Volitans lionfish

[fish042099]

Is a volitans lionfish too big for a 100 gallon tank?

[namxas]

A 100 gal is about as small as I'd go for a volitans. I prefer the 48" x 24" x 24" over the 18" wide tank because once you aquascape it, there isn't much room for the fish to turn around comfortably, which will result in the fish "perching" more.

IMHO, if you have the 18" tank, a P. russelii (Russel's lionfish, often sold as "red volitans") would be a better fit. They only reach 10", but their appearance, behavior, and care are similar to P. volitans.

[DoubleM 10]

A 100 gal is about as small as I'd go for a volitans. I prefer the 48" x 24" x 24" over the 18" wide tank because once you aquascape it, there isn't much room for the fish to turn around comfortably, which will result in the fish "perching" more.

IMHO, if you have the 18" tank, a P. russelii (Russel's lionfish, often sold as "red volitans") would be a better fit. They only reach 10", but their appearance, behavior, and care are similar to P. volitans.

in this tank we speak of it will many ohter fish from what i have read and understand. im sure the lion of that size would be much more worth the putchase in a 150 or greater with wide and long dementions

[fish042099]

Ok. I think that a lionfish is too dangerous for that tank because I won't have enough room to clean without him brushing up against me.

[namxas]

Once they get used to their digs and you, there's very little chance of getting "popped" that isn't the fault of the aquarist. Your fish will stay out of your way as long as you don't spook it, and it will indeed warn you if you break its comfort zone.

FWIW, I've been keeping lionfish over 20 years, and have been keeping venomous fish (many "worse" than lions) almost exclusively for the past few years and have never even come close to getting stung.

[fish042099]

Instead of a lionfish, how about a spotted scorpionfish?

[namxas]

Do you have a binomial name for the fish? There are a few commonly called "spotted scorp".

However, the first in my mind is the yellow-spotted scorp (Sebastapistes cyanostigma), which is pretty small (max. about 3" TL in captivity), can be fairly cryptic, and hard to find (it took us a couple of years to find ours). This fish would also suffer in competition for food.

[fish042099]

Scorpaena plumieri.

[namxas]

S. plumieri is a good-sized fish (we're talking a foot here, average size, altho they do get larger), and should do fine in your tank. Altho it will perch on the rockwork, be sure to give it some open substrate as well. It will likely pretty much "just sit there" if its not eating. They're fairly common in the Atlantic and northern Gulf...I've seen a lot of pix taken off the Caymans and Brazil.

Your best hope for a positive ID are getting a look at the base of its inner pectorals...there should be bright white spots over a dark background (in younger fish, < 3" or so, these markings aren't super clear).

[StephLionfish]

Regarding the 100g for a Lion, I'm needing to downgrade my 210 due to expenses, but I don't want to cramp the fish. Would the Lion perch a lot in the 100g when full grown? Would it really be comfortable in the 100g? It would be the only fish in the tank, if that matters.

[namxas]

I'd recommend the 48" footprint 100 for a volitans. Our volitans is full grown, and does very little perching. It's not a huge tank, but I don't feel it's cramped becase the fish actually has a good amount of "elbow room" and can actually cruise around instead of pacing back and forth.

[fish042099]

Does s. plumieri need open sand bed?

[namxas]

They don't need tons of room, like say a shark or walking batfish, as they aren't big movers, but they need someplace to park their carcass that isn't too cramped. IME, some scorps will perch on the rockwork every so often, but most prefer a sandbed.

[Nighthawk31]

FWIW, I've been keeping lionfish over 20 years, and have been keeping venomous fish (many "worse" than lions) almost exclusively for the past few years and have never even come close to getting stung.

Sounds like an epitaph to me. J/K, if namxas gives you advice about scorpionfish, waspfish or lionfish you should take it. The man knows his stuff when it comes to "things with stings".

[namxas]

Sounds like an epitaph to me.

No kidding the way my luck has been running lately...

I actually just had to free a lion from a net last week (long story), but both of its gill spines were stuck and it decided to bite onto the net as well, so it was holding tension on the net where the spines where stuck (kinda like a gag)! I thought for SURE I was gonna get nailed.

I ended up cutting the net between its mouth and one of the spines away to remove the tension and the fish just swam off, p!ssed, and a bit stressed, but otherwise OK...

[fish042099]

No kidding the way my luck has been running lately...

I actually just had to free a lion from a net last week (long story), but both of its gill spines were stuck and it decided to bite onto the net as well, so it was holding tension on the net where the spines where stuck (kinda like a gag)! I thought for SURE I was gonna get nailed.

I ended up cutting the net between its mouth and one of the spines away to remove the tension and the fish just swam off, p!ssed, and a bit stressed, but otherwise OK...
cool story

[namxas]

Not really, but it had to do with the comment about being not being poked.

Fortunately, MOST of the time, both of my volitans would pretty much just lay in the net and let me move them. The lion in the story was a radiata.

Are you looking at the scorp as a volitans tankmate, or in lieu of a lionfish?

[fish042099]

Scorpion because I need the swim room for other fish. I want an interesting fish that doesn't take up space and is sort of aggressive.

[namxas]

Ah...gotcha.

The scorp won't be aggressive per se', except when being fed. Otherwise it will pretty much just sit around trying to look like a rock.

[seahorsedreams]

cool story

Wasn't much fun at all.... I almost puked thinking of the stress we were causing him. I would have been upset if I had of lost this guy. And then he was stressed from his move and had to face a new tankmate.

Then, as I was holding the net cursing with my pajamas on, the furnace repair guy shows up. All I could say was "sorry, this must look weird".

[fish042099]

Ok.