Another Lionfish Question

[efrank]

I have a 55g tank with 50lbs of LR. Right now I have a tomato and percula 2 inches each. I just added a dragon goby to stir the sand that is about 4 inches. I also have 20 medium snails, 20 blue leg, 3 or 4 scarlet, 3 emerald and 2 large brittles.
Can I add a dwarf to my tank? I think the fish will be OK becasue they won't fit in its mouth but I wanted to see if the lion would mind living with the other creatures or if they prefer to live alone.

 

[dgs174]

according to some others on the forum, those emeralds can hunt your fish. I don't know if that is what you are looking for, but if it isn't you might want to get them out of there.
As to adding a dwarf, i dunno......i've never dealt with them....

 

[skirk]

Your dwarf would be fine as a juvi in there (if all goes as normally planned) but as he grows to his 6-7 in then the other fish may have a problem depending on how small they are. I don't know how big a dragon goby can get but if it's not about 4in the I'd say he could be eaten by a common dwarf lion. These dwarf lions can still eat a nice size meal. Also with that much lr (which seems like a bit much) I wouldn't put a fish in that gets that big. I mean, you have 50lbs lr and 4in of sand. That means you may have 30 gallons of water (guessing) and I think you need to be careful with putting too many fish in it. Ultimately, of course the choice is yours. But I wouldn't do it.
P.S. A fu man chu would probably be fine in the tank if you can keep him. He stays small (3inches) and loves a lot of lr and should be kept with less agressive and community fish (like you have). However, they can be difficult to feed and require live feed to initiate. Some will refuse to feed in captivity and others will eat. I'd say a fu man chu is your best bet, that is if all went fine and you were up to the challenge. Your tank sounds like the perfect place for one of them.
Just my 2cents. HTH.