Looking to get into Saltwater

I love my freshwater tanks and have my projects that I will never give up but I have started wondering what it's like on the other side...
I'm THINKING of getting a tank and purchasing a Fire Goby so that I can, one day get a HelfrichI Firefish-- they are both absolutely stunning. The HelfrichI is about $100 per fish though so I figured I'd start with the basic Fire which is anywhere from $10-20 per.

IF anyone is familiar-- can you confirm some things?
1. I assume they can be kept together (the fire and the helfrichi)?
2. I know a regular fire only requires a 15 gallon minimum for one-- how big of a tank would I need for 4?
3. Are there any saltwater shrimp that can be kept with either of these gobies?
4. Will they breed? Freshwater goby babies need to spawned in freshwater but then they move to brackish for a while to survive (and then come back to fresh)-- is this a similar thing? I assume not but figured I'd double check.

Again, just trying to get my ducks in a row for the future. Nothing is happening as of this moment. That's all for now! Thanks

 

1. I don't know.
2. around 30 gallons.
3. yup. I like flame shrimp, but most will work. just don't get mantis shrimp.
4. dunno.

 

The problem with firefish is you can only keep them in M-F or M-F-F pairs so a school will not work. If you end up with more than one male, they will fight until one either manages to jump out or dies from injuries.

You can keep a cleaner shrimp with firefish or fire shrimp with firefish, but I would try to keep on in anything smaller than 20 gallon because they are very sensitive to water chemistry changes.

 

Mantis shrimp-- they shoot darts or something, right? Flame shrimp look too much like SulawesI shrimp -- I want something more unique. I know nothing about them but off-the-bat, do you have any strong feelings:
Sexy Shrimp?
Harlequin Shrimp?
Peppermint Shrimp?
(Cleaner Shrimp and Ghost shrimp are "meh")
no to the Mantis Shrimp.
Pistol Shrimp claws are too crazy for me and the same goes for Coral Banded Shrimp.
Did I miss any?

At this point, I might have to do a 50-100 gallon tank (go big and make it count) when I actually decide to do this-- the list of fish I have going right now is big-- I'll obviously avoid overstocking and check all compatibilities with fish, coral and water requirements. There's just so many to choose from-- But at the end of this, I want a minimum of a massive coral garden with some Gobies, Shrimp and Firefish if possible. If I could be ensured that the HelfrichI will breed then it's a done deal!

 

I'm looking forward to it. I'm building a 120g. Need to figure finish my stand and paint it . I need to leak test the tank but it's outside and Winter. So I will do a leak test inside I know not a good idea but it's what I have during this season

 

Gotta do, what you gotta do as they say haha

What are you stocking it with? Do you know yet?

 

Pistol Shrimp would actually be okay. They have bad eye sight and it'd basically hide in its tunnel. Pairing it up is always something to watch. Coral Banded are cool but they get big and they're probably a bit too aggressive - they most likely won't attack your fish directly but they will threaten them if the fish get too close, which will stress out your firefish. Mantis shrimp is a danger to your fish, your health, and your tank. Their collapsion bubbles can kill your fish easily and it can break your glass tank walls. They can also inflict deep wounds on your skin. Like they can probably cut to the bone if it attacked your finger.
Unless you want to have a horror scene in your tank, keep the harlequin shrimp out. They will only eat starfish, which they will keep alive by feeding them food while eating the starfish. They're good for these little starfish pests that may or may not eat your corals, depending on the species. I don't have much experience with shrimp - I've killed a fire shrimp, which are expensive, and a coral banded shrimp, although the coral banded shrimp died due to a weird circumstance. The fire shrimp was put in a 10 gallon tank, and I didn't do a drip loop. The coral banded shrimp shed his skin but for some reason his claws came off and he didn't have the strength to shed his exoskeleton again and get them back, although he did try. I'm pretty certain skunk cleaner's and peppermint are favorites. I think the skunk is easy for a shrimp to care for and the peppermint is a good member of the clean up crew - they'll eat this one type of anemone pest that's small and attacks corals and fish. Make sure the fish you get are the timid of the timid. I've had firefish before - they can be bullied easily. I didn't know about compatability charts and I had them in with damsels, including a domino, a purple pseudochromis, a hawkfish, etc. I'm surprised they lived as long as they did. I have this book that's called "The 101 Best Saltwater Fishes", by Scott W. Michael. At the beginning he gives you model community tanks, which include a 12 gallon nano reef aquarium (Redbanded Shrimp Goby with pistol shrimp, a purple firefish, and a yellow assessor), a 20 gallon (2 sailfin blennies, 1 purple firefish, 2 yellow clown gobies, a blackray shrimp goby), and another 20 gallon (1 firefish, 1 canary fang blenny,1 redbanded shrimp goby, and 2 unarmed perchlet). Thought you might find these pairings interesting and will give you a good idea on what to add.

Other types of invertebrates you might try are brittlestars (not a problem as long as you keep them fed. Do not get chocolate chips or their cousins the red knob. Look for the black and red ones. There's a ton of different brittlestar colors you can try out), longspine urchins (a bit freaky with their eye and if you're rearranging the tank but they won't attack anything), cerith snails (a snail that sifts your sand during the day and cleans your tank during the night), and tuxedo urchins.

 

I love pistol shrimp. Best shrimp out there.

 

Mantis shrimp is a danger to your fish, your health, and your tank.

^^
1. that got me laughing Hahaha-- that's so crazy that they're capable of all of that though (breaking tanks... that's insane!)

