Firefish

[ScoutCarcer]

I have a "few" questions:

1. Can firefish live by themselves?
2. Do they need to be in tanks with liverocks?
3. Can they have a tank with unatural decor(Like neon caves and fake plants)?
4. Can they have a tank with regular gravel?
5. Can they live in a ten gallon?
6. Do they need to have lots of decor?

If you want to know what fish Im talkin' about its Firefish

 

[veen]

1. Can firefish live by themselves? - yes they can.
2. Do they need to be in tanks with liverocks? - they can be in fish only tanks but i would always advise at least a fowlr tank (fish only with live rock) for filtration reasons.
3. Can they have a tank with unatural decor(Like neon caves and fake plants)? hm, i guess they could, but sw tanks always look better with real plants (corals, macro algae, etc.)
4. Can they have a tank with regular gravel? this i don't know but probably not
5. Can they live in a ten gallon? yes, i believe 10 gal is the minimum size for a firefish
6. Do they need to have lots of decor? in a 10 gal tank at least 15 lbs of live rock would be good so it will have lots of places to hide when it's feeling stressed. but decor, like plastic decor, no, don't need that.

 

[ScoutCarcer]

4. Can they have a tank with regular gravel? this i don't know but probably not

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Then what can I use?

 

[Sean_Buckley]

Aragonite, or "live" sand, or crushed coral. I would recommend the aragonite, I prefer the look, its cheaper than live sand (any that I've found) and the live rock will eventually seed the sand to make it into "live" sand.
Sean

 

[ScoutCarcer]

Can I use regular sand?

(Washed Play sand)

 

[Christs_Knight]

...man do you know what a SW tank is?
Plastic plants, playing sand...
Dude that just doesnt sound right.
Go to your lfs and ask what sand you can use for your sw. We can give you names, but you dont know what they are.
you cant go the easy way outa SW. It is expensive. theres not really anything cheap..

 

[steelhealr]

Well, CK is kinda right. I think if you are going marine, uh, plastic is 'not coo'. However, if budget is a problem, you do what ya gotta do. I think live rock and sand are preferred. I have a firefish now for some time:

1) they need a 'dart hole', or caves to hide in..they are very shy
2) 10 gallon is the minimum
3) they should be by themselves unless you know the pair is mated
4) this is not a cheap hobby.....I DO agree that if you want to do it right and not suffer with algae, etc, invest in live rock and aragonite sand. Good luck. SH

 

[Ed4567]

Can I use regular sand?

I'm guessing that is silica sand? If so it would be fine from the point of view of being chemically inert, but IMO won't look as nice or be as suitable for micro-fauna as argonite.

In nature these fish hover in a current close to the reef structure so ideally you want to recreate an environment similar to this.

 

[fraservet]

the main argument I have against using normal sand or gravel is that aragonite - or coral sand/gravel - does the very important job of buffering the pH in the tank. Without it, a lot of people run into problems unless they have another buffering system in place.

for a small tank like this, live rock really is the best and easiest solution. the price is not too steep in these amounts, and it will give the most stable conditions.

 

[Opcn]

there is also talk of the silicates in silica sand causing diatom blooms and of the silica sand being harder on the inverts that live within the sand in healthy marine ecosystems

 

[daniodude]

if you are not too worried about budget, buy 1 bag of live sand/crushed coral(like live rock) and 1 bag of regular aquarium sand. that's what I did, and it was perfectly fine and not too expensive, because half of it is regular, cheaper, sand.

Daniodude

 

[ScoutCarcer]

What is the best filter for a saltwater tank?

 

[veen]

sorry to tell you this but live rock & live sand are really the best filter for sw tanks.

 

[ScoutCarcer]

sorry to tell you this but live rock & live sand are really the best filter for sw tanks.

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If I get some live rock and sand for my tank will I need a filter?

 

[veen]

not necessarily. i have a hob filter without carbon media that i use as a fuge and for extra water flow.