I want colorful fish!

There are colorful freshwater fish out there, but you seem pretty set on saltwater. Just take it slow and get want you want. Dont impulse buy, and research all your purchases ahead of time. If you are using the same tank, be prepared to spend extra money on substrate, live rock, lights, filter, and powerhead(s).

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Hey the Scats are kinda cool and the gold fish looks great.

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These frontosa are cool and goldfish are always nice.

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Lol.. I never use the 1 in per fish rule.
my rule is... GIVE THEM AS MUCH SPACE AS POSSIBLE!
 
I agree there are all kinds of colorful fish in the fresh water world.. Just look in the cichlid family.
 
ideas1400, I had never seen the Ruby scat (Scatophagus argus) before, certainly not at local fish stores. The brackish fish present interesting alternatives. (Although this has dots and not stripes.)
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Your Frontosa cichlid (Cyphotilapia frontosa) pic is beautiful . . . awesome nuchal humps too! Drs. Foster & Smith have a faded pic. (below)
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I got a 125 gal wet/dry, and I've had it running for a month. The lfs guy says it can biofilter an enormous amount of waste, and that the limiting factor for overcrowding would only be territories and aggression.
Yeah, he offered to sell me a $1200 ORP/millivolt computer/probe with a denitrator/deniballs. He keeps a beautiful bare-bottom reef tank using that setup, but that's still pricey for me.
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ddot, was that a Firemouth cichlid pic that you posted? I couldn't really identify him.
grins, I was surprised to learn the Clownfish is a damselfish. My friends 1" blue damsel is alone after killing his 2 brothers.
The lfs guy say the severums can develop some nice colors
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FWIW, my ammonia has been reading 0ppm, and the nitrates between 5 and 10ppm. I guess I could give up the catfish and the knifefish.
 
I would tell you to keep Discuss. And the Millenium Discuss and Ruby and Red Rose Discuss are like very beautiful. You can also opt for Pigeon Blood Discuss. Because they are the most wicked (cool) of all the freshwater fish and Scats can be kept in freshwater if you follow proper procedures to convert them to FW. I can oprovide you with articals that can help you do that.

And about what you said regarding filter. Do not over crow the cichilds they would like kill each other for space. Discuss are also cichild so either get 1 or 6. Any number between would certainly result in deaths.
 
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