Saltwater Aquarium
Saltwater Aquarium fish are usually more expensive, yet survive longer than fresh water aquarium fish. It is important to select your marine fish carefully prior to buying them from an aquarium supplies store. Your Saltwater Aquarium fish should be of optimum health and they should be compatible with one another in your marine aquarium.
Look for fish that have clear eyes, smooth shining undamaged scales with no sores, intact fins with no fungal growths and solid abdomens. A sunken abdomen indicates the aquarium fish is not eating well and is likely to die. Look to see that the saltwater fish are not breathing rapidly as this also indicates the fish is ill.
Your potential marine fish must be sprightly. Watch to see that they are not bullying other marine fish in the display aquarium as it will be likely that they will do the same in your tropical fish tank.
Shop around to different aquarium fish stores if you are not satisfied with the quality of the aquarium fish. If just starting out, buy only a small number of reasonably priced marine fish to test out you newly established salt water marine aquarium. Once your Saltwater Aquarium fish have established, then go about introducing the more expensive marine fish to your aquarium.
The larger your marine aquarium the better. Beginning aquarium fish enthusiasts often make the mistake of starting out with a small marine aquarium and then overstock it with salt water fish. Tanks smaller than 25 gallons are unsatisfactory. Large aquariums are best. An idea to increase water volume for a smaller fish tank is to circulate the water into a large holding tank which can be housed in a concealed cabinet below your saltwater fish tank. By increasing the water volume you will have fewer problems with keeping your water in check and you will be able to keep a greater number of Saltwater Aquarium fish.
Maintaining water quality for your Saltwater Aquarium fish is the most important aspect to successful marine aquariums, especially marine reef aquariums. Buy a quality, large biological filter. Before introducing your aquarium fish, run the biological filter for four weeks to establish a healthy colony of bacteria and algae in the filter. It is best to seed your filter with living bacteria from the ocean. You can do this easily by pouring a small amount of water collected from the ocean into your Saltwater Aquarium fish tank along with some ‘living rocks’ collected from below the tide mark on the sea shore.
Marine fish can live in harmony with living corals, sponges and anemones, in fact some fish species such as the clown fish, have an affiliation with anemones and will use them for protection. However; when building a living reef in your marine aquarium, you will need to be aware that these creatures are all marine animals and they all add pollutants to your aquarium. Being more delicate than your Saltwater Aquarium fish, they do require quality filtration, correct constant temperature and above all adequate strong lighting.
I hope this article helps with the setting up of your Saltwater Aquarium fish tank. If done correctly from the beginning your Saltwater Aquarium fish will reward you for many years.
Check out this book. It has all you need to know about keeping a saltwater aquarium.
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