Fish Looks

Well now I have finished reading The New Marine Aquarium and now I feel well armed with and that I am ready to start my first Marine Aquarium, now all that is left is that we have to pick out the tank, and buy every thing so soon this will turn in to my little Aquarium Log, and I will add in any thing new or interesting I have learned as well in the hopes that this may help some one else who is deciding to try this.

But right now for some fun I thought I would post some photos of the fishes that were recommended for the size tank I will be keeping which will be around 40 gallons(I say around due to the fact it may be a bit bigger than 40) All of these photos were taken from the web. First off how about we do Nemo who will be the star in this first aquarium. Also listed will be the number the book says should be kept in said aquarium along with the alternative.
Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion Ocellaris) One Pair


Pajama Cardinalfish (Sphaermia Nematoptera) Two

Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica) Two (how ever we are going with the alternative on this one which is...

Neon Gobies (Gobiosoma Oceanops) Three

Shrimp Goby (Amblyeleotris spp.) with Alpheus spp. (sorry can not find a pic just yet but I am sticking this one here as a place holder)

Now you have some thing pretty to look at on here until I get buy the aquarium and get photos of that, and every thing else from set up to what ever I think looks cool.

Advice from a Pro

Like most I have started this little hobby due to Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Going along with the recommendations in the book I have we have almost decided on the fishes we wish to keep. We will have to have one pair Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion Ocellaris), three Neon Gobies (Gobiosoma Oceanops),One shrimp goby. The book recommends two Pajama Cardinalfish (Sphaermia Nematoptera) but we do not really like the look of them so we are trying to pick some thing else that will live in this peaceful tank. We also still have to find out what type of anemone we are going to go with I have been advised that “Heteractis magnifica is the best anemone for Ocellaris clownfish in
terms of
their preferences. However it is one of the most difficult anemones to
keep. The longer the tentacle generally the better they like it. I
would
try a different Heteractis like a sebae or Long tentacle anemone. Not
as
long a tentacle or as closely spaced but a good alternative. I have
seen
Ocellaris take to bubble tip and Condylactus anemones too which are
fairly
easy to keep but they are not the most preferred.”*note 1

I do hope that soon we will have every thing worked out as our aquarium should be ready to be bought in March. Well that is the time line I am trying to go with, thinking that will give me enough time to read, and do all of the research that will help me, make this tank successful.

LK

*1 taken from an email from Andy Hudson Marine Biologist and staff member of http://www.thatpetplace.com/MainPro/IndexFish.aspx

Update

Well after a bit of research I have found that Uni-QuariumsTM while an attractive price is not the best option for what I want to do. Apparently it will not provide the required amount of filtration for the reef set up I want to make. Also it takes away from the swimming space from the fishes. I was a bit iffy any way with the acrylic but thought with the price I could live with it and as long as I took care when setting up it would be okay. But now I see doing it would cost me more money in the long run, so why burn cash?

LK

The Price To Beat

Today as I started reading things on the net I came across http://www.myfishtank.com/ some of there prices are a bit more than I care to pay, but there prices on Clear-for-LifeTM Acrylic Uni-QuariumsTM are some of the cheapest I have seen even when you add in shipping. Also on the site there are tons of interesting and informative articles. I still do not support buying fish from mail order as I do not think it is good for the fish.(yes I do know that is how they get to some of the stores, but at least they are okay in the store when you buy them. Unless you bought fish at Wal-Mart some thing I do not support as they do not take care of them so when you buy one it is sick and dying.) I am leading to get my aquarium, and stand from myfishtank.com I mean 50 gallon aquarium, with stand, and canopy shipped to my front door all for $1,056.56 is a hard price to beat. How ever I am going to see if some of the sores near me can.

Good Day.
LK

Shopping Around

To day I decided to go out and check the lay out of the land to see where I could get fish and what they had. Well I already know about The Fish Place and they were closed but I wanted to see who else in my area of Fort Worth had good fish, I went to Petco off of Overton Ridge, since large stores can have some things cheaper. Well now I feel bad from straying away from the first store I had good vibes about.

While at Petco I started asking questions since they are the so called “pet people” well I have never been so disappointed in all my life. I got tons of “I don’t know”s and just out wrong information. I know it was wrong since I started to test the person by asking questions I already knew the answers to.

So if you are in Fort Worth well Mail order from Doctors Foster and Smith is the best mail order I have found and then The Fish Place (they do have fresh and salt water fish) at 6990 Green Oaks RD Fort Worth, Texas (across from Dillard’s at Ridgmar Mall) is the best in Fort Worth. There staff will go out of there way to make you feel welcome and get your questions answered.

The Begining

At first a few weeks ago I decided that since I was so good with my fresh water aquarium I would try my hand at marine, so I went down to The Fish Place a small shop not far from my house they told me a few things and recommended a book for my to read, well not being sure I really wanted to work on a salt water aquarium, I did not really want to spend $24.99 for a book on a topic I was having second thought about. I decided to go over to Half Price Books. There I found a book called Your First Marine Aquarium by John H. Tullock for $2.98 I thought well this book was published in 1998 by Barron’s books so it could be a good place to start.

Even though the book was out of date it gave me a good idea as to what I was in for. Then I started looking around the net and found Doctors Foster & Smith and was happy to find The New Marine Aquarium which was the recommended book for $17.99 but with even more luck it was on sale for $15.29. I am almost finished reading it and I already feel as if I know every thing I need to start. Now comes the planning.



LK