Ten gallon stocking options?

[Runsoncoffee]

Hi, I’m not much of a saltwater person, but since I’ve been working at a pet store that handles salt water aquariums, I’ve been a little more curious.
If I get into saltwater I don’t want anything big, no more than 30 gallons. I understand that will make it a little more difficult for me because there’s less room for error.
I was wondering if a ten gallon would be sufficient for a watchmen goby and a pistol shrimp?

[BigRedsReefs10]

While yes it is probably technically doable IMO one of the smaller shrimp go ya would be a better fit, the hi fin or yasha for example, and would let you keep a second small fish as well

[melosu58]

I think it is doable. Big Red has a good suggestion there. What kind of water will you be using?

[Runsoncoffee]

Originally Posted by melosu58

I think it is doable. Big Red has a good suggestion there. What kind of water will you be using?

If I’m actually able to go through with this without it being a big flop (very nervous+college student with limited time), I’ll be using the premixed saltwater from a pet store. With a small tank it won’t be super expensive to do that every week. Plus it’ll only leave one factor for water parameters for me to worry about with adding new water. Instead of testing and mixing everything I’ll only have to watch the temperature of the new water when I’m doing water changes

[Sniperhank]

A simple API Master kit will do everything you could want to do in this hobby until you start getting into the more advanced concepts, like dosing, heavily stocked tanks...so on. It is all easy to do with patience and understanding. There is almost no difference between salt and freshwater when it comes to the basics and proper husbandry.

[Runsoncoffee]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

A simple API Master kit will do everything you could want to do in this hobby until you start getting into the more advanced concepts, like dosing, heavily stocked tanks...so on. It is all easy to do with patience and understanding. There is almost no difference between salt and freshwater when it comes to the basics and proper husbandry.

That’s more or less what I’ve been told. But even though I’ve been keeping freshwater for 6ish years now I’ve never used test kits, or kept an eye on water parameters other than temps and treating the water during water changes. Plus the least hardy fish I’ve ever kept successfully is a smaller variety of rainbows. I hardly ever use medication despite all tanks I’ve ever had being over stocked (habit I picked up from keeping African cichlids), and medication is really only used if I’ve run out of Epsom salt or water changes aren’t working.
I spend fair amounts of time watching my fish, so if there’s an issue I generally see it coming and can resolve it with 1. Less feeding 2. More cleaning 3. Rearranging the decor to change the territory lines inside the tank.
Not too sure I can go about a small saltwater tank in the same fashion. There’s less room for error in a small tank.
I’m wanting to get a freshwater master kit sometime soon for giggles. So, hopefully I’ll get some practice being a little more tedious with water parameters before I’ve got the guts to spend the money on the saltwater side of the hobby? It’ll give me some extra time to learn as well, so when I’m ready I’ll know what I’m wanting tank size/stocking wise

[bribo12]

The fw api master kit works for sw too. Just need to use the sw cards. A fowlr is about the same upkeep as a fw tank other than testing salinity. Even basic corals aren’t that hard as long as you do wcs and have the right lights. The main issues I see that cause ppl to try sw and give up are algae and losing critters due to the price. I’d jump in the fish and inverts are about 300x more interesting than fw and it really isn’t more difficult.

[Runsoncoffee]

Originally Posted by bribo12

The fw api master kit works for sw too. Just need to use the sw cards. A fowlr is about the same upkeep as a fw tank other than testing salinity. Even basic corals aren’t that hard as long as you do wcs and have the right lights. The main issues I see that cause ppl to try sw and give up are algae and losing critters due to the price. I’d jump in the fish and inverts are about 300x more interesting than fw and it really isn’t more difficult.

Alrighty! Thanks so much for the help. I feel a lot more confident in doing saltwater now! I’d like to do a little more research to figure out exactly what I want, don’t want to spend the money for a fish or invert that I haven’t done the researched for

[melosu58]

Do a water test on your remixed water. You can make sure you are not are not adding nitrates to your tank. Keep a close eye on your tank. The smaller the tank the less forgiving it will be.