First Salt Tank?

[madcurlyq]

Ok so over this next summer I'm going to try my hand at saltwater,for the first time. I was thinking of having a pair of common clown fish to a bubble tipped anemone, a regal tang, a yellow tang, a spotted mandarin, and some coral but I don't know what kinds are easy to take care of and beautiful. So will these things get along and what kind of coral should i get, also I'm kind of confused about the whole live rock thing I mean what kind of stuff comes in with it and lives on it? O, and one more thing what size tank would be appropriate for all these animals?

 

[herp_mommy]

Tangs will need a 100+ gal tank to be happy. Anemones need an established tank to thrive. Live rock is rock that has all sorts of bacteria, plants, and animals on it. Good luck with your first saltwater tank. Id recommend a 75.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

If you want a tang i would say 125 gallon. That is probably a bit big for a beginner and it would be much more difficult because you will need a sump and the whole deal. Good luck

 

[madcurlyq]

So you would say it would be easier to drop the tangs? How about a rabbit fish instead? Also what would be good coral for a beginner?

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Low light corals would be best. Maybe frogspawn, torch, hammer, xenia. Stuff like that. You cant get an anenome until your tank is establihed for about 8 or so months. 125 is a huge tank. Start smaller like. 75 like herp mommy said. You could only get one tang and that would be a kole tang in a 75 gallon. The mandarin woul be fine an so would the clowns

 

[mr_X]

The mandarin would not be fine until you had food to sustain it. They are very hard to get to eat prepared foods, and a new tank would not have enough copepods for it to eat. I would wait as long as you are going to wait for the anemone, before adding one.

You will need 75 pounds of live rock, or more for a 75 gallon tank. A pound to a pound and a half per gallon is a good rule to go by. Live rock helps with filtration, sustains life, has a lot of surface area for bacteria, aerobic and anaerobic.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

The mandarin would not be fine until you had food to sustain it. They are very hard to get to eat prepared foods, and a new tank would not have enough copepods for it to eat. I would wait as long as you are going to wait for the anemone, before adding one.

Ya i didnt clarify. I ment that once there is a good size population of pods, i think the tank is big enough for the pods to reproduce faster then the mandarin can eat them.

 

[madcurlyq]

Thanks! Hey could you tell me more about that tang for instance why is it the only one that can go in a 75gal?

 

[EriksFish315]

https://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/caresheets

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Kole Yellow Eye Tang

A 75 gallon would be a great start for you. Take your time with things and do your research. Liveaquaria has a lot of infor on fish and corals and the other site has all coral info.

 

[madcurlyq]

Could I keep a foxface with them?