Marine Aquariums by Ray Hunziker

Author:Ray Hunziker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CompanionHouse Books
Published: 2005-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Volitans lionfish are exceptionally greedy eaters, and many hobbyists stuff them nearly to bursting with feeder goldfish. As we have previously discussed, feeder goldfish are not recommended as a staple diet for anything. There may be times when you have to use them just to get predatory specimens such as lionfish eating regularly in captivity, but you should try hard to wean them off the goldfish as soon as possible. I’ve found that it is not difficult to get volitans lionfish started on nonliving by using the methods described above. Large shrimp, krill, and thawed frozen smelt are good nonliving foods to try, but I recommend soaking these in a vitamin and mineral supplement before feeding. Oddly enough, volitans lionfish can be susceptible to head-and-lateral-line-erosion (HLLE), a condition probably related to poor nutrition and more often seen in vegetarian fish such as tangs.

I should mention some of the confusion surrounding the identity of this fish. There are at least two distinct species seen in the hobby trade—the “black volitans” and the “red volitans,” but at least four scientific names have been applied to them: P. volitans, of course, but also P. lunulata, P. miles, and P. russelli. The fish sold as the black volitans is, with few exceptions, the true P. volitans. Some ichthyologists consider the specimens from the Red Sea and Western Indian Ocean a separate species—P. miles—while other ichthyologists consider this merely a variety of P. volitans. However, the majority of black volitans in the hobby trade come from outside the range of P. miles; thus, most of them really are P. volitans.

The red volitans is another matter. When you see them in your local fish store, often mixed with P. volitans, you will notice that they have maroon-colored bands and shorter supraorbital tentacles. This is Russell’s lionfish, P. russelli, but you’ll never see it called that. Russell’s lionfish is a little smaller than the true P. volitans—a maximum of about 12 inches (30.4 cm), but otherwise identical in behavior and care. Some books have referred to the red volitans as P. lunulata, but this is a species from Japanese waters and rarely, if ever, enters the aquarium trade.

I’d like to mention an odd tidbit of information about the volitans lionfish. In the past few years, this Indo-Pacific species has been showing up along the Atlantic coast of the United States, mostly the Carolinas, but also as far south as Florida and as far north as New York. No one is quite sure how they got there, but government scientists and officials were quick to blame aquarium hobbyists for accidental or intentional releases, even though there is not a shred of proof. (Many hobbyists and some scientists who are not on the government payroll consider it far more likely that larval lionfish hitched a ride in the ballast water of transoceanic ships; but, admittedly, there is no evidence of that either.) Regardless of how P. volitans invaded the Atlantic, it seems to be here to stay, and the ecological damage it could do as a non-native top predator remains to be seen.

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