stevejr Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Alright I've set up a 40 gallon breeder tank with 3 inches of regular gravel, a whisper 30-60 powerfilter for filtration and 40 watts of flourescent lighting, and a claypot to hide in for the little guy. I've started the cyclying process by adding a chunk of cured and fully coraline encrusted liverock and tommorow i'm going to get a damsel to help out. My question is how long should I let the tank cycle with the damsel and does this sound like a good setup for a 4-5 inch black violatin lion? I really want to make sure he does well. Thanks. Link to comment
Aggie05 Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Do you plan on keeping him in it for life. He will get way too big for the tank within a year. Most keep them in 120 gallons full grown. The whisper will definitely not cut it IMO. Lionfish are very messy and need a lot of filtration, with only a small chucnk of LR you will need a good skimmer to make up the difference. The gravel also sounds kinda strange but I don't know that it won't work it just isn't the Lions natural enviornment. Although if you plan on cleaning the bottom this will help. You should be able to put him in a little after youa re sure the cycle is over. The are pretty hardy fish. Make sure you get it to eat frozen because as you may already know goldfish feeders are bad for them. Link to comment
stevejr Posted February 28, 2003 Author Share Posted February 28, 2003 I already have him eating krill so he's completely off of live food. As far as liverock goes I will be adding more as time goes, I just have a small piece in right now to get the tank cycling. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 i kinda agree with aggie. the 40 breeder seems a little shallow (13") for a lionfish longterm and the gravel (3") will hurt you more than help imo. i'd cut it back to 1" if you keep the gravel or even just 1" for sand even. i'd upgrade to a penguin or emperor from that whisper. you'll need the wet/dry for that carnivore. you might want to try just a couple of more larger pieces of LR for a multiple coral bommies look. the lionfish can then swim around in twists and turns rather than just back and forth. Link to comment
DEXX34 Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 How Ya doin'? why not go with one of the dwarf lions? The tank will probably not cycle very quickly with one peice of live rock and one little fishy in 40 gallons of water. you really shouldn't use fish to cycle with...there are other more efficient, humane ways. if you want to go with a predatory (non reef/invert) tank you can add maybe another peice or two of live rock and use lace or tufa rock to finish up for filtration. I would also go with an aqua clear 300 to suck up the ol' detrious . in the long haul the 40 still gonna be shallow for even a dwarf lion. later Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.