# New lionfish



## Shonfield (Oct 8, 2009)

Got a new lionfish the other day and I'm loving him. It might actually be one of my first pets that get a name. Pics were taken on my phone so one is pretty poor quality. What do you guys think?


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## TahneeMaree (Oct 8, 2009)

Awesome! 
Do you need a special permit/licence for a Lionfish?


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## richoman_3 (Oct 8, 2009)

pretty cool make sure u dont touch him though otherwise u r in for a shock


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## Ned_fisch (Oct 8, 2009)

Very nice! Awesome looking fish.
Heres a name, Mufasa, off the Lion king


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## Asharee133 (Oct 8, 2009)

LOL i was thinking something along the line of the lion king haha


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## Shonfield (Oct 8, 2009)

TahneeMaree said:


> Awesome!
> Do you need a special permit/licence for a Lionfish?



Nah as far as I know there isn't a licensing system for fish, at least with fish that are easy/small enough to keep at home. There are the endangered and restricted fish that you are not allowed to catch. Now that I think about it the divers that catch the fish probably have a licensing system, but I don't really know.


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## gecko-mad (Oct 8, 2009)

oh my bloody god, you can keep them as pets!? how much are they? like 500 bucks?


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## reptilefan95 (Oct 8, 2009)

Nice Pterios Volitans (?), very nice red colours on the fin. At the aquarium i work at we have a few of these fellas, they are hard as nails never had one die on me yet. And they arent 500 bucks they are about 79 to 150 depending on species and size. I have to say my fav of all lionfish are the dendrochirus brachypterus (fuzzy dwarf lionfish) they look like littel pieces of untill they move... Also what are you feeding yours on?


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## reptilefan95 (Oct 8, 2009)

Oh and where abouts did you get him from? St george aquarium?


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## gecko-mad (Oct 8, 2009)

i just googled dendrochirus brachypterus and their adorable! i want one! how big do those get?

edit: omg! 15 cms! there tiny!


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## Shonfield (Oct 8, 2009)

This one only cost me $75, but I got a discount because I'm friends with the owner. You could probably get it cheaper if you really wanted to. Got it from Newtown pet shop. And yeah it's a Volitans. It will eat just about everything. All frozen food it's happy to eat as long as i put the food near him, it's too lazy to move from one side of the tank to the other.

They had some fuzzy and a few other dwarf lionfish and it took me a while to decide which one I wanted.


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## Twin_Rivers (Oct 8, 2009)

reptilefan95 said:


> Nice Pterios Volitans (?), very nice red colours on the fin. At the aquarium i work at we have a few of these fellas, they are hard as nails never had one die on me yet. And they arent 500 bucks they are about 79 to 150 depending on species and size. I have to say my fav of all lionfish are the dendrochirus brachypterus (fuzzy dwarf lionfish) they look like littel pieces of untill they move... Also what are you feeding yours on?


 

$79- $150 no wonder everyone sdays i am too cheap
may need to put my prices up,


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## Twin_Rivers (Oct 8, 2009)

It is an absolutely gorgeous fish btw congratulations


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## TahneeMaree (Oct 8, 2009)

What kind of care is involved with these guys? and how on earth do you do a full water change? DO you need to do a full water change with these guys?


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## Shonfield (Oct 8, 2009)

There actually one of the easiest saltwater fish to look after imo. They can tolerate a fair bit of negligence from the owner. Water changes are easy. Every week or two i change about 50-70 ltrs which is about 10-15% of the tank size. They only eat 3-4 times a week as well. Compared to some fish you can get, keeping these healthy is like keeping a rock healthy.


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## Twin_Rivers (Oct 8, 2009)

They are reasonably easy to keep for saltwater fish, a regular water change of around 10 - 20% (depending on tank size) every two - three weeks, o good filter and keep the water quality good and they are not too hard compared to many marine fish. they need a big tank at least 250litres, fresh, live or frozen food every 3or 4 days


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## python_heath (Oct 8, 2009)

Aren't they deadly or venomous?


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## mysnakesau (Oct 8, 2009)

TahneeMaree said:


> Awesome!
> Do you need a special permit/licence for a Lionfish?



As far as I am aware, you need a license to catch fish for yourself, and collect live rock, from the wild. But to buy from an aquarium and captive bred it isn't a concern. If you want to know more, The Fisheries mob are the ones to talk to.

Shon that is one beautiful fish. What a gorgeous fellow he is. Good luck with him, I hope he lives long for you.

BTW, are all those spines prickly and/or poisonous?


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## Shonfield (Oct 8, 2009)

Yes their dorsal, anal and pelvic spines are all poisonous. They will not kill a person but it hurts and can swell for up to a week or so, but usually goes down after a day. They can kill other fish quickly with a full sting.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!


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## gecko-mad (Oct 8, 2009)

upto 150 aye? i was way off


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## slither (Oct 8, 2009)

wow thats awesome ther are definately on my list you can also purchase sharks and rays shark species are the bamboo carpet and the epaulette shark


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## Shonfield (Oct 8, 2009)

Yeah I have always liked the epaulette sharks but they need atleast 1000Ltr tanks and I can only dream of having the money for that.


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## mysnakesau (Oct 8, 2009)

you would have liked the fish tank I had as a display in my pet store then. It was 1000L. It was 8foot long, 2foot wide and 2.5ft high, all made from 12mm glass. Weighed a bloody tonne. The buyer has taken some of the glass out and converted it to a display of water dragons in his lounge room. Still looks absolute awesome, but it looked better with my big oscars in it. I like the port jackson sharks too. There use to be a saltwater display at one of the shopping centres in Port Macquarie. It had a black and white port jackson, he was so gorgeous.


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## kupper (Oct 8, 2009)

the sting of one of those is very very very painful i worked at the aquairum for 2 years and watch that the top dorsal spine does not break the surface fo the water and get you

my hand swelleed for three weeks and the only releif from the pain of the initial sting was hot water , some people go into shock after a sting as well 

just be careful


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## reptilefan95 (Oct 8, 2009)

mmm ive got a spare 8 foot by 4 foot tank now that i sold the arowana's maybe i might do a nice shark tank, but i like port jacksons the most!! Im setting up a nano marine in a few weeks, 150 litres i think im going to put a nice dendrochirus brachypterus or a pterios zebra really not sure


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## Shonfield (Oct 8, 2009)

Would look great reptilefan95, but make sure you have the money. It would cost many thousands of dollars just to get it ready for a fish like that.


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## reptilefan95 (Oct 8, 2009)

Yea the tank is on display at an aquarium i work at, so luckily we have a 6 foot sump underneath it, which makes it alot easier to maintain a very good filtration system and healthy fish. i miss my aro though


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## Midol (Oct 9, 2009)

I had an 8ft tank but then I smashed it accidentally so it's not getting setup - was going up as a predator tank.

Now I am building a stand for a 6x2x2 for my bro and he can use my standard 4ft as a sump. He won't go predator tho.


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