new saltwater tank questions

[Reefscape]

Good info above, please read the following article which is very informative to your thoughts on the tank..

http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/dwarfKeeping.shtml

Dont go down the clown fish route with a 5.5 gallon tank. If you petstore manager is good with his knowledge on marine fish keeping, he/she should also be advising you as such.

You mentioned in post number 3 that you store manager is helping you pick the right filter to cycle the tank...What exactly has he/she told you about cycling a tank? You do not need a specific filter to cycle a tank, in fact, you dont need a filter at all for a marine system if setup correctly. A tank is cylced by using an ammonia source, whether it be pure ammonia, uncured live rock or a raw prawn/shrimp..So, a little clarrification is needed on this point regarding what he has told you..

Hope this helps..

Niko

 

[salty420]

:iagree: great response niko. honestly im a little worried about any experienced person that is advising you that a 5.5g is suitable for a breeding pair of clowns (which #1 it is not and #2 though clownfish are very easy to breed it is very difficult to raise the young) or that someone with no sw experience should attempt seahorses. that being said, best of luck to you. my best advice is to do a ton of research on your own to gain knowledge to suppliment the advice given to you by your friend.

 

[Grins]

I am as well. I also wish to underscore what a great site seahorse.org is for seahorses in general. They also have forums there and I'd read them thoroughly before making the decision to start a seahorse tank

 

[Sbn_Jsh]

My experience with the dwarfs was an exspensive mess. I had read that they were easy to keep so I decided they would be my first saltwater fish. I could't find any locally so i checked the internet and found some on ebay, another bad idea, when I got them they did fine but keeping up on the brine shrimp was hard and they ended up dieing from something that im not sure of. I was pretty good at freshwater at the time too. I would suggest something easier like the clownfish in a bigger tank.

 

[Sbn_Jsh]

They were wild caught which is not good either by the way which is a reason i think they died too.

 

[Grins]

Yikes, where did you read they were easy? They aren't a beginner species at all.