Salt or fresh water fish?????????

[rbball]

I am just in the process of purchasing a 55 gal. fish tank. Maybe a silly question, but why would I select Fresh versus saltwater enviroment.

Forget price!!, I am more interested in the trade off between maintenance and visual values. Over time price evens out, doesn't it?

 

[fishfreek]

Honestly they are so different that I dont know how one could compair them.

Some people like fresh and others like salt. For each its kind of a personal decision as to what they want or like. Some like the fish that are available in saltwater and go that route. Others like the freshwater fish etc.

Over time price evens out, doesn't it?

Not really. When the price per fish on average is less than $5 for FW and greater than $15-20 for salt. Then you have the ongoing expense of salt mix and the added cost for the high output lights and the annual expense for the replacment bulbs on the high output lights.

If your serous about SW then a RO/DI filter.

 

[scuba_steve]

to me its night and day between salt and fresh !! once ya go salt ya never want to look at fresh imo !!

 

[WarOrks15]

so true. i have a freah water tank in my room and then i am starting a sw 46 right nexted to it. the saltwater has more color and is way cooler then the fw. but i think i helped that i had the fw first just to get to know a little about the whole fish thing before spending the $$$ on a sw tank.

 

[millipede]

salt versus fresh...

It really could depend on your taste... I have only gone with freshwater because of the costs and the work in them. Overall Saltwater is going to offer a lot more color and activity... Personally I could sit and stare at a tank that had nothing but live rock in it... you often find lots of little creatures... they are exciting. But if you try hard enough you could put together a real nice freshwater display that would make you quite happy. There are many, many fresh water fish to chose from... and in a 55 gal you should be able to make things interesting... some live plants, some neat hiding places... you could have several types of bottom feeders... khuli loaches(attractive), corys(active), violet gobys(aka dragon fish) are pretty cool... then some fish that swim higher and at different ranges in the tank.. there are pleanty of fw fish that have color to them. You'd have to decide if you want an aggressive tank or a nice friendly community tank. Like I said I chose fw because of the low costs and low maintenance but if you have time and money salt does have more to offer... I was at petco the other day (not to change the subject) and saw these little fake octopi that supposedly would swim around in your tank as long as there was some current in it. I didn't buy them but they would be interesting to see.... Anyway... whichever you chose you should be able to set it up to be quite pleasing... good luck...

 

[scuba_steve]

one of the coolest fresh water fish ive ever owned was a jaguar cichlid !! the meanest fish ive ever owned as well !! couldnt stick your hand in the tank with out him biting and drawing blood !! but it was fun
years ago when i has a kid we set up a tank half land half water with hermits roaming the land and ended up catching some fresh water shrimp which ended up breeding !! it was cool to have the shrimps and crabs !!

 

[Sati]

I'll chime in as a FW girl... I wish I could have SW too, but I don't have the $$.

Take a look at these tanks. They're all utterly amazing. Reef tanks are completely fascinating. But I also think a planted tank can be just as beautiful, if not more so. It's all up to you and what your preferences are as far as color, personality, body shape of fish, as well as what you have the time for and are willing to maintain, as well as cost.

Killer planted tank!

The website I got it from: http://www.aquariumdesigngroup.com/