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Depending on the size of the tank you going to set up, I have always been partial to Lionfish and Moray Eels.

John

Tank size will be the most important factor.

What are you planning?

im thinking of a 75 g but would this be enough to accomadate a volitan lionfish and a snow flake eel. dthurs- the lionfish as the center piece is the idea
besides the two species allready mentioned what other critters make intesting and striking inhabitants?

I would not put a Volitan in anything less than 100 gallons. They get quite large.

live aquaria says a 50g lol, any other smaller lionfish that are equally as attractive?

They can get to like 18". No business in a 50 gallon tank.

And yes, some of the other dwarf lion fish look rather similar to the Volitan, just smaller.

yeah the radiata looks good. similiar to the volitan. is there a stocking rule for eels considering there length would obviously negate the normal rules such as one inch/ 5 g or whateva

most moreys are ok in a 75g, at least that's what books saids, just get one and make sure u have a good cover for your tank otherwise they might escape

The snowflake moray will do fine in that size tank, and you can even try more than one if you like, as they will do OK together. This is what I used to have in a 75 gal, with a 75 sump/fuge (150 gal total), for years;

2 radiata
2 Fu-man-chu
2 Antenai
2 snowflake eels

All got along fine, never did see any aggression towards each other. They got fed frozen krill and squid, and live feeders of ghost shrimp and mollies. The snowflakes would not go after the feeders, but loved the frozen krill and squid. But the lions rarely ate that, so they got the feeders.

The advice here is that the eels will accept the frozen foods, but the smaller type lions are hard to ween off of live foods. Just be prepared to afford the live foods if you go this route.

HTH....

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There is always a bigger fish...

I had a volitan that I got off live food, it was easy. Get a small rigid air tube. Take a krill and stick the tail in the tube, then move the krill around like it's swimming. The lion will go after it and eat it. After a while you wont even need to use the stick.



Dan

Volitans are rather easy, but the other lions are a lot harder to get to take dead foods.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I would get a dragon wras. I had one, had to loose it as it ate my shrimos!

Yes, the harliquins will do great with the lions, and be a second center piece of the tank. Just don't have any urchins in the tank, as they will eat them.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Tailbar lion fish, or "Radiata" (spelling)..one of the best looking dwarf lion fish...and the Zebra isn't bad as well..they both stay pretty small...maybe half the size of the volitan

Squid or krill work just fine. Ghost shrimp from time to time will also be good.



Dan

damn damn damn. why do all the interesting species seem to be so difficult to keep eg mandarin fish.... o well looks like its just gonna be the snowflake for a while. what foods are commonly recommended and used or feeding this species??

The eel, commonly sold as the White Ribbon Eel, is actually not a ribbon eel at all, but another type of Moray Eel. This link will bring you to an article, where an individual writes about how he finally gave up on the Blue Ribbon and turned to this variety and had much better success in raising it. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2004/fish.htm

I hope this helps in your decision in your purcase, also, wetwebmedia reports that 99% of Ribbon Eels die within a month, mostly due to starvation. Here is a link to that data.http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ribbonmorayeels.htm

John

The two will do fine together. But as mentioned already, the ribbon eels are very hard to get to eat. If they do eat, they are quite easily cared for then. Only about 1 out of 20 that are tried, will eat. The rest all die. They are very picky. As for two in one tank, this will work, and I have a friend that has two in a 75 gal tank with fish as well. Very nice attractive tank. But, both of them he bought had been living at the lfs for several months and were eating well. One is black and the other is blue. Ribbon eels come in a variety of colors too. It is just that the blue variety is the more common one found. I have seen them black, blue, green, and white. I have heard of them being many more colors as well.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Snowflake eels are very good at not eating tank mates, other then shrimp. The only shrimp that was not bothered is a coral banded shrimp.

Dan

now the only question is its compatibility with the snowflake eel. are snowflakes e to eating other eels?
picturing 2 blue ribbon eels in a 55g would be an incredibly attractive aquarium.

That would really be up to you. If you feel it's eating, perhaps it will be OK, but I've heard they are not easy to keep.



Dan

i guess if there moving up and down in the pipe the body movement would shift and move the build up. ill talk to my lfs about the external pump idea. if i see a blue ribbon eel eating/ exhibiting normal and healthy life signs would you still recommend against purchasing it?

Not sure about the flow rates, never really gave it much thought.

As for build up in the PVC pipe, I have never noticed any in mine. Seeing how they live in the pipe, they tend to keep them clean.




Dan

what fators would i have to consider such as the rate of syphon vs the outgoing water pump rate? thats about all the proplems i can think of. thanks for the idea. how often do you change your powerhead impeller?
the hermits i have are blue leg hermits.
a main concern with the design i was thinking of is that if i use pvc pipes and the eel resides in them alot of its waste such as left over food and c*ap would remain in the pipe and would build up instead of being blown around and hopefully devoured by the liverock inhabitants. does this seem like a logical reason not to use pvc?

As far as your pump idea. Try this. Get another tank and put it at the back of your tank like an overflow box. Use a siphon tube to transfer water form the main to the overflow box. Then pump it back to your main tank. This will give you water movment, as well as a larger water system making your tank more stable.

Dan

As far as hermits go, sound like your talking about the large hermits. I shoudl have been more specific, micro hermits. These are under a inch in size.

As far as flow, start off with two powerheads, one at each back corner pointed in a x patern towards teh front center. Then you can add more powerheads as needed. In my tank I have several powerheads pointed at different levels to everythign moves. Try to watch for dead spots where detris can settle, this is what you want to avoid.



Dan