First SW tank- slight ethics vs. ease question?

[Allecto]

The mister is very interested in having a SW tank. We've been researching them a bit, but have a bit of a disagreement in one issue and would love for the experienced keepers to weigh in.


One of us thinks we should start with the sturdiest, easiest fish suggested as starters- like some of the damsels, even if they really limit our future tank mate choices (that would probably be a good thing, actually, to prevent rushing into less hardy but very tempting species).

The other of us thinks it is more important to start with captive bred fish, as opposed to some of the starters that, as far as we've read, are generally harvested. Is that ethical angle negated if we can't get a slightly more difficult captive bred species to thrive, though?

We know that some clowns may fit both categories, but have concerns about whether they'd really thrive without anemones? We intend to start out fish only.

Some other species we've seen that might cover both categories are Orchid Dottybacks and Neon gobies, but we've had mixed advice on whether either are really suited for rookies.

Lest we seem like we're putting the horse before the cart, we're interested in settling on a fish species to narrow down some of the research and supply decisions. The hypothetical tank we're doing the research for is going to go in a home we just bought the land for, and won't begin building until summer. This is something he's hoping to set up in two years or so.

[Cliff]

All of this really depends on your tank size and your set-up choices. I would recommend sticking with captive bred fish, or MAC certified fish. Both are equally environmentally friendly and both will give you the highest quality of fish.

Although damsels are likely one of the hardiest fish in the hobby, I certainly would not recommend them for people new to keeping marine fish. You need experience managing aggression once the damsel claims a territory of its own.

The below link can offer a few suggestions, but without knowing more about your planned system, I can not offer any detailed suggestions

http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.co...-crew-options/

http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.co...ne-aquarium-2/

[Allecto]

Yay, the forum is back.


Thanks for the links, and the info on MAC certification. I think they will help a lot in reaching a compromise.


With FW and my reptiles, I'm used to knowing what animals I want to keep and totally planning my system set-up around them. It sounds like that is the wrong approach to take with with SW?

For the set-up, the only specifics we've really discussed (like I said, we're early in the research stage still) were keeping it in the reptile room so it would be safe from unsupervised children, and probably planning for it to have roughly the same footprint as my dwarf boa habs (a quick calculation says a rectangular long of about 125 gallons, but that is without any displacement being accounted for, or a stand wider than the tank being considered). My husband likes the idea of getting a SW kit and then working in any other pieces research recommends.

[Cliff]

With FW and my reptiles, I'm used to knowing what animals I want to keep and totally planning my system set-up around them. It sounds like that is the wrong approach to take with with SW?

That approach has always worked for me. I started by learning the basics of SW, decided what fish and corals I wanted to keep, then I had the information that I needed to plan my whole set-up. I did that before getting any equipment or anything else for each set-up. This worked very very well for me when setting up my last three tanks

[Allecto]

Ultimately, we definitely want to try some corals and anemones, but most everything I've read so far says to start out fish-only. I think we'll look into the MAC certified fish some and keep reading up on basics. I'm sure we'll have more targeted questions in the future as we get further down the road.

[Cliff]

Most people are referring to allowing your tank to mature when the say that.

If you want corals and anemones, set-up you tank for that with a the required equipment and set-up choices for corals and anemones. Stock it with fish only while the tank matures and your parameters stablize. Once matured and stablized, start slowing adding your corals and anemone