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"Clown" Fishes (Nemos!) or Tropical Or are they the same?
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For my birthday, my mussis has got me a great 60 x 30 x 30 aquarium with heater, filter, strobe light etc. I also got a guide book to tropical fish. After reading the book, I've hooked up my tank and got it all set up. After my tank has matured, I would like to get a few clown fishes.
Now, after some general browsing on the net, it seems these are classed as "marine" fish instead of tropical? Does this mean that they have to be kept in salty water? Do they take more looking after then tropical fish?
I have kept cold water (goldfish) fishes before but don't want to take on anything too advanced (eg - kill them after a week!).
As a beginner to the "warm water" area, would it be easier to look after marine fish or tropical?
Now, after some general browsing on the net, it seems these are classed as "marine" fish instead of tropical? Does this mean that they have to be kept in salty water? Do they take more looking after then tropical fish?
I have kept cold water (goldfish) fishes before but don't want to take on anything too advanced (eg - kill them after a week!).
As a beginner to the "warm water" area, would it be easier to look after marine fish or tropical?
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See clown loaches here: http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_clown.php
They are also more expensive..and your set up cost will increase largely if you decide to get corals in there..
the tank i currently have set up in the living room is a tropical
i bought it last year for £60 second hand.
for that i also could have had the marines that were being kept in there before hand
(two fish, similar to clowns and a whole bunch of living rock/coral)
i said to them that i would just take the tank though, didn't want to end up killing the poor fish so they went back to the shop the bloke purchased them from
One wrong step and you can easily kill off an entire tank of marine. Plus you need more kit to even set up a marine tank in the first place.
Sounds like you have everything you need to tropical freshwater. Give that a bash and see how you get on first. Much better starting point.
I was thinking about a marine tank at Xmas time (just getting back into fish after a lot of years away from them) but after a bit of research, decided on tropical freshwater instead. Much easier.
I have a marine tank, and a coldwater.
The marine tank cost a fortune to set up. (£500 for the tank, protien skimmer £90, £300 of live rock, £300ish on extra lighting for the corals, £130 for power heads, plus cost of sand, marine salt, test kits, heater, filter etc)
Fish cost between £5 for a clown and £38 for my coral beauty, but most of my fish cost between £10 & 20 as at 220 litres my tank isn't big enough for tangs and most of the fancier fish.
I probably spend the most on corals. I love them, but I now tend to stick to the easier varieties, like mushrooms and leathers.
My system is relatively simple as I have no sump and there is a lot of different equipment and lighting you can add. I do weekly water changes with RO (Reverse osmosis) water (you shouldn't use tap water for marines). You have to get the salinity and temperature of the water to pretty much match what is already in your tank.
You also have to be very patient setting up, you should fully cycle your tank before adding any fish, and this can take a few weeks.
Have a read of the marine section on this forum
http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=5
I pretty much started from scratch following the advice from there and have had quite a smooth ride into marine fish keeping. I really wouldn't like to add up the cost though. I started off with a small nano, all in one marine tank (an orca) and have upgraded tanks twice. I must have spent hundreds on corals, some of which didn't make it because the lighting wasn't strong enough when I started out.
You need to do a lot of research before even considering it. You question about clown fish shows how much you need to learn before starting with marines! Its very addictive though one you start.
I'll try and add a couple of photos later
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa50/thestripeycat/justleds.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa50/thestripeycat/fhg1-1.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa50/thestripeycat/aaaa.jpg