What is it like to keep saltwater fish?

HI all,
I'm a freshwater fish keeper but I want to know what it's like to keep saltwater fish (got curious). what are the most popular types of saltwater fish? how hard is it to keep saltwater fish? what's your favorite type of saltwater fish? I would like to know about saltwater fish keeping in general!
Thanks, hope to hear from you guys!

 

Saltwater is an interesting topic to delve into. I plan so myself. The colors are more vivid than fresh and the water in the tank is pretty salty.

Popular fish- clown, both percula and ocellaris along with other common species. Neon gobys are also common and usualy kept at a fish dealers. Six line wrasses are also a popular wrasse to keep.

Not that hard to keep salty tanks if you know what you are doing, but still a bit more difficult than fresh.

My favorites of what I know are the pj cardinals and cleaner wrasses. Also peppermint angelfish but those will cost an arm and a leg.

 

salt water fish seem cool!

 

HI all,
I'm a freshwater fish keeper but I want to know what it's like to keep saltwater fish (got curious). what are the most popular types of saltwater fish? how hard is it to keep saltwater fish? what's your favorite type of saltwater fish? I would like to know about saltwater fish keeping in general!
Thanks, hope to hear from you guys!

Saltwater fish tend to require more individual space but on the flipside they offer stunning colors in even the average joe variety fish and tend to have much more unique individual personalities. As for popular types, arguably the most popular are clownfish, followed by Tangs (although Tangs aren't the best fish for a beginner and require larger setups since they are very active and get large). How hard are saltwater fish to keep? All depends on which fish you get. You can have something super delicate like Sharks/Rays, Moorish Idols, Seahorses or you can have something like Cardinalfish, Clownfish, Damsels, etc that aren't much more difficult than your average freshwater fish (only difference is keeping salinity levels balanced and using a good water source ie RODI).

Favorite Saltwater Fish? Arguably the most underrated Saltwater Fish are Wrasses. If you go with the generally peaceful varieties they are generally good community fish, full of color, activity and individual personality. Some also perform pest removal services. That said I recommend avoiding cleaner wrasses in captivity as it's tough for them to get enough to eat and they can harass other fish. Some get them to work in large tanks with lots of fish (ie 180 gallons or larger) but most of the other wrasses I mentioned could work in a 55-75 gallon tank and would be better tank mates.

The first thing I recommend is that you learn the differences between freshwater and saltwater. Lots of bad habits to shed so to speak before converting over:

 

Saltwater fish tend to require more individual space but on the flipside they offer stunning colors in even the average joe variety fish and tend to have much more unique individual personalities. As for popular types, arguably the most popular are clownfish, followed by Tangs (although Tangs aren't the best fish for a beginner and require larger setups since they are very active and get large). How hard are saltwater fish to keep? All depends on which fish you get. You can have something super delicate like Sharks/Rays, Moorish Idols, Seahorses or you can have something like Cardinalfish, Clownfish, Damsels, etc that aren't much more difficult than your average freshwater fish (only difference is keeping salinity levels balanced and using a good water source ie RODI).

Favorite Saltwater Fish? Arguably the most underrated Saltwater Fish are Wrasses. If you go with the generally peaceful varieties they are generally good community fish, full of color, activity and individual personality. Some also perform pest removal services. That said I recommend avoiding cleaner wrasses in captivity as it's tough for them to get enough to eat and they can harass other fish. Some get them to work in large tanks with lots of fish (ie 180 gallons or larger) but most of the other wrasses I mentioned could work in a 55-75 gallon tank and would be better tank mates.

The first thing I recommend is that you learn the differences between freshwater and saltwater. Lots of bad habits to shed so to speak before converting over:

now I'm really getting a feeling that saltwater fish are really cool and unique!

 

All depends on the fish. Some are easy and some are nearly impossible. Just do some research and see what fish you like and ask some more specific questions about those fish.
Also what size tank are we talking because that matters greatly.

 

Oh, about that, I'm not planning on keeping saltwater fish, I'm just curious.

