New to hobby...

[ness]

I was told I would get more response in this forum...


Ok, heres the scoop.

I have kept freshwater for some time now and I want to start a 180 gallon saltwater tank to expand my knowledge and step up to the next level.

Now, I need help from you guys also. I have been reading and will continue reading till this summer. I plan to learn as much as I can then try it out.

What I need to know are, in your opinions, what are good beginner fish. What are the prices on those fish?

Also, I noticed that all the cool lookin fish, like triggers, get very large in size. Is that in captivity or not?

Also, I would like to do a reef/fish saltwater aquarium, but don't the coral or other assorted reef creatures eat your fish?

p.s, are the reef creatures the invertabrates I have been reading about?

[the_blue_tuna]

Hello Ness,
I will try to answer some of the questions for you. As to what is a good beginner fish , there are several that would do well for you. They do though have some things about them that have to be given consideration. First off , you have to decide what direction you are going to take . Will it be a fish only tank , a reef tank , or something in the middle? You ask , dont the corals eat the fish. The answer to that question , with almost no exception is no , the corals wont eat the fish . Unfortunately some of those really cool looking fish like the triggers you mention will eat the corals.Some of your invertabrates will eat fish though.
If you decide to go with a "fish" tank you first need to decide do you want a community tank , or would you prefer a predator tank. Your decision here will guide you in your filtration choices. The 180 tank you are going to set up is , size wise , going to give you very good results either way you go.
If you decide to go with a mixed tank ( corals and fish ) this will dictate , to some extent the fish you can choose. It will also start changing your filtration and lighting requirements . Fish only tanks only require enough lighting for you to see the fish , but as you start raising corals your lighting requirements can increase drastically.Your snails , shrimps , crabs , and the like dont require any special lighting either. These are what you are refferring to as invertabrates I believe.
As far as pricing goes , it depends on what species, the size and who you buy it from. You can get ideas on pricing from looking around on the different sites on the web . If you follow the link in my signature it will take you to a page of many links . I have tried to include some info on many of the different things you need to know to get started . Hope this helps some. Welcome to Reefland.