in the works-36 scorpion

[Swanwillow]

But I don't know what to stock it with! lol. I just bought the tank this morning. It WILL SOMEHOW be plumbed in with my reef/goby tank. I've broke the bank on gadgets for the goby reef, but everything I bought was made for the eventuality of expansion. Its just coming sooner than I hoped :lolspin:

So.. I know most scorpions are rather cryptic. I won't need reef lights on this tank-thank GOD. Do I need a lid? I saw the scary OMG the dwarf lionfish on the floor... I think I'll just net the top. Get some cheap lights to hang above it...

But anyhow!

How many lbs of dry rock would you get for a tank like this? I'm going to cycle it in tubs away from the system it'll be eventually connected to. I was thinking 30, but I don't know how much that actually COMES to for cryptic fish.

the tank is odd shaped to say the least. 20high"x24long"x18 inches wide. So it should be fun to aquascape.

Do they like high or low flow? I have powerheads and the like already.. I won't actually need to buy anything more for this tank but plumbing supplies. I may just do a hang on the back overflow. Someone's nearly always home, and in the last five years, the power MAY have shut off 3 times. Its very rare. So many decisions!

[DoubleM 10]

they like low flow. most scorps are not the best swimmers. if u do have high flow they will probally fine a spot with low flow and not move very much.

make sure their are places in the tank with no light. just to get them acclemated to a new tank. they will come out with time. i have fuzzy lions and a cockatoo waspfish.

the lions are very personable and swim like tangs when i come up to the tank( or anyone comes up to the tank for that matter). the cockatoo "dances" at the bottom looking for food. lol very funny. just as most fish they will take a little time to warm up. once they do they are awsome fish.

to seed the tank i woudl get about 15lbs of live then get base rock to aquascape the rest.

as for lighting i would get what you would need to keep the live rock nice and purple lol thats all. my tanks are overdone. i have t-5 ho over my scorp and eel tanks.

i did not see any mention on filtration. scorps are pretty messy. what were your plans for filtration??

im sure naxmas and Mr. Marini will be in this thread to help with anything i dod not mention.

[Swanwillow]

Right now I'm running an algae turf scrubber for my 25. I've been looking at skimmers all day... there's so many bigger, better ones since the last time I had one. The entire system would be somewhere around 65 gallons. And I feed my 25 rather heavily as it is. so a skimmer won't hurt to get at all.

I have some decent chunks of rock rubble in my refugium to seed dead rock with already ;)

[namxas]

I do have a couple of comments/suggestions, but I wanted to bump the thread so it's EZ to find later (I'm at work, and going nuts today).

[bamato]

I'm sort of confused. What species are you planning to keep? And are you going to keep the lion by itself? (some species will out-grow a 36 gallon tank)

A skimmer will be essential for a messy eater. The mess can be reduced by feeding smaller chunks of food versus large whole pieces also.

I'd highly recommend some sort of mesh top for the tank. These can be made at home fairly easily from window screen trim and some 1/4" screen material. I've lost three scorps in the past due to jumping before I made my 70 a top. :(

As counter-productive as it seems to give the fish places to hide, it's essential to reduce stress.

Flow is not really a concern with these fish. I keep my scorps in moderate flow, and they seem happy. I try to keep the flow as low as possible without causing dead spots in the tank for detritus to build up.

If you're going to be plumbing into another tank, I'd plan on using the amount of rock necessary to give the tank the look you like, and plenty of hiding spots for the lion.

Not sure if you have read Frank Marini's article on lionfish care, but it's a good read.

Click me (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-11/fm/feature/index.php)

And Greg and Renee have some excellent species specific care sheets and general feeding techniques located HERE (http://www.lionfishlair.com/)

[namxas]

Everyone has given you some great info so far, and here's my .02:

Yes, you need a lid...you'd be surprised at how well many scorps, esp. dwarf lions can jump.

Based on footprint, your tank will be a bit tight for too many "crawlers", however, there is a nice amount of "water column" space, which would accommodate one of the smaller dwarf "swimming" lions such as the fuzzy or D. barberi.

You could keep a D. biocellatus (fu manchu) in that setup if you 'scape it to where there are some nice caves/overhangs for it, but I think a waspfish or two might be a good idea for bottom dwellers. Leaf scorps would also fit the bill, but can be tuff to wean, and may require live food for life. Ambon scorps would be a nice addition, but so far, IME, we've only been able to keep them alive for 10 mos max, typically much less (hopefully we'll figure it out someday).

Some of the smaller scorps from genus Scorpaenodes would also be nice assuming you can find them properly ID'd so you don't end up with a Scorpaena brasiliensis or something of similar size (8" as opposed to 4").

Another thing I think works well in our DT's is live macro, but since you have a turf scrubber, anything along those lines would be decorative.

HTH

[fish stalker]

:( so true re jumping! During a tank move I kept my wasp in an open tank for a week. Fish jumped I learnt a sad lesson, still kicking myself