i want to purchase a few fish, clown fish, 2 tangs, and a puffer fish, how big does the aquarium need to be?

Question

and what all do i need to start the salt water aquarium, thanks, also where can i find the cheapest starter kit

Answer 1

A small tang will grow up to 7 inches and require a minimum of 75 gallons for swimming, a large on grows to 1.5 feet and needs 150 gallons. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=43

Clown fish are a little easier, they would easily fit in as little as 10 gallons since they never swim far from their home http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=27

Puffer fish brow from 4 inches to 1.5 feet depending on the type and require anywhere from 30 to 100 gallons. They are also not reef-save so you could only keep them in a fish-only tank.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=39

If you were interested in setting up a fish-only with live rock tank, that is about 100 gallons, you would need florescent lighting, heater, skimmer, three-stage filter (1000gph), hydrometer, marine test kit, wave-maker, 50 pounds of live rock, enough substrate to put a two inch base, reverse-osmosis water amd salt.
Fill your tank with salt water (you can mix it in the tank for the first time, but after that it has to be mixed in advance) to a specific gravity of around 1.022, get all the equipment running and wait for the temp to be right (75)
Add the live rock and start testing the water regularly. You will start getting blooms of beneficial bacteria (couldy water), and red and green slime. When the amonia, nitrite and nitrate levels have stopped spiking (takes weeks) you can start adding your clean up crew (probably 50 snails, 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 sand-sifter starfish and a dozen hermit crabs). After a couple of weeks you can start adding fish. Be careful when selecting them because you cannot medicate you tank. Replace evaporated water with just water and do weekly water changes of at least twenty gallons of pre-mixed and well-aerated salt water.

Answer 2

I stock my tank by the rule of 1 inch of fish per 10 gallons of water. Check out a site like liveaquaria.com to see the fishes adult size and go by that, as they will grow. If you want success, do a LOT of research on every aspect of keeping saltwater fish. I researched for almost a year before I bought the first item. I've had my tank going for 3 yrs now and lost only 2 fish in that entire time. With the tank, stand, hood, lights, rock, sand, skimmer, power heads, water, food, fish, clean up crew, heaters, and I'm sure I'm leaving other parts out but thats just a start, I probably have at least $3,000 into the whole deal.

A puffer will most likely eat your clown fish.

Answer 3

If you have never had a marine (saltwater) aquarium, go to "About.com" and follow their links to saltwater start-up tips. You should also go to the nearest fish store that has saltwater fish and recruit the help of one or more experienced aquarists who buy their fish there.

You should not start with anything less than a 55 gallon tank. All the accessories, including the tank and stand will cost you in the neighborhood of $500, then you have the cost of the fish (the ones you list would probably run about $100). If you can't invest that much, you probably shouldn't try saltwater yet. All the equipment is a necessary part of marine tanks. There is no "starter kit" that I know of.

Answer 4

Yes there are no cheap starter fish. Also, I suggest you do a good amount of research before you consider a saltwater tank they require a good amount of patietence for success. For what you asked for, most tangs require a tank of at least 125 gallons and two tangs of the same species will be very likely to fight in any size tank unless a male/female pair. Also, your puffer fish will very likely eat your clownfish as it gets bigger. Also, those fish will be kind of hard to feed due to their varying diet! Clownfish enjoy usually little mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, or pellets and flakes. Tangs enjoy strips of algae, algae sheets, and algae flakes. Your puffer would be ok on mysis shrimp while it was little but as it gets bigger it will need to be fed silversides and/or krill! Do a lot of research before you start! A good place to sign up and get advice from tons of people that know a ton about saltwater fish is reefcentral.com sign up there and ask this question, you'll get a ton of help from many experiences aquarists.

Answer 5

Id start first off with buying the appropriote size and set up. Salt water fish need large areas, but the MOST important aspect of getting and maintaining a saltwater tank is actually allowing bacteria to grow in the tank.

When you first buy a tank-you shoulld fill, formulate, and allow the tank to run, and sit fish free for atleast 2-3 months. This allows PH balances to balance out and adujst to the system.

In re of "cheap"-hun in maintaining and keeping a salt water tank-cheep is not often an aspect of saltwater set ups. Cheap is a beta fish in a bowl full of spring water.

Answer 6

A clown, two tangs, and a puffer fish? Hmmm... Well without getting too technical. The two tangs and clown fish would be okay together, pufferfish are just a whole nother story all together! If you are going for two tangs average size tank for them are in the 55-100 gallons.

This is a link to my small web site about my tank, i have several links that would be of interest to you.
http://www.geocities.com/comp_nerd_2000

Answer 7

The clown will be the easiest to keep. Any of the large puffers will eat any snails,crab or shrimp you may want to add. The lion fish will eat anything that will fit in its mouth. Its best to start out with cheaper easier to care for community fish .

Answer 8

This is an expensive outing - salt water fish need a lot more room than freshwater. I would guess what you are talking about here, to do it successfully you are going to need several hundred dollars. Just the fish you are talking about here will run you around $200-300.

Answer 9

I think it would be great if you took half of a room and mad it an aquarium. Then the fish could have almost all the freedom they could want. And with only those few fish, you may never have to clean it.
But then again, I do like to over do stuff.

Answer 10

You should heed '8 in the corners' advice. If you want to see if you are ready for marine, keep a pair of discus for a while. They are nowhere near as demanding as marine fish, but it will give you a good idea about what is involved when it comes to water quality, levels ,temperature etc. If you get your marine tank right it is probably the most rewarding hobby there is!