Good Or Bad Idea

[Chris_112]

Im just Starting to kepp fish and im really intersted in keeping marine fish but im not entirely sure if i should as i have heard that they are extremely hard to keep can anyone maybe advise me what to do

Chris

 

[enjoiskater158]

Weclome to TFF. I would say that marine aquariums take more time and effort than freshwater, but i think the rewards are far worth it. When i started out I did keep some freshwater fish but shortly switched over to the salty side. Before i started salt I also heard it was extreamly hard to keep saltwater but its not as hard as alot of people say, you just need to be very patient and not rush. If you just read everything you can before starting you should be ok Also we are here to anwser any of the questions you might have

 

[Lynden]

Chris, I find that marine fish are easier to care for than freshwater fish. Though I don't (and don't plan to) keep any stony corals. That is where you can end up hitting problems, since you have to measure calcium, alkalinity, et cetera with stony corals.

I personally like softs better anyways. More "life" to them. But, Stonies do have their good points, such as high growth rates, docile temperment, and colour. Though how I tend to think of it is that the fish are the colour (and livelihood) in a tank; the corals are the texture. Thus, it wouldn't matter to me if a coral was pasty gray; if it has a nice shape, I like it.

Or, you could just have a fish-only tank. If I had kept corals already, I would be leaning towards one of those; you can tell by my stock list. But, I do want to give Corals a(nother) try.

-Lynden

 

[Redstratplayer1]

I never did freshys i just jumped right in.....

 

[Navarre]

Hi and wecome to TFF forums.

I have kept both freshwater and marines and i must say with all honesty that if you follwoa few simple steps and take your time to research the hobby then you wil find marines to be far easier than freshwater. Of course things get harder if you take the stonye corals or anenome route but with a fish only or even a softy coral tank you will find then very easy to keep.

Feel free to ask any questions on the hobby, we have a great team family here and they are all more than willing to answer your questions

 

[sianeds]

Navarre is right, with plenty of research and lots of patience you can have a beautiful marine tank.

 

[Chris_112]

Thank you all for you opinions i have decided to take up on marine fish

I shall read up and do my homework on marine fish and shall hopefully have it up in running soon

once again i thank you all for your help !

Chris

 

[flamingonhot]

Same but..

At least start with a ten gallon fw tank beforehand. I don't mean this in a stereotype or rude comment... but there are literally 30 billion new posts a day with new fishkeepers screaming because they don't know what cycling is or don't even know what a water change is. Just a saying- most new people have trouble with just those small issues,.. let alone starting up a sw tank. As long as you do research- go for it, but it's best to start with some experience first...

I hope this works out!

 

[Lynden]

I don't agree. There is little that a ten gallon freshwater tank can do to prepare someone for a marine tank.

 

[afmo]

I was always afraid to try marine because there is this pervasive myth flying around that saltwater tanks are so hard to keep. Really not the case. It does require a lot of research and dilligence, but i dont think its any harder than a FW.

 

[sianeds]

If anything I think it's harder for someone to learn to keep FW then change over to SW. Pretty much everything you learn about keeping a healthy FW tank doesn't apply to SW. How many posts do we get from FW keepers asking if they really need live rock etc. After learning that you need mechanical filtration to keep a healthy tank, being told to take your filter off and just use rocks and powerheads can seem a little scary. If you want SW then get SW and save yourself the headscratching.

 

[bobf]

If anything I think it's harder for someone to learn to keep FW then change over to SW. Pretty much everything you learn about keeping a healthy FW tank doesn't apply to SW. How many posts do we get from FW keepers asking if they really need live rock etc. After learning that you need mechanical filtration to keep a healthy tank, being told to take your filter off and just use rocks and powerheads can seem a little scary. If you want SW then get SW and save yourself the headscratching.

I've done both (and still do!) and wouldn't really say either is harder/easier, just different.

Things like using RO water and mixing the salt etc is a bit of a pain, but on the other hand the fact that the incidence of undesirable algae is virtually nil in my salty experience is much nicer. (Even after using a UV filter on the FW tank - still haven't hooked it up to the salty tank yet, probably won't do either) Also, it seems to me that the salty tank is always a lot cleaner (fish crap wise) that FW ever was/is.

I always preferred sand in my FW tanks which looks nice but shows everything up, but I get the impression that a bunch of snails/hermits and shrimp in a salty tank makes life a lot easier in that respect. Cleaning a skimmer cup is a two minute job where as cleaning a big external on a 50 gal FW tank took most of the morning.

I'd say that if you take your time, go down the live rock route and don't overstock or cut corners you'll find it easy enough!

 

[poo-tang]

i never really kept FW serioursly. i jumped right to SW and i think it was better...because i didn't try appling FW techniques/rules/ideas that have absolutely no bearing on SW. anyways i think the biggest consideration when determining which is easier is what you want to keep. if it is fish only then i think SW is the same or easier. its the corals and such when you start seeing your reading time and money spent go way up. the equipment can get crazy for a reef tank not to mention the chemistry. and lighting is very difficult especially on a budget. if money is not a concern then SW reef keeping would be a breeze for me...i could just buy top of the line equipment.

the owner of my LFS told me before i started, success startes with quality equipment. i wasn't sure if he was just trying to sell me stuff but he was right, if i had just purchased alll the stuff you need right away it woulda been much easier...that however just isnn't feasible for most of us.

don't be disscouraged, even reef-keeping can be done on the cheap, i wouldn't want to try it though.