2. side note: I'm completely new to saltwater and didn't know that about harlequin shrimp. WOW! also, I didn't know starfish could become pests -- very interesting! I'll have to look into that more.

3. That's sad to hear about your banded shrimp -- I had my fair share of freshwater shrimp deaths when I first started keeping them. Learned a ton from the process though.

4. Is the anemone pest by any chance hydra (or is that only in freshwater?) -- because been there, done that!

-Yellow assessor -- nice!
- Unarmed perchlet -- love
- Blennies might be my new obsession -- they're all so interesting
- The bristle stars are a little too freaky for me -- too much of an octopus vibe
- Longspine urchins... never knew they had eyes like that before. that's a no for me too now hahah
- Cerith snails-- always a fan of a helpful snail -- just read that they don't reproduce like crazy and the fish tend to eat their eggs before they hatch, that's a plus!
- Tuxedo urchins... again... WOW -- way cool! consider that one on the list for sure!

If you think of anything else, please feel free to share -- I'm done basic searching but like I said, I want some more unique fish and these definitely fit into that category. thank you!

Also Fishenthusiast123
Do you have any good coral recommendations? Just something to get me kick started on the research? Any tips you can offer on what to look for or avoid?

 

1) As mentioned Firefish don't mix well unless male and female pairs. For that tank just one as there is no where for them to go

2) You might be able to do more than a male/female pair in a 75 gallon or larger but once again I don't recommend it

3) Tons of Shrimp will work with them other than the more predatory ones (I would avoid Mantis and Coral Banded). Fire Shrimp would be a really cool choice as they are gorgeous, a bottom dwelling goby/pistol shrimp combo would be fun

4) Breeding Firefish is pretty rare. Marine life doesn't breed super easy in captivity and to my knowledge there aren't any captive bred Firefish readily available

5) By The Way, Firefish are often mislabeled as gobies, but they are in fact Dartfish.

6) Avoid the long spined Urchin like the plague. They get huge really fast and are very destructive (will rearrange rockwork and bulldoze corals that are glued down). I say this as someone who just booted one that wasn't half size from his tank for the aforementioned. I documented it here:

If you are dead set on having an Urchin in your tank stick to a Tuxedo as they stay much smaller and as long as your corals are glued down and your rockwork is pretty stable they won't mess with much. They can irritate Zoanthids a bit.

 

Hmm...
One of my longspined urchin's is bigger than that. Ig he does just go over stuff but he's never knocked anything down. I haven't added coral yet because I'm not sure of the water parameters needed. Some say phosphates, some magnesium, etc. Ig I don't have anything of worth to knock down lol.

 

Gotta do, what you gotta do as they say haha

What are you stocking it with? Do you know yet?

I am planning on a
Picasso trigger gf must have.
Yellow tang
Foxface
2 clown fish,
A wreath
And maybe a few smaller fish like Cardinals
I plan to have anemone. Would love a gigantic carpet but hear they are tough to keep. But want one the clowns will host
A few zoa's and hammerhead corals. I won't be able to do a lot of corals with the picaso triggerfish. They can eat corals.

 

Hmm...
One of my longspined urchin's is bigger than that. Ig he does just go over stuff but he's never knocked anything down. I haven't added coral yet because I'm not sure of the water parameters needed. Some say phosphates, some magnesium, etc. Ig I don't have anything of worth to knock down lol.

For me the final straw was when he bulldozed my big Frogspawn Colony that has been glued in place firmly for over 2 years. Never had a problem with even the big caribbean turbos that I had in my tank. They can also shift and destabilize rockwork as they get bigger. I have a Tuxedo now and he has been a near model citizen and I like the fact that he is a lot more visible during the daylight (24/7 algae eater).

I am planning on a
Picasso trigger gf must have.
Yellow tang
Foxface
2 clown fish,
A wreath
And maybe a few smaller fish like Cardinals
I plan to have anemone. Would love a gigantic carpet but hear they are tough to keep. But want one the clowns will host
A few zoa's and hammerhead corals. I won't be able to do a lot of corals with the picaso triggerfish. They can eat corals.

Carpet nems are also known for eating fish. The Picasso is likely to bully smaller fish, so I would stick with the ones that are larger and better able to handle themselves. What size is the tank?

 

Carpet nems are also known for eating fish. The Picasso is likely to bully smaller fish, so I would stick with the ones that are larger and better able to handle themselves. What size is the tank?

120g. I have heard about picasso being tough. Maybe I can slowly convenience her against one. Maybe a dottyback with the trigger haha.

 

120 gallon. I have heard about picasso being tough. Maybe I can slowly convenience her against one. Maybe a dottyback with the trigger haha.

120 is too small for a clown trigger for more than a year or so. They get just shy of 2 feet when fully grown:

 

An interesting trigger you can get is the bluechin trigger. Its sexually dimorphic, they're less aggressive than other triggers, and they're more reef safe for your invertebrates (meaning as long as you keep them fed they won't eat your urchins and starfish. Mine never went after snails or hermit crabs, and he never moved rocks around). I think they require the least amount of room compared to the other triggers. When they reach maturity the male's fangs apparently turn red. Mine never reached that point but I've seen larger ones with red fangs.

 

I personally would do a blue throat/blue chin trigger in a 120. The 4’ length is a bit short for them. They are very active. A 125 is recommended as its 6’ long.
Just my thoughts.

As for best beginner corals pulsing Xenia is cool, toadstool leathers are easy and neat. Just stay away from things that spread like crazy and become a pest like free star polyps, some palys and some mushrooms. They just get all over and then you will never get rid of them.