he's involved with any forums or not.

 

[chickenofthesea]

holy crap that's a big Lionfish!

 

[kpiotrowski]

oh oh! I got a volitans a month ago thinkin he be ok in my 65g (36x18x23) running a fluval 405 with every basket full of ceramic bio media. I considered although they do actively hunt they are still basically a big slow grouper and all he needs to do is sit there an eat. And honeslty, looking over at him right now and realizing that he has doubled in size to about 8inch fully open and about 5.5 in nose to tail in a month, I think Iv'e made a mistake!

 

[user 26995]

Well, I've read that the recommended tank size is 120+ gallons. They get rather large. Something like 12"-15" long.

 

[user 26995]

haha...I didnt read the thread either. lol!
That IS a huge lion fish. wow! beautiful.

 

[kpiotrowski]

Well, I've read that the recommended tank size is 120+ gallons. They get rather large. Something like 12"-15" long.

Don't ya hate it when you get seek information from many different "respectable" web sites and they all say somthing different. My take on the volitans before I got it was 12-15 inch in wild with one site claiming up to 17in, and 10 to 12 in captivity. The average resource said minimun tank size 75g and i figured my 65g with a 36x18 footprint would actually be better than a 75.

The pic of the volitans above certainly prooves they will exceed that " 10-12 inch" in captivity, and really puts it into perspective that one would want a tank in the 8 foot by 3 foot range...which is about 350g. I guess I will see how big mine will get in a smaller tank...and all the food he asks for. I got a 125 waitin for him if he prooves himself worthy.