Lords of Death Forums Lords of Death Forums LoD General Discussion Anyone own any Saltwater Aquariums?

I have seen some amazing looking fish from Lake Malawi in africa, with better color then just about any salt water fish, plus they are really really agressive, which I personally liked a lot, it's fun watching the fish fight for what rocks and caves they claim it's quite interesting...But the fish you showed does not represent all cichlids by any means. But I hear ya, you're already into the salt water thing cuz of money spent, totally understand that. It just takes time, you'll pick it up after a few trials, you gotta learn sometime.
One of the most colorful freshwater aquarium fish is the African cichlid. This beautifully patterned fish comes in an array of colors that are not typical to most freshwater fish.
The African cichlid is an aggressive fish which should not be kept with other species of fish. The book entitled "Tropical Fish - A Complete Pet Owner's Manual", published in 1982 by Grafe and Unzer gmbH, says mature cichlids guard their territory and can even behave hostilely towards other cichlids. The largest cichlid in the aquarium is usually the dominate one and will behave aggressively towards all of the other fish. The same book says the smallest cichlid in the aquarium is sometimes attacked and killed by the larger, more dominate fish. Newly introduced fish will often become victims of attack because no open territories are available. "Tropical Fish - A Complete Pet Owner's Manual" suggests providing places to hide such as rock formations and sturdy plants. Large shells also make great hiding places for smaller cichlids.

put that bitch in a red gatorade bottle, and itll turn red, then put it back in the water tank, looks badass

Thats some cool shit, always wanted a fish tank, friend bought one and I was jealous. Like you and otehrs have stated thou, salt water is super hard, its more a lifestyle then a hobby I guess. I would like to have salt water just for getting some lil lil tiny spinless jellyfish or octopi. But fresh to start sounds best.
If one were to start from scartch, what would you say for a 100 gallon tank would be a good amount to put aside for investment in fishys.

depends on what fish you wanted.
I had a 60 gallon for a long time. I had south american cichilds, red bellied pacus and 2 arrowannas (monkey fish).
I got into breeding cichilds, its easy in the sense you need the right temperature, and environment in the sense of rock formations/gravel depending how/where they lay eggs.
Plus the smaller/younger the fish you buy the cheaper, impatient people buy the older pet store ones that are half grown already.

Actually salt water is much easier than ya think.
I've had 30 gal, 55 gal, 125 gal & 180 gal salts over the last 10+ yrs.
The expense is in the fish definitely, if you go reef, the live rock. The equipment (protien skimmer, sump, good lights) can be expensive (although I make a lot of my own gear so it's much cheaper that way).
Timewise, it's not as time consuming as ya think. If ya know how to setup the environment, then ya do zero water changes, zero gravel cleaning, zero adding salt (salt doesn't evaporate). You feed once every 2 days, top up with fresh water once every 2 weeks or so (bit more in winter due to dry air).
I sunk a 180 gallon salt water tank into my living room wall a few years ago, that was a challenge.

I would want a school of predatory fish, but there is high cost in replacment feed fish, and my cool ones I dont want eaten would probably be eaten regardless.

They're much hardier than clowns. Nice tomato clown, shame about the goby.
Ya can ask me Q's anytime on salts.

I hope you and your fish fucking die!!

I use to have fish tanks(9) and my buddies had a combined total of 28 fresh and saltwater. If you start a saltwater, get some water conditioner and live rock. For saltwater, its all about the liverock. Get a 40 gallon wide(more surface area for better oygen exchange) and keep it barebotttom and stock it with live rock. Throw in some table salt every so often and buy some decent quality salt mixture. Also build a wet/dry/bioball filter for cheap, and you can pretty much put whatever you want in there and it will thrive.
When I'm older and have some money, I'm going to build a few 200 gallon tanks and stock them with cichlids and saltwater arrangements.

I used to have a cichlid tank with a crayfish and noone fucked with him. I remember feeding them small gobies, theyre very aggresive and fun to watch. very colorful too