Just set up my first salt tank.

A 55 is not a permanent home for a Stars and Stripes Puffer. They get well over a foot long, and are a very messy fish. It's an interesting question as to whether you'll run out of physical space or filtration capacity first. If you want a nice Puffer suitable for a 55 get a "brackish" Green Spotted and acclimate it to full SW. Adults normally live in the ocean. But I wouldn't keep one with a Lion, particularly a shyer one like a Dwarf unless the tank was at least 6' long and heavily scaped.

how do you do

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Anything that's peaceful and far too big for the Lion to even think about swallowing.

55 is to small for tangs. Clowns should be doable. With Dragonets if you don't have a sump to raise pods make sure its a type thats easily trainable to take frozen foods, and big at purchase size not to be eaten by the lion, didn't see what exact dwarf lion it is your talking about.

Even Dwarf Lion will get 4" long. A Clown would have to be huge to be beyond considering. I'd look at an Angel in the genus Genicanthus like a Lamarck, a Swallowtail, or a Bellus. The tank is kind of marginal in size. If you chose a Fu Manchu Lion you would have more choices of tankmates as they're the smallest species of Lionfish I'm aware of.

SubRosa said:

Even Dwarf Lion will get 4" long. A Clown would have to be huge to be beyond considering. I'd look at an Angel in the genus Genicanthus like a Lamarck, a Swallowtail, or a Bellus. The tank is kind of marginal in size. If you chose a Fu Manchu Lion you would have more choices of tankmates as they're the smallest species of Lionfish I'm aware of.

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Can't a couple of the "Dwarf" species get to 6"? Wouldn't a pair of maroon, tomato, or clarkii be safe with one though? Perc's/Oscellaris would be risky for sure. The Fu Manchu's are cool little fellows.