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RockStarFish 
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 Topic: lionfish with seahorses
Posted: March 03 2006 at 7:26pm |
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Suzy this ones for you\. Can I keep a lionfish(dwarf) with sea horses or do you think it is a bad idea?
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Connie
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Posted: March 03 2006 at 10:22pm |
 Ican see the look on her face now.....
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I have flying monkeys and I'm not afraid to use them.
180 gallon money pit that I love.....
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Rocky
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Posted: March 03 2006 at 11:01pm |
I imagine it would be an expensive way to feed a lion.
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Rocky Phillips
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OceanBlueSky
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Posted: March 04 2006 at 12:04am |
Ohhhh, very bad. My guess is that the lion would eat it. They tend to eat anything that moves and is the same size or smaller then them. Doesn't matter what it is. Even if it didn't eat the seahorses you'd need monster filtration to keep the water quality up for the horses.
Edited by OceanBlueSky
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Arthur
220 Reef, 90 Lightning & RBTA, 7 nano
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Firefish
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Posted: March 04 2006 at 12:18am |
WOW!! That is a really funny question and I'm sure you are going to get some great funny answers. I will try and give you a straight answer and then I will give you my funny answer. A lionfish might even eat a rock if it looks like a fish and is smaller than a Volkswagon Beetle. They sometimes die from overeating. In other words they are dumb, but then again, so are seahorses. I imagine for a little while the seehorses will think that it is really cool to hang out on the dorsal fins of this great dumb fish, that is until it gets sucked in by the cavernous mouth of their great looking hitching post. Ok so maybe that was both my funny...and my serious answer. I am just trying to keep this bumped up to make sure that Suzy does see this.
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OceanBlueSky
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Posted: March 04 2006 at 12:51am |
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Lionfish will even eat things they don't intend to eat. I had a dragon wrasse in my tank for 2 days. He was longer then the lionfish, so I figured he'd be alright. Well, the dragon wrasse liked to chase after the blue damsels, and it just so happens he was chasing after one as the lion fish was eating one, and the lion got both fish at once. He swam around with half the dragon hanging out of his mouth for 3 days, before it finally went all the way down.
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Arthur
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Oscapus
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Posted: March 04 2006 at 12:10pm |
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Boy, if for some reason the lionfish left them alone, that would be one great show. My seahorses hitch to anything, and even ride each other around. I can just see a lion with 4 seahorses hitched on top! I used to have 2 Brazilian seahorses about 10 inches tall, those might be big enough to disinterest a dwarf lion? They probably would not compete for the same food either....
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RockStarFish
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Posted: March 04 2006 at 1:41pm |
Ok so it was a dumb ? I just thought I would ask becsuse my dwarf lion has never bothered a fish in my tank since I have had him and dosn't act to aggresive towards any of the other inhabitence in the tank.
Sorry if I have affended anyone (suzy) 
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: March 04 2006 at 2:14pm |
Until they are answered, all questions seem dumb. 
Let's look at this from another viewpoint. The question could be:
If the Dwarf Lionfish has not bothered any other fish in your tank, what would prevent you from trying Seahorses?
Looking at it that way, I ask:
What are the other fishes and what size?
What does this Lion eat?
How long has it lived with these fish in this tank?
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Firefish
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Posted: March 04 2006 at 3:57pm |
You must have affended her, I thought it was a great question. You should try it, you never know until you try it. I had two seahorses with a carpet anemone in the same tank.....of course they were eaten the first night. Watching the seahorses when they were alive, I could tell that they knew to stay clear of the anemone by the way that they steered clear of it. After retrieving them from the mouth of the anemone I discovered why it happened. Their tails were still locked together with one another. That would explain why it happened because they are very clumbsy when linked together. I learned something though. I think it would be a good experiment to try if you are willing to accept the results.
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Gahlenfr
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Posted: March 04 2006 at 11:10pm |
Great question. I know of a rat snake that lives with a hamster and eats mice. The hamster was put in as a fuzzy for the snake to eat. Well instead it sleeps with the hamster....... Go figure I would not try it however.
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Mike Savage
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Posted: March 05 2006 at 12:13am |
I thought it was a good question. I guess I just didn't realize how dumb lionfish are. 
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Connie
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Posted: March 05 2006 at 8:28am |
I didnt think it was a dumb question... I just know how Suzy is with her horses... She has done amazing things to keep them alive, happy, and even raised their young...
I wish I had asked a few more "dumb" questions before doing dumb things...
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I have flying monkeys and I'm not afraid to use them.
180 gallon money pit that I love.....
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Suzy
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Posted: March 05 2006 at 5:48pm |
 Firefish wrote:
In other words they are dumb, but then again, so are
seahorses. . |
Geez, I leave for a weekend and come home to this!!!! I might expect this comment from a redneck??!! I really don't think you can take a wild animal out of it's natural environment and then label it as stupid because it does what it has been ingrained to do for centuries! But, I might tend to agree with Mark here. If your fish has been docile toward his tankmates, he MIGHT not bother the seahorse... But, I think you might have trouble finding a large enough seahorse. It is very expensive for breeders to raise these fish to large sizes so most of the ones available are pretty small and if they will fit in the mouth of the lion, it will be a very expensive lesson for all of us? I've found in my experiences with seahorses that there are many myths about them. We might not find out the "truth" about them 'till some start trying different things. But, it won't be me!!!
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RockStarFish
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Posted: March 05 2006 at 7:42pm |
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My lion is a DWARF and onley about 2-21/2 in big and hasn't got much bigger since I have had him.I think I might try it and take one for the team .And I realy hope it works.
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Mike Savage
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Posted: March 05 2006 at 9:19pm |
Suzy wrote:
I might expect this comment from a redneck??!!
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Huh? 
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Suzy
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Posted: March 06 2006 at 7:02am |
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He is!!!! It's just a good thing his face is so cute so nobody notices the
back of neck!!!
There is one more thing to consider...
Your lion might eat a lot faster than the seahorse, and seahorses have
very short digestive tracks. To thrive, they need frequent feedings, a little
bit, often? I am only able to feed mine twice a day, but because they are
alone, I can feed them 'till they are satiated. With other fish in the tank,
the food won't be able to just sit there 'till some cutie seahorse eats it!
I'm not saying don't try it if you feel comfortable, but maybe have a back
up plan if it doesn't work? Like maybe a sump heaven for the dwarf? (Not
really, maybe put the seahorse there?)
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RockStarFish
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Posted: March 06 2006 at 7:36pm |
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I have the lion in my 55gl reef right now and I am setting up a 150 for my reef and was thinking of making yhe 55 into a horse tank aftter the switch so there will be plenty of room for all. Oh and my lion will only eat live food and I feed him once or twice a week ( depends on how many times I want to go to the pet store)
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Suzy
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Posted: March 06 2006 at 7:41pm |
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So, the lion can go into the big tank and the 55 will be a hot planted
seahorse tank?
'Cause the lion might not eat your adult seahorses, but for sure it will eat
the fry...
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RockStarFish
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Posted: March 06 2006 at 8:48pm |
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That was my plan. I was thinking of starting a 10gl seahorse tank until then
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