How close am I to having a beautiful tank without a lot of $

[caliskier]

Originally Posted by sdellin

Recommendations... "The PocketExpert Guide to Marine Fishes" by Scott W. Michael. It tells you in groups about fishes you find in the trade and whether or not they are easy to keep, hard to keep, etc. It tells you whether or not they are reef safe and if they are agressive, good community fish, etc. Also what food they eat and if you can keep in groups or not. Example: if you want a yellow tang add it last, after you add all the other fish you want, and keep only one in a tank as they don't get along with their own kind. If you add it first, it will pick on any new fish (actually, my cinnamon clown did this also).

You mentioned tangs, clowns, wrasses...
Clowns like to have an anemone, but it's not necessary, they don't get along well with other clowns unless they are a mated pair, some wrasses are reef safe, others will eat clams, snails, worms, etc. I have a regal tang, a percula clown, a bunch of chromis', a fairy wrasse, 2 cleaner shrimp, snails, hermit crab, mushroom and anchor coral and some feather duster worms in my large tank and they all get along well as a community (so far)

You can also get the PockeExpert Guide to Marine Invertebrates if you want. It's all about anemones, shrimp, coral, etc. I have found both of these books invaluable. I take them to the lfs when I go to look for animals so that I can read about them before I buy. I ordered both books only pretty inexpensive. Sorry for the looong post, you asked!

Hey thanks, I appreciate it. I will check into those books as well. I am very frugal, I take my time when getting something expensive so it will be a while before I really get started. I looked for a larger tank (currently own a 55 fw tank) for 4 years before I found the 125 that I got at a garage sale with two emperior 400s, lights and stand for $100.

[sdellin]

Not a bad deal. Do you know what kind of lighting it is that you have? You can get away with regular fluorescent for fish (I think) but you'll need something a little more powerful for coral and other inverts.

I had a friend of a friend of a friend... I was at a get-together once... who gave me a 100 gallon acrylic tank. I, like an idiot, thought it was too big, so I traded it to a small fish store for a brand new 55 gallon tank with lighting and filter. Oh how I wish I had half a brain! (well, at that time anyway, I'm much smarter now!)