ok so question I really would like to have a dwarf zebra lion fish and the my tank is 30 gallons is it doable also I was looking at incorporating a few other fish and invertebracy such as a condy anemone yellow sun coral clownfish cardinal goby and a dwarf flame angel can any of those fish go in with the lion and if not are those fish compatible in that size tank together
The fish will get eaten Lion fish love to eat and will anything that can fit in their mouths. In a 30 gallon, you probably aren't going to be able to put anything that gets big enough to not get eaten. Don't think you will have a problem with the anemone as far as the lion fish goes, but condys are VERY active and typically move around a lot. Not necessarily a bad thing, but if you plan on having a lot of corals, it could be. Another consideration is that predators are messy eaters ie they degrade your water quality quickly. Be sure to stay up on your water changes
Everything you have listed in your original post except the fish would be ok. Maybe you could get away with a large flame angel, but you are still pushing it. And $50 is expensive for a lion fish snack
WORD!!!!! so if I went without the lionfish and and threw in a angler of some sort what about that and since I am wanting to do a reef and fish tank what do you suggest as far as invertebracy and such to clean the live rock ?
Umm... Not to be the party pooper or anything, but you know the dwarf zebra lionfish is going to end up 7" long right? And since its a meat eater they tend to grow fairly quickly. In a 30 gallon tank I'd personally pick something like a fu Manchu that hits about 4". It'd give you more time with your fish and enable you to put other a few other fish in there that you normally wouldn't be able to have. Smaller fish, smaller mouth, less stuff eaten.
An angler would be worse than a lion lol, they can eat stuff up to 1 1/2 times it's size! Also, IMO, lion fish do not need as much room as most fish. They are primarily sedentary stalkers that really don't move much. Now I wouldn't recommend a volitin in a 30, but a dwarf I don't think would be a prob. Just my thoughts, and like Nadia and Whitney said, smaller mouth = more compatible tank mates.
Had a angler in with a 5 inche lunare wrasse. Come back 20 minutes later no more lunare wrasse angler was only 2.5 inches long.
For Dwarf Lions I would do a 40 breeder minimum. As far as what they eat they are nothing like the other lions. While yes it is a predator which means there is always a risk of it eating something. I house all sorts of small fish with them and always have. It's the ornamental shrimp that you have to worry about. My dwarf fuzzy is probably 5" now and lives with a one inch clown and a couple other smaller fish for the last year with no issue. Their mouth isn't as big as most people think. I would say that a nano goby might be a snack but that's about it. I believe the issue came from larger wild caught dwarfs eating smaller fish in an aquarium. However if you get a small one and have it live with small fish you run a significantly less chance. As far as a dwarf angel goes that would be the last fish I would add, Angels are notorious for nipping at the spines of lions which stresses them out severely. The only fish worse than an Angel for a lions tank mate is a trigger. If your really interested in a small predator set up there are lots of different scorpions, wasp, and cockatoo species that would be great tank mates for a dwarf lion. Along with having multiple dwarfs in the same tank which is always fun. Sorry if that was long winded, but I could talk about Lionfish all day haha, let me know if you have any more questions.
