Ton Of Questions

[Kaymin]

Ok, i have a 50 gallon tank sitting in the garage from when i was little and did freshwater tanks, now i want to setup a saltwater tank. I will probably have clownfish only like 3 and a cleaning crew. Maybe one other fish. I just started major research today, now its 3 am almost. So i know i have a lot more research to do.

Questions
1) Do saltwater aquariums smell at all?
2) Whats the best hardware setup for my 50 (or 55 i'm not sure) gal tank that requires lower levels of maintenance
3) What clown fish should i get? I want the orange and white ones with 3 stripes and i want the black and yellow ones. Do they get along ok if they are introduced at the same time and are young?
4) Whats a good clean up crew?
5) Wheres best place to buy things from? LHS or online, let me know what you guys think!
---------1) fish - I don't know what i think about buying online
---------2) hardware - I'm thinking wherever i get best price for what i want
---------3) Chemicals - Same as above

Wow this turned out to be a much better post then i thought it would be!! Hopefully after i get your guy's help i can start to see what the $ damage is going to be. Best part about saltwater is, you can buy equipment and stuff before the actual fish and have a good reason why you haven't bought the fish! Its cycling duh, of course i have the money for it! I hope the post is easily readible it seems smushed together to me but i can't see any way to make it better, so any help is good. If not i'll go visit the LHS tommorow and see if they know anything.

 

[Kaymin]

ok so the two types of clownfish i want to get are:
http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di....cfm?pCatId=755
and
http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1442

Probably 2 of each. They should be ok together right? Their care level is easy so im excited about that too.

As for the janitors i have no idea what to get. Maybe one of those huge packs off liveaquaria.com for like $130?

EDIT: Ohh man! These are cool to but look at that price!!
http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1854

 

[fishyguy43]

hi welcome to the world of slatwater aquariums. I just started my own 55 gallon setup 5 months ago and i know how ur feeling. lets start with those questions.

1. Just like freshwater aquariums if u do not maitain your setup your tank may smell, but if you take care of the tank you wont smell a thing.
2. well im not actually not sure what kind of setup u want a reef with some clown fish, or some live rock and some clownfish because the setups are different. Either way the best filtration is a sump underneath ur tank with a refuigem with a DSB in it. You can also put a protein skimmer down there so you dont have to put it directly in the tank. The best way to get the water down to the sump, ive heard is to drill your tank, but in my setup i just bought a siphon box thingy. lol If you really wanted to u could use a Emperor 400 bio wheel or sumthing like that with a protein skimmer in the tank. I started like that but now its just easier with the sump i made.
3. As for the clownfish there are many varieties out there all very stunning in there own way, but i would warn u about putting 3 in the same tank as they might get terrotorial and fight. The maroons i really wouldnt suggest more than 1 or maybe 2 if u can find a mated pair a 50/55 is just a little to small for 3 maroons in my opinion they get larger by about 2inches then the first one you picked out the Ocellaris clownfish. These on the other hand u might be able to get away with three or even 4! But again i would warn you, and segest that u only get a mated pair of them.
4. Never orded one of those algea attack packs from there but i looked at the site and it seems that it comes with more than enough snails hermits ect... but i do have a question instead of spending 130 all at once from liveaquaria why not go down to LFS and buy some of there snails and stuff?
5. Fish wise i would suggest you should try to find a LFS(Local Fish Store) that sells good quality fish. Thats where i buy all my fish, but if there is nothing good then look for some good places online. As for hardware and chemical wise i buy almost all of my supplies online i find it much cheaper.

One thing that i have noticed is that you left out lighting? Lights are very important in a FOWLR setup and even more important in a reef setup.

Well i hope i shed some light on a few of ur questions if you have anymore feel free to ask. Also if anyone sees anything wrong with the setup i said for him dont be afraid to butt in. Just do ur research and you'll be fine. Just expect to spend A LOT of money from the beginning. lol

 

[crazyelece]

As far as clown fish go, they get very territorial with other clowns so I wouldn't mix them. In a 55 you could get away with 4 of either species if that was all the fish you wanted to keep. If you are going to have other fish in there stick with just 2. When you go to get your clowns make sure they come out of the same tank. All clowns are born male and the most dominant in the tank turns female. So no matter how many clowns are in the tank only one will be female. If you happen to pick the female that is fine, if you get all males that is fine too as one will become dominant and turn into a female. If you get them from different tanks though you risk getting two females and that won't be good. Females will fight until one or both are dead.

As far as where to buy stuff, I like local stores. If price is an issue I try to find it used or I find a cheap place online and then take that price to PetSmart. They price match anything.

 

[Kaymin]

Thanks for all the help guys, i'm starting to rethink about the maroons becuase of the fact they eat the meats and stuff

 

[J-Money]

As far as clown fish go, they get very territorial with other clowns so I wouldn't mix them. In a 55 you could get away with 4 of either species if that was all the fish you wanted to keep. If you are going to have other fish in there stick with just 2. When you go to get your clowns make sure they come out of the same tank. All clowns are born male and the most dominant in the tank turns female. So no matter how many clowns are in the tank only one will be female. If you happen to pick the female that is fine, if you get all males that is fine too as one will become dominant and turn into a female. If you get them from different tanks though you risk getting two females and that won't be good. Females will fight until one or both are dead.

