What is a good size tank for saltwater fish in a dorm room?

Question

It needs to be small enough for a dorm room but i also don't want a tiny little fish bowl. How many fish could I approximately fit in it it and how much do you think it would cost to recreate a "reef aquarium".

Do you think it is even a feasible idea to have a saltwater aquarium in a college room?

Answer 1

The smaller the saltwater aquarium, the more difficult it is to keep.
And expensive! As a "starving" college student, you might want something less expensive.
Salt water tanks are difficult for experienced people to keep alive, a small one in a dorm room may just be more trouble than it's worth.
Tropical fish are cheap and easy. In a 10 gallon tank you can get around 6-10 small fish, or 2-3 large ones.
Cheers.

Answer 2

Honestly, i tried doing that and its a PITA! Sorry to be a bubble buster here...but you are going to have to move that tank in 6-7 months dude! That's not even enough time for a saltwater aquarium to get seriously established. A Saltwater tank is a great "pet" but its best set up in a semi-permanent place...ie moving not required for at least a few years.


But if you are really set on doing it, look around at the nano-cubes or aquapods i believe. You can get a 29 gallon nanocube for around 300, that's with lights and everything...ready to go just needs a heater and water/salt/livestock. If you don't have that money, you can get a 12 gallon for around $120 -150. But i really wouldn't even suggest putting any saltwater fish in a tank that small....maybe a shrimp and some mushrooms/zoos.

but be ready for a big pain in the *** move dude...its like setting up the tank all over again but this time you are on a serious schedule and have to be very careful. Do research on tank moving before you do this though.

Answer 3

reef aquariums are hard to put together its kinda of like you by the plants and graft them onto each other. If you want to go to this route you should look for pre-setup nano tanks in your local pet store. Although with all the moving back and forth to and out of a dorm room you'll probably loose a lot of fish or plants. Plus you'd have to get someone to watch the tank if you ever wanted to take a weekend trip. I'd wait on the saltwater tank till your in a more stable situation. You should try to setup a really low maintenance freshwater tank. Fill it to half or three quarters of the recommended fish per gallon ratio and add more live plants.

Answer 4

First off 30 gallon is the smallest you should ever go for a salt water tank. So salt water is out.

Which means when you head home this summer and spring vacation, you have a 350 pound tank to move with you. Who is going to care for your fish should you leave it there?

Fish tanks are nice, bowls are for dog food. If you must have a tank go with a 10 gallon fresh water Even still, the question remains, who is going to care for your fish? Most colleges do not allow students to remain on campus over Christmas and spring break.

Answer 5

Size depending how big and how many fishes you planning to get. Think again. Saltwater fishes need lot of attention, than freshwater fishes. Beside water filteration, great care is needed for saltwater plant too.

Answer 6

LUCKY! I wish my dorms had allowed pets! lol. I'd suggest freshwater and coldwater. Less work for a beginner and much less space.Reefs are also expensive and you should not transport a glass tank when full of water, so over breaks and when you go home for summer you'll need to bring it home and reassemble the whole thing. Dude, get a small one until you're settled somewhere. And good luck!

Answer 7

Everyone here has hit on very important points to consider, cost, maintenance, knowledge, time involved, so I only have one additional point. Aquariums filled with water are heavy. Really heavy. If you are on any floor other than the first, a tank over 10-20 gallons may weigh more than the floors can handle.

Answer 8

i had a freshwater 5-gallon tank in my dorm room for a year and a half, and that was very difficult to maintain. it's hard because i was always having to run out to the store for gallon jugs of water or more gravel or fish food (and the store wasn't very close to my dorm). plus, it was hard to get the bad water out of the tank b/c i would have to take apart the whole tank, dump the bad water in the toilet and make sure no gravel fell into the toilet. then i'd have to change the gravel and rinse out the grubby tank, and set it all back up again. it was basically a huge hassle. and i'm pretty sure a saltwater aquarium is harder to maintain than a freshwater.

not to mention, i had a pump to keep the water in the tank circulated, and that was very loud in my small dorm room. i had to try to muffle the pump with towels, but that didn't work all that well. i even tried getting a pump that claimed to be 'quiet', but it wasn't all that quiet in such a small room like a dorm room.

and definitely make sure you get those 'cleaning' kinds of fish - the kind that suck on the sides of the tank to keep the tank clean longer. i had 2 goldfish, and they were very messy and i was having to change the tank water like every week or two. so get some cleaning sucker fish, and don't get 'messy' fish!

Answer 9

It takes alot of time and patience and money to set up a saltwater tank. If and when you are able to do it, you should set up a "nano".
You can learn alot in the message boards and ask whatever questions you have and even buy from the classifieds at
www.saltwaterfish.com
They have a whole section on the NANO tanks.

Answer 10

Well fish are great becaues i own a few but they are cold water which may i suggest is way easyer to take care of ,but about your question, the best for a salt water fish(es) would be a 10 to 50 gallon tank which isnt always good becaues your in a college room which it will be hard to take care of and will take lots of space, and another thing it will cost way more than cold water fish tanks and the fishes are less expensive.
Salt water:
about 100 or over for a 50 gallon tank at petco but at Wal*Mart a 10 gallon tanks is 10.00 SWEET hua.

The Fish cost way more to up to 15.00 each!

Cold water:
Smaller tanks fits about 5 to 3 fish and may i suggest A ghost shrimp i had some and they are so fun!

Fish as cheap as .26 cents!

And so much easyer to take care of

So i suggest you look in cold water fish until you geta house but a cost on fish like that is not good b/c your in college and those college book sale Prices SUCK . so save some money.
GOOD LUCK.

AND A GREAT TIP FOR NOT HAVING TO CHANGE WATER ALL THE TIME: ......WATER CLEARING DROPS! TRUST ME I JUST CLEANED MY TANK TWO WEEKS AGO AND IT CLEAN!