Saltwater Aquarium Advice

Seeing as my marine aquarium passion is based on the marine life itself, I thought it was time I started to do some posts on popular marine pets!

The Clownfish has got to be the most popular marine aquarium inhabitant worldwide, mostly thanks to the Disney movie “Finding Nemo”.  Other than this they are cute and pretty easy to care for and require little space. The Clownfish is a type of Damselfish, they are very colorful with coloring that ranges from yellow,maroon and even black to shades of orange. The most common coloration found is a bright orange intermingled with white stripes or patches (such as Nemo!).

Clownfish and anemonefish are from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. There are about twenty eight species in total, one in the genus Premnas while the remaining are in the genus Amphiprion. They are native to the Indian and Pacific oceans.

The one thing that characterises all species is the symbiotic relationship they have with their host anemones. It is currently thought than when these fish are embryos lying on the reef surface, they become “addicted” to the scent of a particular anemone then when they hatch they go to settle in that anemone and spend their entire lives defending it from other fish and are always close to it, retreating inside the deadly (to other fish!) tentacles when danger lurks.

It is thought that the Clownfish are resistant to the Anemones stinging cells because of the mucus their bodies secrete, another theory is resistance to the potent poison has come from many years of co-evolution with the Anemone’s. The Clownfish chase off would-be anemone-munchers, feed off undigested food particles and dead tentacles which otherwise could rot and damage the invertebrate and fertilise the anemone with their droppings. In return the anemone provides life-long shelter and protection. The Clownfish generally forms a partnership with the anemone species Heteractis magnifica, Stichodactyla gigantean and S. mertensii.

Another little known Clownfish fact is that they are all born as males and can change sex if required in their social group. The social group consists of 1 breeding pair and immature or non sexually active males. If something happens to the breeding female the dominant male will change sex and replace her!

The hardy Clownfish require little space in the aquarium environment, if their host anemone is present they may rarely venture more than a few inches from it for their entire lives (which can be for a number of years). If their preferred host species is not available Clownfish will commonly settle in soft corals or large polyped stony corals, the problem with this is that the coral may sometimes die and the Clownfishs’ skin may become irritated by the coral as the clownfish is constantly swimming around its host.

The Clownfish is one of the first marine fish to be successfully captive bred, which is awesome as it takes pressure of the reef environment to constantly supply Clownfish to home aquarists. You should always seek out captive bred Clownfish for this reason, additionally captive bred fish are a lot less stressed out, are used to humans and aquarium food and are more resistant to disease. Clownfish are social creatures and are best kept in pairs although a few species (like the Maroon Clownfish for example) can be aggressive to each other. They should be kept in aquariums 40 litres or more.

Basically Clownfish are hardy, fun and interesting fish to keep and will require minimal effort from their owners. If you can get a host anemone for them as they will be most happy, although these anemones can be hard to care for. Clownfish are peaceful but can be territorial (especially with their hosts) I advise you not to mix species as this can lead to a lot of fights.

To learn more expert tips about keeping thriving marine aquariums full of happy healthy marine life check out my best selling ebook “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates”

Biotoping your marine aquarium is a craze that is quickly gaining in popularity these days. The word biotope translates from Greek and means “life place”. Basically creating a biotope aquarium means imitating a naturally occurring habitat in the ocean along with the key species that inhabit that region. The aim is to try and associate fish, invertebrates and even plants and substrate native to the same region. Because they have evolved in parallel they should have similar environmental requirements. The most common biotope aquariums are corals reefs with a few must have fish species from different regions around the world.

An example would be to aquascape and stock a tank based on what species you would find in the Great Barrier reef, the Caribbean, Hawaiian, Pacific islands. As well as this geographic biotoping you can also biotope reefs based on different reef regions and zones such as the outer reef, reef crest, lagoon, Mangrove root system, Seagrass beds just to name a few.

The coolest way to get into biotoping is to go snorkelling or diving somewhere and just fall in love with the beauty of what you saw there and want to go home and replicate it in your own house. With the general health of the worlds oceans and reefs going backward alarmingly quickly biotoping is becoming of increasing importance. Pretty soon some of these natural environments may be wiped out, and future generations would only be able to catch a glimpse of what existed by visiting biotope aquariums. Biotope set ups can even allow us to learn more about the natural interactions of species that have evolved together as opposed to regular marine aquariums where species from different geographical origins are just thrown together and expected to live in perfect harmony.

If you are considering setting up a biotope aquarium careful research and planning is the order of the day. Choose what geographical region you want to concentrate on, there may even be a tiny ecosystem in this area you want to replicate. You will need to identify all the key species that dominate your area and choose a few must have specimens you want to concentrate on. The idea here is to come up with either 1 or 2 must have fish or corals, then set everything else up around these, making sure the accompanying organisms are native to the same biotope and are compatible with your key species. If you do this correctly you will not only have a stunning true-to-nature aquarium but may see the result of millions of years of harmonious evolution in the interactions of your new pets.

For more information on creating the perfect saltwater aquarium set up and having simply thriving marine pets check out what my best selling ebook  “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates” has to offer.

Tiny Saltwater aquariums are all the rage these days. So I thought this post could be about all the ins and outs of owning a small marine aquarium. You can get mini, micro, nano and pico marine aquariums in decreasing volume which range from 40 gallons to 5 gallons or less. Many people see the small size to mean cheapness and ease of care, but beware these tiny tanks can be the fastest way to kill off your marine life if you are not careful.

