How To Choose Compatible Fish For Your Saltwater Aquarium
Choosing compatible fish can be a real challenge since there are so many saltwater fish available.
What makes it even more difficult is people fall in love with fish.
They visit an aquarium or pet store and find a fish in their favorite color, like bright purple, or it has an irresistible face, like a dog face puffer and they have got to have it.
If possible, resist the urge to fall in love with a fish until you know it is compatible with your other fish.
Choosing the wrong fish can cause injury, bullying or worse: they can retire to an early, watery grave (Davey Jones' Locker.
) There are many factors affecting which fish go together.
How large is your aquarium? Are there plenty of hiding places for timid fish to feel safe and secure? Is your filter capable of keeping a well-stocked aquarium clean? Let us assume you have a 90 gallon saltwater aquarium with live rock, with a high-quality filtration system, heater and other equipment necessary to keep saltwater fish.
Assume the aquarium is setup properly to add fish (i.
e.
the temperature, salinity, etc.
are all at optimal levels.
) Although your aquarium is ready for fish, you need to start with very hardy ones.
Once fish are added there need to be colonies of "good" bacteria available to break down fish waste and uneaten food.
Without this bacterium, the water becomes toxic to the fish.
It takes from 4 to 6 weeks to establish a "bed" of good bacteria.
While it is possible to significantly shorten this period by adding bottled bacteria, it is still prudent to choose hardy fish initially.
Before adding fish, narrow the target selection of fish by deciding if you prefer peaceful, semi-aggressive, or aggressive fish.
Here are two examples of compatible fish for a 90 gallon aquarium.
I recommend starting with juvenile fish and enjoy watching them grow.
Group 1 - Peaceful for a 90 gallon aquarium 2 "Nemo" Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris ), 1 Coral Beauty Angelfish (Centropyge bispinosus), 1 Tomini Tang(Ctenochaetus tominiensis), 4 Green Chromis (Chromis viridis), 1 Aurora Goby (Amblyeleotris aurora), 3 Pajama Cardinal (Sphaeramia nematoptera), 1 Solorensis Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus solorensis) Group 2 - Aggressive (semi -aggressive) 1 Passer Angelfish (Holacanthus passer), 1 Redtooth Trigger (Odonus niger), 1 Freckled Hawkfish(Paracirrhites forsteri), 1 Lunare Wrasse (Thalassoma lunare), 1 Desjardinii Tang (Zebrasoma desjardinii) The fish in these groups will typically live long and happy lives together.
Watch your fish! A bit of chasing is normal since fish exhibit a pecking order.
Some fish stake out territories and chase intruders away.
On occasion, however, you may have a fish develop a high and mighty attitude and he may neglect to follow the general rules; always keep an eye out for extremely aggressive behavior.
If this is the case remove the fish and add something else.
What makes it even more difficult is people fall in love with fish.
They visit an aquarium or pet store and find a fish in their favorite color, like bright purple, or it has an irresistible face, like a dog face puffer and they have got to have it.
If possible, resist the urge to fall in love with a fish until you know it is compatible with your other fish.
Choosing the wrong fish can cause injury, bullying or worse: they can retire to an early, watery grave (Davey Jones' Locker.
) There are many factors affecting which fish go together.
How large is your aquarium? Are there plenty of hiding places for timid fish to feel safe and secure? Is your filter capable of keeping a well-stocked aquarium clean? Let us assume you have a 90 gallon saltwater aquarium with live rock, with a high-quality filtration system, heater and other equipment necessary to keep saltwater fish.
Assume the aquarium is setup properly to add fish (i.
e.
the temperature, salinity, etc.
are all at optimal levels.
) Although your aquarium is ready for fish, you need to start with very hardy ones.
Once fish are added there need to be colonies of "good" bacteria available to break down fish waste and uneaten food.
Without this bacterium, the water becomes toxic to the fish.
It takes from 4 to 6 weeks to establish a "bed" of good bacteria.
While it is possible to significantly shorten this period by adding bottled bacteria, it is still prudent to choose hardy fish initially.
Before adding fish, narrow the target selection of fish by deciding if you prefer peaceful, semi-aggressive, or aggressive fish.
Here are two examples of compatible fish for a 90 gallon aquarium.
I recommend starting with juvenile fish and enjoy watching them grow.
Group 1 - Peaceful for a 90 gallon aquarium 2 "Nemo" Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris ), 1 Coral Beauty Angelfish (Centropyge bispinosus), 1 Tomini Tang(Ctenochaetus tominiensis), 4 Green Chromis (Chromis viridis), 1 Aurora Goby (Amblyeleotris aurora), 3 Pajama Cardinal (Sphaeramia nematoptera), 1 Solorensis Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus solorensis) Group 2 - Aggressive (semi -aggressive) 1 Passer Angelfish (Holacanthus passer), 1 Redtooth Trigger (Odonus niger), 1 Freckled Hawkfish(Paracirrhites forsteri), 1 Lunare Wrasse (Thalassoma lunare), 1 Desjardinii Tang (Zebrasoma desjardinii) The fish in these groups will typically live long and happy lives together.
Watch your fish! A bit of chasing is normal since fish exhibit a pecking order.
Some fish stake out territories and chase intruders away.
On occasion, however, you may have a fish develop a high and mighty attitude and he may neglect to follow the general rules; always keep an eye out for extremely aggressive behavior.
If this is the case remove the fish and add something else.
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