Damsels or Clowns? Or somthing else...

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

I want a small SW setup and was looking at some Clowns or Damsels...it would only be a 5gal. Seeing how clowns Max out at 3" I would get an anemone for the tank aswell. And Coral substrate. whateva I need just tell me, or suggest another fish.

saw some nudibranc (spelling) they looked sweet.
Small colourful slug from Sri-lanka

what do you think? If not I guess I will have suffice with my FreshWater fishies

[mogurnda]

Clowns will get too big for a tank of that size, as will damsels. An anemone would be unnecessary and impossible. There are small goby species, in the genus gobiodon, that may be OK. Neon gobies are hardy and very small. The odds will be against you, though, starting with such a tiny tank. Very hard to keep such a small system stable.

I don't want to discourage you from going marine, but I have a couple of suggestions. First, buy or borrow a copy of Bob Fenner's Conscientious Marine Aquarist. It is more up to date than most marine aquarium books, and it will answer a lot of your questions. I bet you a buck that you'll be glad you read it. Second, buy a bigger tank. This is a case where bigger is better.

The sale of colorful nudibranchs should simply be banned. They are almost all very specialized for certain food species, mostly sponges, so they will simply starve to death in most tanks. Bill Rudman, one of the world's experts runs the Sea Slug Forum (http://www.seaslugforum.net/welcome.htm), if you wan to learn a lot about these guys. He has a section on captive husbandry, and the upshot is that you shouldn't even try. There are a few species that will eat algae, but they aren't as pretty.

Hate to be a downer, but I always try to push people in the direction of long-term success. Stick with FW for the moment, and collect equipment for a marine tank as you go.

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

ok, your honesty is most appreciated. I was just wondering about SW fishes that was all, and thougt that my 5gal is so boring I may be able to colour it up with a different fish of some sort.

I will stick to freahwater fish for now and then I may turn my 30" into a SW setup.

What are your thoughts on seahorses? How big do they get?

[mogurnda]

That is a possibility. Small horses, like H. zosterae, apparently do quite well in small tanks. Have a look at seahorse.org (http://www.seahorse.org/), and you might get some ideas.

[TKOS]

If you are interested in small or nano tanks then read the articles at www.nano-reef.com

Very informative. People do keep such small sw tanks and even smaller, but generally it is best to do a invert only tank, snails and crabs and maybe a small starfish in such a small setup. Plus you really need to cram as much Live Rock in there as you can to keep the water params good and that really stops the addition if a lot of types of fish.

By the way I would suggest never getting an anemone for a cpative tank. They tend to die very fast in most tanks (6 month to maybe a year at most in a lot of cases) and these are creatures that can live hundreds of years sometimes.

[Mystroe_TheMyst]

thanks for the info, I will look into the seahorse's and starfish idea's. Maybe in the future I will use a larger tank for a SW setup. I will keep the thought in the back of my head, until one day I am willing to do it.

thanks again...