Limited space can be a huge issue for those thinking about setting up a saltwater aquarium, so its only natural that people gravitate toward smaller set ups that are suitable for apartments or dorm rooms. But for novice marine aquarists a large sized aquarium really is a much better choice in my opinion, the reason for this is a large water volume gives you much more buffering capacity thus room for error in terms of deteriorating water quality, you also will have way more options when it comes to stocking your tank and generally your marine life will be happier because they dont have to co-exist in such close quarters, which is especially helpful if they dont get on all that well.

The reason these tiny tanks are so popular is because they take up a lot less room than full sized items, they also require less maintainence and usually cost less to set up and equip. Some reefers I know also have one as an auxillary tank for growing out coral frags or as a quarantine tank. They also mostly come as complete set ups so are “plug and play” , and easily upgradable which is of huge appeal. It is also possible to have compact high power filtration,pump systems and lights which allows you to keep a range of marine life easily.

However there is a down side to owning a small marine aquarium too; first of all the cost per gallon of water is usually the same as a larger set-up although the final set up costs are lower, you need to weigh this up with the lack of freedom you will have compared to the freedom of stocking a larger tank.

After the initial planning and extensive research (if you have read a few of my posts you will know I am all about the research!), the maintainance can take as little as 5 minutes a day and is a lot less daunting than a bigger tank, but does need cleaning more often. Following a regular maintainance schedule is the best thing you can do to keep your tiny aquarium healthy.

By far the biggest issue with small aquariums is the very short amount of time it can take for your water quality to become toxic because of the small water volume, this and the ability for the temperature to change rapidly can kill your marine pets in hours. Careful monitoring must be done daily to weekly and you must change 25-50% of the water every week.

You will have to be especially careful while going through the start up biological cycling (even more so if you are a novice), this is dangerous phase in bigger aquariums because of the cyclic ammonium, nitrite and nitrate levels causing toxicity to marine life. This is magnified greatly in a smaller system so  having any marine life kicking around at this time is pretty silly.

The next most potentually lethal thing to be aware of with your small aquariums is stocking levels and species compatibility. It is so easy to overload the system and cause it to crash, so move very slowly and do not put too much marine life in. Introduce a few fish at a time over a few weeks (or better still months) you will need restraint and patience here. You should go for small fish and 1 or 2 showy ones, bottom cleaners will also fit well in the mix.

Species compatibility is especially important here; quite a few reef safe fish from larger aquariums will not go well in small ones because of the close proximity. So once again go for smaller fish that are peaceful; Clownfish and Gobies are always popular choices in small aquariums.

For more information on keeping thriving marine life in optimal set ups check out my best selling publication: www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com

As an avid marine aquarist, I have watched over the years as reef aquariums grow massively in popularity.  These days nano reefs and pico reefs are very popular as people are drawn toward smaller size (and perceived lower cost) of these tiny reef set ups. Typically nano reefs are less than 30 gallons (140L) in volume and pico reefs are super tiny at 5 gallons or less.

A reef aquarium is defined as a marine aquarium with the focus on corals and invertebrates rather than fish.  The key component of a reef aquarium is live rock used to “landscape” the tank and also as a primary mean of biological filtration.  As reef aquariums focus on the corals and other marine invertebrates the aim here is to truly make them look as if a slab of the native reef has been removed from the ocean and is now growing in your own home! Its also really fun to set up biotope reefs, for example I have done a Pacific island reef set up and seen another Caribbean one done.

One thing about reef aquariums versus fish-only or fish and live rock (FOWLR) is that water quality and vigorous water movement become much more of a must have here because of the corals requirements to thrive. Additionally, marine creature selection becomes a lot more important in reef set ups because of compatibility issues with fish, corals and other marine invertebrates making the situation a lot more difficult to balance. If you dont know what you are doing you can easily make expensive mistakes here, check out my best selling ebook “Ultimate Secrets to Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates” for easy steps to selecting marine species correctly the first time and everything else you could possibly want to knowing about owning a thriving reef aquarium.

Lighting is a major component of a good reef aquarium set up, this is so important because of the corals ability to photosynthesize to produce their food, Therefore the conditions of the tropical sun in real reef habitats will need to be effectively mimicked.  The most common lighting choices for reefers are: metal halide, T5, compact fluorescent or VHO (very high output) bulbs. Most reefers aim for 5-8 watts of light ouput per gallon of water. The key to a thriving reef environment is to choose your lighting to complement the requirements of the corals you want, then place the corals in the aquarium in their preferred proximity to the lights in the water column and in the appropriate water turbulence region. This may sound easier said than done but a little research and careful planning on you part will make the difference between a spectacular reef and a failure.

Never underestimate the water movement conditions your corals require. Water movement is vital to corals because it brings them their food (when the lights are off the coral polyps begin snatching plankton from the water, no coral relies solely on photosynthesis and some are entirely carnivorous), enables corals to respirate (brings O2 and takes away CO2), keeps them cool (important under hot lights), assists them in shedding protective tissue and finally rinses detritus and debris from the coral that would otherwise rot and potentially cause infection. Water movement can be easily regulated with the clever use of powerheads.

So, even though reef tanks sound complex believe me when I say they are extremely rewarding. A little careful research, planning and preparation on your part can result in a stunning reef that will be your pride and joy for years to come.