As far as where to buy stuff, I like local stores. If price is an issue I try to find it used or I find a cheap place online and then take that price to PetSmart. They price match anything.

i could be wrong, but as far as i know, clowns are born asexual. the dominant one becomes the female, the next in rank becomes the male and the rest stay as juviniles waiting for their chance to move up the chain. But i'll have to agree with everyone else, i wouldn't go for a school of clowns, just too many issues can arise with fish tryin to move up...

If you want a good place to buy cleanup crews online at a good price, wander over to reeftopia.com. that's who i use (i've had to use them a few times since my niger is always eating my cleaning crew ).

I love my Gold Stripe Maroons, i don't even feed them meat all the time. i usually feed my fish twice a day mixing it up with TetramarineColor Marine Flakes, Marine S, NutrafinMax Marine Complete Food, Formula 2 Marine Pellets, frozen Cyclopeze, frozen prime reef ish and wutever other meaty frozen foods i get, and some sea weed (algae or wutever) for the fish that need that stuff. You don't wanna feed the same stuff to your fish all the time, wouldn't you get sick of pizza or hamburgers or wutever you like if that's all you ate all the time. I believe the mixing of foods too gives them different nutritional value so it helps keep them healthy as well.

Good Luck

 

[fishyguy43]

I agree with j-money maroons dont need to be feed on only meaty foods they will eat a variety of things.

 

[Navarre]

Maroons are lovely fish (one of my favorite clowns to be honest) but they are probably the most aggressive and definately one of hte largest of the clown family. Dont keep these fish with other clowns and in tanks that wont be able to house them when they reach adults, (About 6 inches and very robust)

They are among the easiest to keep however and will take a variety of foods. As for them only aetng meaty foods.. well if you mean that you want a lcown that eats alge then im afraid that all clowns are carnivores and require meat rather than plants. Meaty foods doesnt necessarily mean huger chunks of steak though! They will accet brine, mysis shrimp as well as larger food as well.

 

[Kaymin]

Cool! Thanks guys, but i've decided that only being 16 i have better things to spend my money on then a salt water aquarium, initally i had no idea how much it would cost, a few hundred was my guess but after research a few hundred would be just my live rock and i don't want to do anything smaller becuase the fish are harder to take care of. So I think i'm going to make a serious freshwater aquarium with some sharks and angel fish!

 

[L200]

Its costs a bomb!!! spent £1000 plus on mine!

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Even though u already have answers, I have info on 2 clowns of different species together. So mail me with n e other curiosities!
Questions
1) Do saltwater aquariums smell at all? No not much, and if it does you may have a problem.

2) Whats the best hardware setup for my 50 (or 55 i'm not sure) gal tank that requires lower levels of maintenance? Well, u cant get away without a protein skimmer if u r even considering corals. But on my 75 reef with fish, i have a good canister filter, protein skimmer, 2 powerheads, good coralife lighting, heater, etc. I dont have a sump, which i wish i did but we didnt wanna spend the other $200 at the time!
U can get along fine without 1, but its a good place to grow algae for any tangs youll prolly end up wanting!

3) What clown fish should i get? I want the orange and white ones with 3 stripes and i want the black and yellow ones. Do they get along ok if they are introduced at the same time and are young?Mine get along, a perc. and a clarkii. They r young but i let the little guy{percula a.k.a. bozo the clown} get adapted {a.k.a. territorialized, my own word}before introducing the bigger, more aggressive guy {clarkii, a.k.a. Sir Clark Eats-a-lot, his favorite activity}. At first, well {fish will b fish} the bigger guy chased the little guy a lot, but they became fast friends, ALWAYS on the same side of the tank, follow the leader with no distinguished leader. I want a 3rd clown, a black and white percula, but idk if i should try it, i sorta got lucky with 2 getting along! But do the little guy first!

4) Whats a good clean up crew? Well, when u go through brown algae, hermit crabs {if u can keep em off the LR, which u NEED} will clean up ur sand quite nicely, if theres enough of em, but make sure u have extra shells! I had 1 of the little fellas die cuz he couldnt find a new one fast enough, and another climbed into a snail shell while he was still in it, ate him alive and took over!! Very brutal, not to mention disturbing! Also lots of snails, the bigger the better in my experience.

5) Wheres best place to buy things from? LHS or online, let me know what you guys think!
---------1) fish - I don't know what i think about buying online
---------2) hardware - I'm thinking wherever i get best price for what i want
---------3) Chemicals - Same as above
LFS all the way, at mine, i have friends, and trust. This is important. U will know how long ur LR has been curing, how the fish have been etc. I picked the LFS with the lowest prices, and it ended up to be a very reliable place. Chemicals, same.

The sticker shock for all the equipment and LR {including tank 4 me} was about $1000. But maybe youll end up with a sump. so idk. Hope i helped!