Freshie considering conversion

[diogenes]

A friend of mine who is a long time aquarist recently made the prediction that with-in a year I would be researching marine fish. At the time I told him he didn't know what he was talking about. Why would I want to mess with salt, sand, hydrometers, live rock, and all that expense. I thought he was crazy. Then I starting reading about FOWLR predatory setups. Now I've got the bug. My gf used to have a 55g saltwater setup and when I mentioned I was thinking about switching my 37g marineland eclipse setup she was excited. She has a thing for puffer fish. I'm interested in dwarf lionfish and anglers.

I have no experience with marine setups and I understand the method for calculating the amount of fish you can have in a tank is completely different.

Here's my question:

What could I put in a 37g FOWLR tank with a Saddle Valentini Puffer? Could I put a frogfish (angler) in there? Anything else? How do I figure this out? Is there some sort of formula for calculating what can go in there?

Thanks,
-C

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

A friend of mine who is a long time aquarist recently made the prediction that with-in a year I would be researching marine fish. At the time I told him he didn't know what he was talking about. Why would I want to mess with salt, sand, hydrometers, live rock, and all that expense. I thought he was crazy. Then I starting reading about FOWLR predatory setups. Now I've got the bug. My gf used to have a 55g saltwater setup and when I mentioned I was thinking about switching my 37g marineland eclipse setup she was excited. She has a thing for puffer fish. I'm interested in dwarf lionfish and anglers.

I have no experience with marine setups and I understand the method for calculating the amount of fish you can have in a tank is completely different.

Here's my question:

What could I put in a 37g FOWLR tank with a Saddle Valentini Puffer? Could I put a frogfish (angler) in there? Anything else? How do I figure this out? Is there some sort of formula for calculating what can go in there?

Thanks,
-C

you could put a saddle and valentini puffer in there with maybe a dwarf lion. your filtration would have to be pretty good tho. an angler would be best suited for a speicese only tank but you could use the 37 for that if you wanted. there isnt really a formula or anything cuz the inches a gallon thing isnt meant for sw. its a thing that u just catch onto after a while. its a combo of the bio load each fish puts up, agression, and water volume.

 

[Justin_Toronto]

Coming from a long time freshie who recently converted to SW, I have only one regret...not upsizing my aquarium while in transition. For me to sell my 90g used, and upgrade to a 150g would cost only $300 in the local classifieds. I had to buy everything new again when converting, except my heater. Converting is very close to starting from scratch... so if you have the opportunity (and space), consider upsizing during the transition, you may be happier in the long run.

If you'd like to keep with the similar sized aquarium, it may be cheaper to sell what you have and buy a biocube/nanocube which is already set up for FW, instead of buying everything new again.

Oh, and there is no actual formula for figuring out how many size you can put in a SW setup.. (not as simple as 1" of fish per gallon). You have to factor in half your space will be Live rock and a deep sand bed, so your 37g is more like a 20g. Plus SW fish require more swimming room, and there is a larger bioload with SW. The best way to find out how many / which fish you can house is to do what you just did... ask the experts, and they'll guide you in the right direction.