Salt/freshwater ?

Question

ok i got a my first tank it's a 70g and i thought i should start a freshwater and maybe a saltwater later, is it really much harder to maintain a slatwater over freshwater tank ? however i haven't started cycling or anything yet, if fresh water is the way to go at first then i need a little help with stocking the tank, i looked at the freshwater fish and found these attractive

Red Pigeon Blood Discus

angels

Guppies

Sciaenochromis ahli "Electric Blue"

Strawberry Peacock

Mollies

Bloody Parrot

Heros efasciatus "Red Severum"

guppies & mollies are for schooling :P i know they wont all survive in one tank so what has to go ?

Answer 1

ok so definately dont do sw yet it is a ton harder than freshwater. But you could definately do an amazing tank w/70 gallons with the fish you like.

your focus seems to be with cichlids so ill separate it by geographical areas.

Firstly you could do a south american cichlid setup.

This would include Discus, and Angels.

For stocking i would go 5-6 discus, and 4 or 5 angels, and maybe some kind of pleco, or other catfish. Discus are way overcomplicated and portrayed as sensitive fish, but honestly, they are very hardy, forgiving fish. As for decor, you could do a planted aquarium. For inspiration i would highly recommend the amano books that can be found in the pet section of your book store.

You could also go with an african theme with your strawberry peacocks and Blue Ahli. You could also add some other peacocks, mixed and matched with other species of peacocks. Some attractive ones:

Sunshine peacock

http://images.google.com/images?sourceid...

Ngara Flametail

http://www.fishpost.com/images/mal/aulst...

aulonocara jacobfreibergi

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=...

but there are many others. Also, dont allow these fish to interbreed and create hybrids by adding any females. They are bland and brown anyways. If breeding is something you are interested in i would choose one of the above and get 1 male and anywhere from 2-5 females.

I hope i gave you some good ideas and i wish you luck with your fishkeeping hobby. It wont be long before you catch MTS(multiple tank syndrome)...

Answer 2

Wow, I don't even know where to start. At least half those fish are not compatible. My first question is do you want an african tank, or a south american tank? First off, if this is your first tank, DO NOT buy discus. They are definitely not recommended for the beginner. I have been keeping cichlids for over 7 years and I JUST started keeping discus only 9 months ago. As well I do not suggest going into salt water until you have been keeping fish for a while and you have kept some harder species of freshwater. I would look up every single one of those fish and google their name, then read at least a few different web pages on care for these fish. THEN decide which fish you really want to keep. Base the tankmates then on what single fish of those you really want to keep. You can keep the fryeri and the peacock together. And you can keep the parrot and severum together. The angels can live with the mollies and guppies. And those are the groups you can go off from. But beware of the angels, because they are not always angels. Once they grow large enough they will eat smaller fish. Please research these fish farther then come back and ask more questions. While you are deciding on what you want to keep, I suggest setting up your tank in the meantime and letting it cycle. It should be left for 4-6 weeks to cycle anyways before you add the fish you want. I suggest doing a cycle with some hardy fish like zebra danios or tetras. Here is a page on cycling your tank, follow all directions and you should not have many problems.http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

Answer 3

It is usually recommended that you start with a freshwater tank. Most of the saltwater fish are expensive and require care in way of water quality and lighting. So if you start out with a freshwater tank you get some experience with fish keeping and then you if you decide you like it well enough, you could convert over to saltwater.

Out of the fish you picked out there I would say guppies and mollies are really good beginner fish. You probably would not want the angels or other exotics starting out because they require more care and attention to water quality. You could also get a pleco and some snails or other things that will help you keep you tank clean. :)  Hope this helps!

Answer 4

Salt water tanks are much more expensive and much fussier.  Keeping levels balanced is more challenging.  Good idea to start off with a less complex system and upgrade as you learn more.  You don't want to learn via mistakes.  Try hooking up with someone who has a salt water tank now and see how they tweek levels and what kind of tools they prefer etc.

Answer 5

okay all the fish are fine but the guppies have to go because most of the fish in your tank can't live with guppies or they will kill the guppies but go with mollies since they are larger and would go along with the other fish

Answer 6

if it really is your first tank then I would highly recommend doing a freshwater one.  If you really think you know what to do you can try a saltwater, I'm sure its possible to do one successfully as a beginner but I personally would do a freshwater as my first tank.