Look to build a new happy ecosystem

[ILikeFish]

I've been to my local pet store to many times lately and keep getting drawn to those pretty colorful tropical fish. I ran into a guy who told me about reef tanks, and after visiting this store he suggested near my house I'd like to build one. So far I think I'm more interested in the invertebrates namely having a school of shrimp wallking around.

All the info I've found is a little overwhelming. I was drawn to a nice 55gal tank but wonder for the extra couple bucks if a 75+ would be nicer?

Looking at some of your members (Carl Menard) I see he has a 300gal tank but only 20 fish?? Is wanting like 30-40 1"-3" fish of various compatiable species a daydream??

I like the idea of a full ecosystem. A) its nice, and B) its the way the fish was intended to live. So far I'd decided I'd like the following fish and invertebrates.

1 Blue "Dory" Tang
Small school of 5-10 fire shrimp.
Would like a clown and proper anemone (understand they dont do well with corals??)
Electric Scallops
Clams
Various Gobies
Fighting Conch
royal gramma
Turbo snails
Hermit carbs
Starfish or 2
Some sort of small crab maybe an arrow crab?
What about zebra crabs and/or coleman shrimp??
Other then that I dont really know of a resource to get fimiliar with others types of fish??? As for books I feel their info is usually dated and the internet and forums such as this are a far better resource.

Where is a good place to get exotic species without costing me a fortune, and also getting healthy specimens.
Also what about trading I saw a guy bring stuff in to sell/trade What's the costs to run a fair sized tank??
If anyone could provide some help a new enthusiast I'd great appreciate it

Thanks

Brandon

[Anthony Calfo]

Brandon... there is much to say, and so much that cannot be taught/told in the brevity of this short form/forum.

Let me start first by strongly suggesting that you invest in several good books (fundamentals of husbandry do not get dated my friend [the animals/needs do not change]... and Internet data is largely innacurate and unverifiable... please do take this to heart as you read information that has no reliable biblio or references). Begin with marine aquarium fundamentals in Mike Paletta's "New Marine Aquarium" and Bob Fenners "Conscientious Marine Aquarist". For more specifics on reefkeeping... John Tullocks work is excellent... Eric Bornemans for pics and care of corals specifically (excellent! his "Aquarium Corals")... and for comprehensive husbandry if I may (few pics though) the first half of my "Book of Coral Propagation". All but one of the above are 2001 or more recent.

Some comments/concerns about your initial decision:

- a 55 or 75 gallon is not even remotely large enough to humanely IMO keep a Blue tang for its lifespan. Please always research adult sizes for the fish you will keep from reputable sources like fishbase.org Fish do not gow to their tanks size... they simply stunt and die prematurely in most cases and/or conduct unnatural aggression/behavior in unnaturally small confines.

- scallops cannot be kept well by even the most advanced aquarists... they slowly starve to death (months usually). Without a deep sand bed and/or a refugium established for a year or more, I don't see these scallops faring well.

- please do resist all/any crabs for best success in reef aquaria (they are opportunistic predators) and a problematic in the long run.

- the fighting conch will be hard on your deep sand bed and may need to be skipped

- You are correct... anemones (motile stinging cnidarians) do not mix well or naturally with corals (sessile cnidarians)

- for starfish... stick with serpent or brittle starfishes, the "stiff armed" species (Asteroids like Blue Linckia, Choc. Chips, etc) will need mature aquariums of 100 gallons or more per starfish.

For very comprehensive and current ;) info on reef invertbrates (everything on the reef except cnidarians... those are set for vol. 3)... do check out my "Reef Invertebrates" book with Fenner (2003).

the last and perhaps best piece of advice I can give you is to find a local or regional aquarium society for excellent fellowship, local guidance on LFS outlets and support (seeing local tanks, trading, etc).

Welcome to the hooby :)

And best of luck!

Anthony