 

I have always had the notion that it’s also rather expensive. I can imagine just setting up a small tank with all the equipment close to $1000. To do it right. And Then there are the prices of the fish. . That’s the main reason I’ve never tried my hand. Seems like the average Saltwater fish is $40 minimum. I’d be too afraid to lose it

 

Not as hard as you would think. Only thing is the price of the equipment. If your doing corals, well that’s a different story

 

now I'm really getting a feeling that saltwater fish are really cool and unique!

I have always had the notion that it’s also rather expensive. I can imagine just setting up a small tank with all the equipment close to $1000. To do it right. And Then there are the prices of the fish. . That’s the main reason I’ve never tried my hand. Seems like the average Saltwater fish is $40 minimum. I’d be too afraid to lose it

Can saltwater be really spendy? Sure. Is it going to cost you $1000 to setup a 10 gallon tank? Not even close unless you plan on filling it with the most exotic/spendy corals in the hobby. There are plenty of vids that show how to setup nano tanks for $150-$300 depending on the size and setup. By comparison my 10 Gallon Glofish Tank cost $150 before I added fish. $40 minimum for fish is incorrect as well. Plain Jane Ocellaris Clownfish (ie Nemo) can be had in the $15-$20 range. A number of gobies and blennies are in the $15-$25 range as well. Royal Gramma Basslet is $25 and several others that I am sure I am forgetting about.

The break down of my current 90 gallon with fish stock is as follows:

One Spot Foxface: $45 (My most expensive fish currently)
Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel: $35
Blue Star Leopard Wrasse: $35
Melanurus Wrasse: $30
Female Lyretail Anthias: $25
Captive Bred ORA Pajama Cardinalfish: $20

Conversely a tank with 6 discus will run you $50-$70 each, so my entire stock of reef fish costs quite a bit less than the same number of discus.

More expensive than your average joe $2-$6 freshwater fish? Sure. More expensive than the more exotic varieties of Betta, Discus, Arrowana, Flowerhorns, Koi, etc. Nope. Are the saltwater fish far more colorful and have much more interesting personalities than your average joe $2-$6 fish? Absolutely. So it's a case of getting what you pay for.

 

I feel like they have a lot more individual unique personalities, I've had some wish freshwater too but with fresh for the most part if you choose a certain species, you know what you're getting. While in saltwater, you can pick a total jerk, like in the dating world, lol.

 

I feel like they have a lot more individual unique personalities, I've had some wish freshwater too but with fresh for the most part if you choose a certain species, you know what you're getting. While in saltwater, you can pick a total jerk, like in the dating world, lol.

Very true. Recently had a conversation with a long time freshwater guy who converted over and he pointed out he was stunned by the difference in individual personalities than freshwater fish and found that his freshwater fish were pretty boring by comparison in that respect.

From my own experience my 2 Diamond Watchman Gobies that I have had, had very different ways of approaching things. The first one nominated himself the clean up crew manager and would pick up hermit crabs in his mouth and place them on the rockwork as if to say "I've got the sandbed, you take care of the rockwork". It would also swim up into the water column quite a bit more. The next one would like to get up and perch on my rockwork and it had a very different way of dealing with hermit crabs. For the most part it would leave them alone, but if one dared enter near the goby's burrow it would pick them up and launch them (found out because the crab's shells would hit the glass making a loud thunking sound and I would turn around to see a cloud of sand and a very stunned crab slowly trying to right itself).

 

Hmm... maybe I will consider keeping saltwater fish once I've mastered freshwater fish keeping, I'm almost there!

 

it can be great fun but hard work to maintain u need to know the right amount of marine salt to add each water change as that can affect the fish and coral

 

Hmm... maybe I will consider keeping saltwater fish once I've mastered freshwater fish keeping, I'm almost there!

The thing to understand is that there is no magical number of years or type of freshwater keeping to really prepare you for saltwater. I am strongly opposed to the widespread concept of Freshwater as a Pre-requisite to Saltwater, simply because I don't feel that Freshwater really prepares you for Saltwater (and it actually teaches you some "bad habits" that don't transfer well to the salty side). Research into the salty side will teach you far more than any amount of freshwater experience will. Not saying doing freshwater is a bad thing, just saying don't expect it to help out much when moving on to the salty side.