Hi everyone! Okay, well I have this 40 gallon tank with only 2 fish in it. My pleco and my small orange sword tail....so I was thinking about putting them into a smaller tank and then getting a large lion fish to have my 40 gallon all to itself. I am pretty sure they are salt water, and they are very aggressive- even poisinous. I just think they are so neat looking, just one would fill the tank with beauty, interest, and would attract alot of attention. I just don't know too much about them (yet- but I'm doing reserch) anyone ever have one? Can anyone share any tips?? Thanks!

what kind are you wanting? there are dwarf ones that would be okay in there, but the ones you are probably thinking of are volitans lions and they are way too big for a 40 gallon. its also probably not a good starter saltwater fish. have you ever had saltwater fish before?

For a volitan I would have at minimum a 55 they get very large. Mine is about 10 inches in a 120, as reptileguy said you could probably do like a trio of dwarf lions in a 40. Here is my volitan

and yes the long rays on their dorsal fin are venomous.

No, I've never had a saltwater tank. I've had a freshwater tank now for about 5 years. I love having a fish tank, its a wonderful hobby....I really like the saltwater fish, with the bright colors- I'd like to get into it. I got that book 'saltwater tanks for dummies' so I am going to read that and then start a saltwater. The reason I asked about the lion fish is because while at the pet store I saw one in a 10-15 gallon tank. It was small, but incrediable looking! It caught my eye, I couldn't stop watching it. I had no idea they got that large! I think it was a volitans lionfish, not sure. GynMonkey 1044 your fish is beautiful!! Could you take a picture of your whole tank, I'm curious as to how you have it set up?

I don't really like the dwaft lions as much as I like the large Volitans, Russell's, and radiata lionfish. I can't get over how beautiful and unqiue they are! Although the medium sized antennata and japanese lionfish are nice looking too. The only drawf fish that I really like is the dwaft zebra lionfish- where would I find one of those? Reptileguy2727 what kind of fish do you have? Have you ever heard of the dwarf zebra lionfish? I wonder what they are about....I don't think I can have another large tank right now, I'll have to look into the smaller lionfish.

I heard that lionfish are hardy? With hiding spots, vutritious & varied diet, and maintaining good water quality they do very well in home aquairums. Thats just what I read, but I don't have one so I don't really know. What do you think GynMonkey, sense you have one, are they hard to care for and keep happy & healthy??

Thank you both for your help!!!

if you click on my name you will go to my profile. there is a button there you can click on to find all topics by this member, that will give you a list of all the topics i have started and most of my tanks and other animals are in there. besides the oens on there i have 3 10 gallons. one is for a pair of convict cichlids to breed in (they were just put in there so they havent started yet), a 10 gallon with breeding platies, and a 10 gallon with a pair of lionhead goldfish that will be going in a 55 soon.

they are a beautiful fish, but can be very dangerous. i was watching discovery channel or animal planet, and a guy had one in a pretty big tank, probably 100 gallons or more, and he was wiping the side of the tank down, and the fish just brushed up against him, needless to say he ended up at the hospital and hired an aquarium cleaner.

they are hardy but they really no need at least a 55 but a 75 or a ninety would be better, good filtation as with all tanks is key. But yes they are generally hardy. I will try to get a good shot of the whole tank.

at least 18" wide, 36" long, and 20" tall, all these are minumums, i cant imagine a volitans being full potential in anything smaller.

reptileguy- what do you do with all the babies? I'm guessing you sell them, but where? Do you have your own store or do you sell them to stores? That must be a fun hobby, I don't know that with my 2 year old I'd have time to deal with it all- but fun. Well, I would love to have a huge 100 gallon tank some day- maybe when that day comes I'll get a lionfish then. I don't want to get that big beautiful fish and not be able to supply it with what it needs.

JarrodRossi- I love that channel! Wow, I did hear that you had to be carefull while caring for them, what about good aquarium gloves? Think that would help? I think I'd want someone else to clean its tank too- haha.

GynMonkey1044- I'll wait for my bigger tank, I wouldn't want to make it unhappy. Do you think they are a good 'beginner' fish, I mean if I were to have everything I needed for it someday? Technically I would be a beginner sense I've never had a saltwater tank. Are saltwater tanks difficult to maintain and care for? In comparisson to freshwater? I would love to start with a small saltwater tank (sense I can't get the fish of my dreams right now- haha) and maybe some small colorfull saltwater fish- is it hard to do? I would love to see your tank, the whole thing- I hope you can post a picture. How big is your fish? How many do you have in there?

I do not believe saltwater tanks are diffiicult to maintain, the initial cycle you must be more patient with but they are not difficult. It is the same as a freshwater a small water change one every three weeks. The biggest difference is price it is much more exspensive to do a salt water aquarium.

they are a little more sensitive to the water conditions, so a mistake costs you more money. it also depends on what saltwater fish you have.

they havent started popping the babies out yet. i could take some in to where i work (a pet shop), but i can also feed them to my jaguar cichlid, water turtles, bichirs, and the other tanks as well.

GynMonkey1044- Thats good to know, thanks. How do you clean the sand? I know with my freshwater I use the vaccum gravel cleaner, but that would probably suck up the sand- right?

reptileguy2727- I was planning on starting with a very hardy fish, at least until I get the hang of it.
I had a couple of guppies once, and they ended up having babies in my tank. I didn't even know it, one time I was feeding them and watching them eat and I saw these little tiny babies swimming around- I was shocked! It wasn't planned. I heard that you can breed guppies, and produce amazing color results.

gynmonkey has a shark that sifts through his sand. there are other things that sift through the sand, but he says the shark has worked better than anything else. im only answering because hes not on here too much and he is my cousin so i know about his tanks.

reptileguy is correct that shark works wonders keeping the sand clean! Some sand sifting gobies also do a good job but they would not be in my tank very long they would quickly be in someones belly! I also have a 24 inch vacum and it sucks up a little sand but not much but since the shark has been in there the sand has not been dirty.