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[Reret]

Hi I have never even looked into a saltwater tank but I would like one mabe five to ten gallons of corse if price is good I will buy as many books as I can and start reading but what do you need and on the lowest budget btw I live in ca but am happy to ship from other places for products I do not have at my lfs

 

[GrayScale]

Starting a marine tank can be pricey. Do you want it fish only with live rock(fowlr) or a reef with corals? And what fish/corals did you want to keep?

 

[Reret]

Can you have a reef with just corals,I would like lots of corals, shrimp,snails and a fish of some sort

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

Hi, Reret,
You can have fish only, coral only, inverts only - whatever you want....BUT (there's always one of those ) you have to find out about each and every individual species you choose to keep. For example, if you wanted only fish, then you would work out which fish take your fancy (at the moment, I am dead-set determined to get a Madarin Dragonet ) then you research each species and see if they will work together. For example: you might be tempted by Damsels (the fish kind ) because they are pretty and quite cheap to buy. BUT (that word again): if you do a bit of reading about Damsels, you will find that most species are very aggressive toward others of their species and often other fish species. Which means you can't, in good conscience, add anything else that will be bullied by or perhaps eat the Damsel . Also, its a good idea to see if the species you wish to keep are from the same area (the same sea area - Pacific or whatever - or inhabiting the same water column area - bottom, mid-water, surface) and if they eat the same foods - keeping a fish from deep water and a fish from inshore habitats wouldn't be such a good idea - their needs would be too different and therefore too difficult to replicate in the one tank. You have to make sure that the different fish wont bully or harrass eachother, steal food from eachother (some fish are slow moving and miss out at feed time when co-habiting with faster moving fish) or eat eachother. You wouldnt put anything small with, say, a Lionfish. Or cod. Or moray eel. And that's just the fish.
The same goes for corals and inverts - some corals attack other corals, some dont. Some move about your tank looking for food, some dont. Some eat plankton, some eat shrimp, some get food from photosynthesis that is carried out by bacteria (zooxanthellae) that live in the host coral. You need to find out about all these because you don't want to spend $300 on a pair of Blood Shrimp only to have them eaten by an anemone
Then your other inverts - crabs, shrimps, snails, starfish, urchins, etc - some crabs eat algae, some may snack on their tank-mates. Same goes for shrimp, starfish, urchins and snails. You have to be careful keeping certain snails/nudibranches because they can produce a toxic slime that can kill your other tank inhabitants.
THEN: if you decide to keep some fish, some shrimp and crabs, some corals and some snails, you need to learn about EACH so you can work out what will eat what. You want fish that wont eat your shrimp/crabs/snails/urchins/starifish or corals. You want corals that wont eat your shrimp/crabs/snails or other corals. You want shrimp that wont eat your corals or eachother. And so on.
The key is research, research, RESEARCH!! You can see why most people choose to keep only fish or only inverts - its easier to focus on one area of interest.
When you research your potential tank inhabitants, sites will often say that the creature is "Reef Safe". This means that the creature can be kept with corals/anemones as they dont eat them. If you do your own research, you can work out for yourself who is safe with who.
I actually like the idea of Nano tanks because you can keep a lot of tanks and therefore a lot of different creatures - you modify each tanks parameters to suit the individual species being kept rather than struggling to work out all the species that can live together in one big tank. Have fun researching and learning then prepare your tank then finally, acquire specimens. The Great Barrier Reef didnt grow overnight and marine tanks are a long term committment - you can't have one set up and looking like a scene from a diving documentary in a week or two. Or even three. You have to be patient and prepared to wait for your tank to mature and become ready to support your purchases and you have to be willing to wait for the creatures you want/need for your set up. Do NOT impulse buy with marines - it can be bitterly disappointing for both you AND the fish
Anyway, hope this is of some help. Search the net - there's a lot of information available out there and many people willing to lend their expertise to your particular problem/question - just keep asking!!

 

[Reret]

Great

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

also, if you are going to keep only corals and anemones and such, make sure you wear rubber gloves if you have to handle them or the live rock they are on - many corals, etc, have venemous stings that can result in a range of reactions in humans - from a mild oath to emergency hospitalization you never know what you are allergic to so keep an epi-pen or antihistimines in your home at all times in case you or someone else ends up having a bad reaction. Having said that - you shouldnt be needing to mess with them too much if you have your set up fully prepared before you add them and maintain it properly