Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish

[tropicman]

Are these fish reef safe and are they hard to care for ???

regards tropicman

 

[andywg]

First off you have to be aware of what reef-safe actually means. It will usually mean that the creature will not attack essential clean up crew or corals in the tank. It may still feed on tank mates.

The fuzzy dwarf lionfish (Dendrochirus brachypterus) will not attack snails or hermits, but will go for ornamental shrimp (which feature heavily in its natural diet) as well as any fish which will fit in its mouth. Unfortunately, just like all lionfish, their mouth is essentially a trapdoor making any fish less than half the lionfish's length a potential meal.

D. brachypterus tend to grow to a good 4", and expect them to get to 5", so any tank mates will have to planned accordingly. Also, they will probably take out any ornamental shrimp, so these are not wise tank mates either.

Care is not massively difficult, though like all members of the genus, they are not as easy to get onto feeding dead as the larger Pterois spp are (such as the "classic" Volitans lionfish - Pterois volitans). Minimum tank size according to Reef Fishes Volume 1 is 20 gallons, but ideally you want a bit more to enable wastes to be handled easier.

 

[tropicman]

thanks andy halped alot

 

[Lynden]

I agree with the above. One of our old people used to keep one of these with a pair of ocellaris clownfish.