Yah. I keep a 50 gallon freshwater south american biotope.

I plan on trying for a 100gal+ salt once I have the money and a place big enough. There really isn't much of a point starting a salty unless you can do 100gal.

And contrary to popular belief, the bigger a tank, the easier it is to maintain.

 

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Over the years I've done many types of tank setups, I think the most difficult was the brackish tank with cichlids.

I've never done a saltwater tank, my ex's brother in law had one and he put so much time and money into it, then in the end he let his fish starve to death because they got used to live food and he thought they'd eventually start eating the freeze dried instead.

 

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I considered making a brackish tank. It would be easy here considering how hard our water is.


If I went salt, i'd have to make a reef environment. I can not compromise.

 

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these days I just keep cheap fish, buy the smaller ones and hope they live the transport to their new home. I had a beautiful turquoise discus that I paid a fortune for that just up and died one day, it wasn't of old age or anything. That was the last time I kept expensive fish, I actually at the time gave away the rest of my fish and sold my tank, and this is the first tank setup I've had again since then.

the other fishy heartache was I had a mated pair of angelfish that when we were moving, my ex's nephew was taking some of the water out of the tank to make it easier to transport, and somehow accidentally (yeah right, the bastard) put the male angel down the garbage disposal. I had raised them from quarter size to biscuit size before they ever mated.

 

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I've got a swarm of neon tetras that refer to as the borg collective, right now.


I'm starting a little group of german blue ram cichlids at the moment.




It's great when I feed the cichlids pellets because the neons try to eat them too and it's like they're playing basketball.


I'll probably be moving soon. So, I'll end up selling this tank and starting over.

 

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I'm about to start a brackish in a 35 gallon hex. To start a salt water you want to start with no less than 50 gallons. If you have weather that changes a lot then you want a bigger tank as evaporation is huge. The chemistry levels must be checked daily as the slightest change can kill very expensive and delicate fish.

Your 10 gallon should be upgraded at some point as that size is high maintenance. The larger the tank the easier the maintenance. Many want salt water for the high color content. However, you can get a ton of color in a fresh water. When determining which fish you want I highly recommend Baensch Aquarium Atlas in determining which fish you want. That way you're using the whole tank and you're not offending the fish by putting them in an uninhabitable environment.

 

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I love the tetras, they were the first fish I ever had in my families community tank when I was little.

I'll visit the good fish store soon and find one or two other fish for my tank, since right now I just have the Molly that inhabits the top portion, and the tetras near the bottom, I need a mid range fish or two, but I don't want the fish everyone from petco.

 

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For that type of set up, you might consider Killis.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=830+1745

They're friendly and are mid-water roamers.

 

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those are pretty, but a bit pricy for a small tank setup. The place I go is this tiny hole in the wall that is floor to ceiling fish tanks in a maze through the store, they have the largest selection I've ever seen in one place, and the prices are pretty reasonable too. I don't think I'd spend more than $10 on a fish right now.

 

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They're going to be a lot cheaper at a brick and mortar than an internet site, I think.

 

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