Advice Needed: I Want to start an AQUARIUM w/ a "FINDING NEMO" collection and need advice.

[WayneTeK]

to all the fish lovers, I need your expert advice:


1. Is it hard to maintain an aqarium w/ a puffer fish, clown fish, and cleaning shrimp?
2. How often must you feed it? I've found twice a day but i think this is too frequent.
3. Do you guys recommend SALT WATER or FRESHWATER Aqarium?


I plan on having the whole FINDING NEMO fish collection, but it'll take time. I wanna start w/ a puffer fish, clown fish, and cleaning shrimp first.

 

[0roo0roo]

omg, start reading books now. don't be one of those pet owners that got em on a whim from a disney movie.

 

[OulOat]

Money down the drain. Saltwater aquarium ecosystems are expensive and very delicate. If this is your first aquarium you are better off with cheaper and hardier freshwater systems. Goldfish (any kind, not just the regular feeder fish), although not the flashest, are excellent intro fish and can survive in all sorts of wierd conditions. Step above would be common tropical fishes, like mollies, guppies, or tetras.

Edit --
Another reason why you shouldn't start with an expensive saltwater collection is that you have no idea the amount of maintenance it takes to keep your fish alive. Goldfish will tolerate poor sanitation, low aeration, a wide range of temperature, and a lot of stress. Basically they won't die if you forgot to do something, which can't be said about saltwater fishes.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
omg, start reading books now. don't be one of those pet owners that got em on a whim from a disney movie.

agreed. Saltwater setups are high cost and high maintenance, which is why you see few of them. In fact i've never seen one at anybody's home except in a book store. Most of us who've kept fish know how much of a pain it can be keeping a freshwater going. A saltwater is much more work and more costly when you kill your fish. Buy a cat.

 

[WayneTeK]

geeze...

Puffer fish, most of them are Freshwater right?

I guess i'll just get myself a nice PUFFER freshwater fish and enjoy it's unique appearance.

 

[oniq]

My dad has a saltwater aquarium, just recently he went and purchased a bunch of snails to clean it up a bit. Unfortunately, they cleaned up too well. They must have had some disease because all but one of the fish died, we had some that were 2 years old. Two Nemos (Clown fish) too 🙁

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I had a marine tank an it was the easiest thing you could imagine.

A 50 gallon tank, two undergravel filters, and random not live coral. A couple of airstones, and an exterior filter hung on the tank. pH was always good, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates all fine.



You need to know 3 things.

The requirements of the particilar fish

Some knowlege of water chemistry

The understanding that overcrowding is death, no if ands or buts.


You are VERY low on the learning curve. Read, read, read. I mean BOOKS. Internet stuff is fine, but print is more complete, unless someone had made a hundred page well thought out and illustrated site devoted solely to the basics.
FAQs kill.

My concessions to this setup were to never overcrowd, to do weekly water tests, and no invertebrates.

The only reason I lost the fish after years was that the heater freaked out and I had fish soup after coming home one day. Well crap happens, but this to say it can be done easily with thought, knowlege and patience. Once set up, it can be fairly self maintaining.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith
I had a marine tank an it was the easiest thing you could imagine.

A 50 gallon tank, two undergravel filters, and random not live coral. A couple of airstones, and an exterior filter hung on the tank. pH was always good, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates all fine.



You need to know 3 things.

The requirements of the particilar fish

Some knowlege of water chemistry

The understanding that overcrowding is death, no if ands or buts.


You are VERY low on the learning curve. Read, read, read. I mean BOOKS. Internet stuff is fine, but print is more complete, unless someone had made a hundred page well thought out and illustrated site devoted solely to the basics.
FAQs kill.

My concessions to this setup were to never overcrowd, to do weekly water tests, and no invertebrates.

The only reason I lost the fish after years was that the heater freaked out and I had fish soup after coming home one day. Well crap happens, but this to say it can be done easily with thought, knowlege and patience. Once set up, it can be fairly self maintaining.

How can that be "the easiest thing you could imagine" if he has to read books for it?! You can buy a goldfish from a pet store, throw it into a bowl with some de-chlorinating fluid, and feed it every once in a while and that's IT!

 

[flot]

Yeah, Saltwater tanks are considerably harder than freshwater tanks to maintain.

I agree, this is like running out and buying your kid a dalmation.

That said, salt tanks are NOT impossible... but you will spend a lot of $$ and they do require pretty constant upkeep. However unlike a freshwater tank which has a very specific amount of work involved, salt tanks will vary dramatically based on what you have living in it. Just to give you an example, I have one friend whose saltwater tank probably consists of the tank, lights, a basic filter, and just a lot of watching the water balance etc. Not much worse than freshwater, equipment wise. I have another friend who has $600 of lights, which get so hot he then has a $200 "chiller" to keep the tank water under 90 degrees, and then he has probably 4 filters, 8 powerheads, etc. In fact, he has so much nonsense in his tank he was actually talking about getting a computer interface to help him monitor it.

Saltwater tanks can EASILY be a more expensive hobby than computers!

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: WayneTeK
geeze...

Puffer fish, most of them are Freshwater right?

I guess i'll just get myself a nice PUFFER freshwater fish and enjoy it's unique appearance.

Have you even googled the subject? Puffers are mostly saltwater fish, and they are non-standard fish, which means even if you find a freshwater species, it's going to cost you.

