Fu Man Chu Lionfish

[Dewman]

I am interested in only putting one or two fish in my 29 gallon reef tank when the tank has finished cycling and it is finally ready for new life. I was going to introduce the fish before the soft corals. I thought I would give the tank time to adjust between additions (with the proper monitoring of all chemical levels of course).

Does anyone think that for a single fish, a Fu Man Chu Lion would be a bad choice? I will probably want a blenny and an emerald crab, but does anyone think this would be a bad decision? I have read about them and they seem to be slow-aggressive just like all the other lions. They stay fairly small (under 6 inches) and I think they are gorgeous fish.

Thanks
Every opinion is welcome.

 

[itsme123]

Only thing is that their success rate is very low. They do not fair well during transport/shipping.... I've had various lion fishes through out the years and have come to find out that the Fu Man Chus are not easy.

Mike

 

[Dewman]

I have been watching one at the LFS for two months now and he seems healthy and happy. I was thinking of buying him if he is still there when my tank is ready.
I will keep my eye on him. This store is a very stand-up shop.
good people

 

[JeremyR]

Fu-manchus are also very difficult to get switched to frozen food, some will starve to death if not given live.

 

[tazdevil]

That isn't the same LFS that kirtis has been using, is it?

 

[FMarini]

Hi:
i can back up a few of the posters points. I also have Fus and while they are great looking lions they are one of the more tricky lions to keep alive and ween over to dead foods. W/ alot of patience, and an empty tank you can ween them over. If your LFS has had one for a few weeks then its certainly hardy. Does it eat anything else beside goldfish or guppies, or ghost shrimp?
Also beaware that they are very secretive lions and will hide if given the chance.
I will tell you that they have realitvely small mouths as lions but a small fu should be able to swallow the blenny.(crab might be food as well)
Remember that lions are fish and moving invert eaters. So any new fish has to be bigger than the lion to prevent being eaten. So i say to you, if you want a lionfish then scratch off any fish/invert which can be food.
As an aside, my Fu has done very nicely, I ween all my scorpions over before they go into the big tank(a 180FO), and he has competed well. Great fish w/ interesting dorsal fins, and they walk instead of swim, they are very territorial
my opinion
frank
_________________
To see my 180 gal tank of lions:
http://www.marshreef.org/members/fmarini/index.htm

 

[31-2c]

I think the best rule of thumb on lions is -- If they can get it into their mouths, they will try to eat it. Even if it kills them!

 

[davelin315]

Never had a fu manchu lion, but have had the rest (volitans, radiata, dwarf/spotfin/fuzzy, etc.) and they are incredible fish (except the volitans once they get really big and their fins start to look small compared to their big fat bodies). In a reef, they'll eat whatever fits in their mouths, and this could cause a problem with an emerald crab which could fight back. The blenny would be a goner, but the emerald might kill your lion. Also, it would put a damper on you reefscaping and adding new stuff and conducting common maintenance (lionfish have a very very very painful sting, I cried like a baby for 5 hours with my hand under ice cold water the whole time). Since people say the fu is difficult, why not try a dwarf? Also, keep in mind that lion fish are generally very sedentary, so you could probably get away with a volitans in a smaller reef environment for a year or two before he became too big.

 

[Mouse]

I had a fuzzy dwarf and encountered problems converting him to frozen foods. The problem is with a small tank you cant have any suitable competition to encourage feeding. Also when you feed Ghost Shrimp/River Shrimp you have to remove the Antenni because they cause the fish to cough. Strange but true, it can cause many problems. For one trying to remove antenni from live shrimp can be a challenge. And secondly tank maintenance can become a little exciting, especially in such a small environment. Perhaps you could design some sort of gap for an egg crete partition to be lowered in for such instances. If its allready on frozen food (Quite likely for an LFS animal because competition in shop tanks encourages feeding) i would go for it, sounds like a hardy animal. On the other hand are you aware of how many different colours the Fuzzy Dwarfs come in, i have to say the red and green ones look especially moody.