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set up in your livingroom! It's as easy keeping a salt aquarium as fresh water fish, this guide shows you how! The clown fish is one of the most known salt water fishes. A clown fish can be hard to keep by themselves in a salt water fish tank , ofcourse. If possible the clown fish should be keept in a pair. Clown fishes have a fantastic relation to the anemon where the clown hide, lovely ocean animals.

Choosing fish

Boxfish(Lat. Ostriaccidae)

Basicly are there three thing to keep in mind when choosing fish:

• What about the temperature of the water? Or the Ph, Nitrite or ammonia levels? Are they all balanced?
• How will the fish interact with my invertabrutes(corals)?
• How will it interact with other fishes and other species?
• What type of tank are wo looking at? Some fish(like the Labyrinth fish, a good first choice by the way) prefer shallow tanks, some extra surface area
  

One thing that's easy to overlook when setting up a new aquarium is the maturation period it needs, give it some time to adopt the right levels before introducing the fishes.

Popular species:

Cardinal

One of those, a cardinal, woulden't be to bad to start out with would it?
The cardinal-family along with damsels and the clown fish from the "pomacentridae-family" got the be the most common and the two best familys of marines for the beginner to start out with. They are easy to feed(which can be a really tricky part) and accepts anything from flakes to live bate and alges.

Accept from the clown fish, do they interact very well with each other and many other species. The clown could have a bit of trouble with it's own and is easiest keept by themselves or in a pair but interacting with other kinds of fish is not usually any problem. All of them could be keept with invertabrutes, in fact, the clown fish loves them and has developed a remarkable connection to the anemon (as shown in the picture below)

A clown fish and it's companion, the anemon (Not for beginners)

In fact the mentioned fishes, the damsel, The cardinal and the clown fish would make up a pretty good beginners tank. You could add a couple of gobys if you want to and after the critical first 4-5 weeks even an Angel fish, if you got a tank large enough that is.

If a large tank really are essential for your success, it's especially so for the beginner. Imagine if your heater stops running, it would take much longer for the temparature to drop in a large fish tank then in a small one, this is just an example but it confirms the saying "The larger tank the more forgiving" very well I belive.

Just as the clown the angel and the rabbit fish can have a bit of a trouble with it's own and better be keept by themselves, they are more costy to so that might be another reason(online prices for large angels/rabbits starting at $60/25) Important to note is also that the Angel must be supplemented with frozen food, any froozen shrimp, bloodworm would do but there are also foods specificly made for it's needs. And do no't introduce the angel to the aquarium until the other has interacted. Knowing that, this would make up a pretty good first tank but before introducing the fish you first have to go through the aquariums cycling period, the most crucial part.

Rabbit fish

The optimal temperature for most tropical fishes are 78°-82°F/25°-28°C (incl the ones mentioned above) and this should be established during this period. Check the temperature daily during the first thirty days along with, of course, pH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. The temperature should never differ more then 2-3°F

Ok, so you have had a successfull cycling, what's next? Yes, you got it, adding your fish! Some people do add them earlier but that's not to recommend and by the way, if this really is your first marine aquarium, please stay away from the corals, at least to begin with. Ok, and about the fish, you can't just stuff in as many as you like, maximum 3 inches of fish per 10 gallons of water is a good measurement.

I hope this was helpful to you just look out for your fishes (and bad smells) and make sure to check all the levels the first couple of weeks and I'm sure you'll have great success!

A small note, having done all this and your tank still looks bad it's most likely the water, make a partly change of water, say 20 % to begin with...

...small note 2, when introducing a new fish, breaking up already established territories by moving around some rocks will help the fishes interact.

A queen angel

Good luck!

ARTICLES:

• Breeding clown fish
• Considerations for buying a large tank
• Marine aquarium do's and dont's for beginners

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