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
How can that be "the easiest thing you could imagine" if he has to read books for it?! You can buy a goldfish from a pet store, throw it into a bowl with some de-chlorinating fluid, and feed it every once in a while and that's IT!

That's NOT it!!!

Goldfish deserve the best care you can give them. In a bowl they will require daily water replacements, and only feed every 2-3 days. Even then they will die much sooner than if they had a real aquarium.

Goldfish are carp, and as such can grow to 12" or longer in proper conditions. How big was your goldfish when it died?

OP: Buy a book. Talk to a local pet store... A ma&pa store, NOT PetSuperDooperPooperScooperMart or whatever. They'll give you good information and help you get what you need.

 

[freebee]

Easiest tanks to keep are cold, freshwater tanks. You can keep goldfish, koi, danios, minnows, etc. Size has to be much bigger due to water temp, my 55 gal holds only 2 small goldfish, 1 approx 2.5 inch koi (who hasn't grown much for the last year...) and a few 1 inch danios.

Coldwater tanks require no heater, just a bit more filtration,which I run twin power filters and an air pump. PWC every week or so.

I figure in a year or so, the danios will be dead (or eaten), the koi approx 6 inch, and the goldfish 3-4. Eventually, have to get rid of the goldfish and just keep 1 indoor koi in 55 gal.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

The secret to successful saltwater aquariums is size. The bigger the better. The greater the water volume the less sensitive it will be to ammonia of nitrate spikes that'll kill the fish.Very few people have the skill to maintain a small marine setup and a beginner should not consider anything less than 100 gallons. In many reguards a full reef tank is easier to maintain than a fish only tank as the live rock, live sand, corals, inverts, etc, actually work together to eat the algae and bacteria that could be harmful. You need to choose livestock carefully so that you don't wind up with too many species that eat one thing and none that eat something else.

The problem with reefs is that they're very sensitive to water flow, temps and lighting. You're tank must be set up almost perfectly so that species get along, the inverts that need high lighting can get it, the fish that need dark caves have them, the crabs that need strong current have it, etc etc etc. It's a giant jigsaw puzzle and ALL the pieces must fit or all might die. For a successful reef tank, expect to invest $3,000-$4,000+ up front before you even start adding fish and corals.

And forget getting a Nemo tank, many of the species in that tank are not particularly compatable with each other and would not peacefully cohabitate in real life. Puffers and shrimp are troublesome because puffers eat shrimp. You could have a reef with a clownfish, blue tang, cleaner shrimp, etc, but adding a puffer would likely wreck things.

 

[bleeb]

Get a dawg.

 

[MustangSVT]

Originally posted by: OulOat

Originally posted by: WayneTeK
geeze...

Puffer fish, most of them are Freshwater right?

I guess i'll just get myself a nice PUFFER freshwater fish and enjoy it's unique appearance.

Have you even googled the subject? Puffers are mostly saltwater fish, and they are non-standard fish, which means even if you find a freshwater species, it's going to cost you.

its funny when some ppl cant see sarcasm 😀

 

[sharkeeper]

Forget it if you just want to create an icon after a motion picture. You will fail miserably.

Additionally, something overlooked by everyone is one of the specimens you would want to keep (Zanclus cornutus--commonly known as Moorish Idols in the trade) are some of the most difficult fish to keep in captivity. They have stringent dietary needs, and well as a desirable habitat to thrive. 99% of the hobbyist aquaria in existence cannot meet these requirements resulting in a high loss ratio. This is a species that should not be sold in public fish stores. The same can be said about elasmobranchs. (sharks)

I consider myself an advanced aquarist; with more than 20 years experience designing predominately marine life support systems. (systems from 200 to 16M liters) I've personally spent over $600k myself in this ridiculous obsessive hobby and yet I don't have all the answers!

Cheers!

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith
I had a marine tank an it was the easiest thing you could imagine.

A 50 gallon tank, two undergravel filters, and random not live coral. A couple of airstones, and an exterior filter hung on the tank. pH was always good, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates all fine.



You need to know 3 things.

The requirements of the particilar fish

Some knowlege of water chemistry

The understanding that overcrowding is death, no if ands or buts.


You are VERY low on the learning curve. Read, read, read. I mean BOOKS. Internet stuff is fine, but print is more complete, unless someone had made a hundred page well thought out and illustrated site devoted solely to the basics.
FAQs kill.

My concessions to this setup were to never overcrowd, to do weekly water tests, and no invertebrates.

The only reason I lost the fish after years was that the heater freaked out and I had fish soup after coming home one day. Well crap happens, but this to say it can be done easily with thought, knowlege and patience. Once set up, it can be fairly self maintaining.

How can that be "the easiest thing you could imagine" if he has to read books for it?! You can buy a goldfish from a pet store, throw it into a bowl with some de-chlorinating fluid, and feed it every once in a while and that's IT!

I had the mistaken impression that learning something from a book would be a pleasure, not a trial. Sorry. 😛

 

[WayneTeK]

Originally posted by: MustangSVT

Originally posted by: OulOat

Originally posted by: WayneTeK
geeze...

Puffer fish, most of them are Freshwater right?

I guess i'll just get myself a nice PUFFER freshwater fish and enjoy it's unique appearance.

Have you even googled the subject? Puffers are mostly saltwater fish, and they are non-standard fish, which means even if you find a freshwater species, it's going to cost you.

its funny when some ppl cant see sarcasm 😀

i did google it... it came out as freshwater.