Damsel's in distress

despite the thread topic, they are not in distress quite yet.

my tank has been running since october of 08 and i still have 2 blue devil's that i used to cycle the tank(55g twin in tank homemade sump), they are not of my immediate concern since they are full grown and VERY aggressive(even to my coral beauty, R.I.P., that was 4x bigger than them!). Last month i added a 4 stripe, a dominoe, and a false percula to the tank, as well as rearranged all the aquascaping to set new grounds(the blues had divided the tank, literally, in half).

my goal with this tank has always been a predatory tank. i wanted a volitan and a snowflake, but on the way i got a bit distracted by ich which took out my coral beauty.

well about 2 weeks ago i got the first predator i wanted, a volitan lion. after i got him i also rearranged everything again(i'm FO) and added some new things and made tons of hiding places since i was worried about the damsels with the lion. for now the lion has pretty much just been relaxing around the tank not even looking at the small 4 stripe, even when i went out of town for 3 days, everyone alive when i came back. the lion was already eating frozen food when i got him from the lfs which is why i'm thinking he's been so relaxed around the others as well as not completely comfortable with the tank.

Will feeding the lion frozen silversides every other day have him more prone to go after the small damsels in the future? i've been cutting the silversides in half since the lion is about medium size and i dont want him to bite off more than he can chew. i would like to have a mixed tank if possible so ive been trying to keep the lion satisfied without overfeeding.

i'm worried that when the lion gets big enough to comfortably fit the damsels in his mouth that he'll go for him, and if that's the case i've pondered setting up a 35g bowfront to house my community fish in.

what do you guys think? also keep in mind i do what to eventually get a snowflake in months to come. what should i do about my little guys?

 

ATC

Trying to keep a Lionfish well fed in order he/ she does not eat smaller tank mates
is pot luck IMO , your fighting nature and IME nature is favourite in that fight

If you want to keep these Damsels, I would move them out, your predators once you add the eel (both messy feeders) are going to produce a lot of waste and as such reducing the bioload is a good idea anyway ( everyones a winner in this scenario)

Steve

 

thanks steve, i was afraid i'd have to do that which is why i'm glad i have a spare bowfront laying around unused.

is the mess from these predators normally caused by their excriment? at least with the lion so far it's fairly clean when i feed him, and he doesnt seem to mind that i cut the silversides up into smaller more manageable bites.

 

Yes in part ATC - bigger fish, more meaty foods, equals more waste for the bacteria to process

but sometimes the chomping action of these fish can send little bits out through the gills
and this can also be a source of bio load to worry about

Steve