Help with FIRST saltwater tank

[redruckus]

I have a 40gal long tank dimentions aprox 1'.5x1.5'x4' and want to keep it very minimalistic with a clay vase im getting hand made with a single octopus(recomed some good spieces)...what will i need.. filters, skimmers, sumps, water coolers, lights.. I know the list will be realy big its not a problem. Im just realy interested in starting a salt water tank ive had many years expeirence keeping freshwater fish so im not new to serious fish keeping

[leebca]

Sad to say, an Octopus does not make a good home aquarium addition. Certainly, the 40 gallon tank would be much too small for one. They are the most intelligent of the mollusks and are great escape artists, often found dead on the floor.

I hope you will get into and enjoy the hobby, but set your sites on ornamental marine fishes that hobbyists do in fact keep. As for equipment and getting started, this is a must read: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

Good luck!

[mk1151]

Sad to say, an Octopus does not make a good home aquarium addition. Certainly, the 40 gallon tank would be much too small for one. They are the most intelligent of the mollusks and are great escape artists, often found dead on the floor.

I also looked into an Octopus and found the same issues - hard to keep and keep happy, they frequently escape (and sometimes die) and they eat other tank inhabitants and in some cases will cross a room, enter another tank and eat those critters, then go back "home".

[redruckus]

i would probably keep it in a room by its self if that was the case with some serious homemade tank "security"...but what would minimum tank requirements for a small octopus be.. i can get a decent variety of seafood to feed it such as live clams, muscles and oysters and whole raw frozen shrimp..but another option is to get some sort of eel any tips on keeping eels?

[mk1151]

i would probably keep it in a room by its self if that was the case with some serious homemade tank "security"...but what would minimum tank requirements for a small octopus be.. i can get a decent variety of seafood to feed it such as live clams, muscles and oysters and whole raw frozen shrimp..but another option is to get some sort of eel any tips on keeping eels?

The ribbon eel is a great looking animal but they are very hard to keep (I just researched because I am getting an eel too).

Apparently they're not well kept in captivity because they are hard to feed but they seem relatively tolerant to water quality. They may eat fish that are the right size for their mouth, so make sure that if you have small fish in the tank - they're not friends, they're food.

There are other eel varieties that are easier to keep, but it also depends on how much attention you're willing to give them (they may need to be tong/hand fed) and how long they've been in captivity and what/how they've been fed.

Google and a LFS you trust are your friends

[redruckus]

i dont mind puting some time in to take care of it but i live in northern ontario canada and no pet stores in my area even have salt water tanks so i would have to order it from far away and have it shipped... I tend to do alot of reaserch online and I would want a leopard eel or somthing along those lines very ornately patterend price is realy not a factor if it get it small and have it for many years... what would be the minimum tank requirements for one eel and some sort of puffer or lionfish

[mk1151]

i dont mind puting some time in to take care of it but i live in northern ontario canada and no pet stores in my area even have salt water tanks so i would have to order it from far away and have it shipped... I tend to do alot of reaserch online and I would want a leopard eel or somthing along those lines very ornately patterend price is realy not a factor if it get it small and have it for many years... what would be the minimum tank requirements for one eel and some sort of puffer or lionfish

Lionfish *can* grow to 15", and eels can grow up to 1-3 meters (translated for Canadians).

I would say no smaller than a 750L tank to account for growth...

[redruckus]

I actualy feel more comfortable using impereal measurements so that tank is a 200 gal tank would i be able to have some sort of hard corals growing in the tank with out having to buy 50lbs of live rock could i just get it on the live rock mount and it would be fine

[mk1151]

I actualy feel more comfortable using impereal measurements so that tank is a 200 gal tank would i be able to have some sort of hard corals growing in the tank with out having to buy 50lbs of live rock could i just get it on the live rock mount and it would be fine

I'd research species of eel and lionfish - some of them nip at corals...

[redruckus]

i was looking at snowflake/tesselata eels would they do well in a 40gal tank suposably they dont get too big and did a read up on "dwarf lion fish" suposably they dont get very big..also im not a big fan of the typical "reef tank" but if i had one nice stag horn coral in the corner of the tank it would be enough for me would they nip at a hard coral like that?

[mk1151]

i was looking at snowflake/tesselata eels would they do well in a 40gal tank suposably they dont get too big and did a read up on "dwarf lion fish" suposably they dont get very big..also im not a big fan of the typical "reef tank" but if i had one nice stag horn coral in the corner of the tank it would be enough for me would they nip at a hard coral like that?

I don't know that - would need to research, or perhaps someone here has an answer for you.

Most people don't recommend putting in coral for months if not a year after setting up a marine environment. Corals are very hard to care for.

[redruckus]

yes I know about that its the same idea as a fresh water tank it had to cycle and build up a "bio filter" but ive been contemplating buying a 150-200galon tank for a while now this would be a good time to buy it so if i wanted to turn it into a full on reef tank. if salt water tanks grow on you like freshwater ones do i know its just a matter of time