Good fish for a beginner

[Sawyer]

I recently started getting really interested in saltwater fish. I've been researching on them and its pretty overwhelming so I thought I'd ask here what fish would be best for a beginner. I'm looking for fish and inverts that arent hard to feed, won't need a very big tank (55g or smaller), and aren't expensive. I like pretty much all saltwater fish, especially gobies.

How much more expensive is keeping saltwater fish than freshwater? I've read about special lighting, skimmers, sumps, and how peoples electric bills go up a lot from their saltwater tanks... does that go for all saltwater fish? And do they all need live sand and live rock? Does buying salt for the tank cost a lot?

I won't be getting saltwater fish for a LONG time, just researching for now.

 

[Lycanthropic]

Ive heard ocellaris clownfish are hardy fish for a beginner saltie

 

[TropicalNorth]

A 55g is a great size to start out with, its not so big you need a sump but it is big enough to have a variety of fish and other critters. And in the scheme of things its not that expensive.

On a 55g you'll need a skimmer, one of the good hang-on models would be fine. No need to go all out here but the better the skimmer the better the water quality will be. If your not going to keep corals then the lighting can be whatever you want, just something strong enough so the fish look nice. Fluorescent is fine and won't use much electricity. The high power bills are usually associated with high wattage lights for corals. Skimmers, pumps, powerheads and fluoros don't use much power.

There is also the expense of all the extra stuff like salt, test kits, heater etc but the main costs are tank, stand, skimmer and lights (depending on what you want). Buy salt in bulk and it works out as less than couple of bucks a week.

Live rock can be a big expense too but you can easily get base rock and a small amount of live rock which will turn the base rock into live rock after a few months. This saves money but it takes a bit longer for the cycle to be complete. I started out with a lot of base rock and after 4 months you couldn't tell the difference between the two.

You don't have to have substrate but it looks good and is sorta needed for bottom dwelling gobies etc. Live sand is definately not a must (whatever you put in will turn live anyway). Also I recently changed my tank to a fine-ish white silica sand (heaps cheaper) and have had great results, no algae and stays clean.

Fish wise clowns, blennies and certain species of goby are all good beginner fish. Many wrasses can also be fairly hardy. Dottybacks are known to be a bit aggressive but they are hardy too. A pair of tank bred clowns though is a great place to start. There are lots of choices really, as well as inverts such as shrimps, hermits, snails.

The longer you take in the planning, set-up and cycle stages the cheaper and better the tank will end up. Especially if you spend time looking for secondhand gear. Saltwater is more expensive than freshwater, but if you don't want all the flash gear and just want to keep healthy fish then it can be done on the cheap.

 

[Sawyer]

Thanks, that was a lot of help to me!

I have some more questions. can I not use tap water for SW tanks? You put conditioner in SW same as you would for FW, right? Do you add more salt when you do a WC? Are hermit crabs, snails, and shrimp all okay together? Like the hermit crab won't eat the shrimp/snails/fish and the shrimp won't eat the snails?

Yeah, I'll be getting everything second hand off craigslist probably. So it shouldn't cost too much.

 

[mak3mydae]

Good idea on the craigslist buy you may want to look up local marine/reef groups in your area for cheap LR. For example, i live in boston,ma and my local reef group is the Boston Reefers Society. Sounds nerdy . But you can get lr for 2-3 dollars a lb versus 10 dollars a pound at a LFS. You could also cure the rock yourself.

Its really really bad to use tap water for saltwater. You really want to use RO/DI water and then mix salt with it. You also want to use RO/DI water to top off. top off is when where is evaporation and the amount of salt, calcium, magnesium, etc in the water becomes more concentrated. by adding RO/DI water you are diluting this. (sorry if you already know that) When you add salt to a batch of RO/DI water you want to wait at least a day because the water is corrosive when you first mix it up.

As for compatability, you have to look up the kinds of shrimp, fish, crabs etc you are getting. Suppose you are trying to get a lionfish, you deffinatly cant keep a sexy shrimp or pom pom crab. You really have to do some research on the kinds of livestock you are getting. IMO, i hate hermitcrabs. Theyre so stupid and clumsy and they step all over corals. but its your choice.

I live with my parents since im still young so i dont know how high the electricity bill is but im sure its significanly higher.

Some good starter fish.. Hm... +1 t ocelaris clowns. i personally hate clowns sicne everyone has em.
-bi color blenny
-hi fin banded goby / rose goby
-Porcelain crab
- Avoid dragonets (mandarin fish, scooter blennies)
-mollys, guppys (lol)
-fire fish
- Neon goby
-Sharknose goby
-PINK BAR GOBYS theyre really expensive though
if you dont want inverts lionfish are AMAZING

Good luck!

 

[lukemeister]

i personally hate clowns sicne everyone has em.

ha that's kinda the way I feel too, even though I have some clowns and like them - but I hate that everybody calls the orange one "nemo" worse than anything else

But clowns are great to start out with, I agree. I've found them to be pretty personable as well, if that doesn't sound weird.

I like snails over hermit crabs. Whenever I've had hermits they seem to kill each other over time. All I have right now is a bunch of different types of snails, no crabs, and they all get along.

For hardware, building stuff can sometimes be a lot cheaper than buying it -mainly in terms of building a stand or hood instead of buying one. But used stuff can be had for so cheap sometimes it's kind of a wash anyways I guess.

 

[Conski]

How much more expensive is keeping saltwater fish than freshwater?

A nice little clown is hardy!
let me tell you something man SW is a whole different realm its alot more money but the results are worth it.. stick with FOWLR or else youll be addicted to corals fast..

 

[wongster]

All advice looks good. Only other thing I'd say is that clowns are as most people would say are hardy. however, would say that they are territorial (my always nips at me when I stick my hand in the tank :0) ) I love them though.
If you plan to get more fish and some that are less territorial/agressive just be aware that you should always try to add the least agressive first and the most agressive last. this gives them all the best chance to get on and the shy ones a chance to settle in and grow in confidence before dealing with more agressive fish. I'm sure you've already ready that and you're definitely doing the right thing in taking your time. I got a six lined wrasse, a pair of clowns and a red spot fymo (the latter was the hardest of the 3) and now am seeing things that I would have preferred and should have put in first :0( don't get me wrong. I'm happy with my tank and it's occupants.
Good luck