can you tell me which I should stock first in a new reef - fish or corals - or could i do some of each right away?

new reef systems you should also do fish first, and wait atleast a month or so before you add coral. Also start with cheap easy to care for coral. If anything goes wrong you only lose out 10 bucks or so.

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thanks - i'm going slowly, but what to move too fast sometimes.

You start first with the fish then after that you can start to decorate your reef tank..


Keepsake Urns

How long has this tank been up and running?

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how big is your tank??? what filter system are you going to use ? what lighting. and have you give thought to fish you would like .

I'd start out with some zoanthids, xenia, or shrooms if I were you. those are all bullet proof pretty much.

Also research your fish ( ie peaceful, semi-aggressive, easy etc). One fish you definitely want is a "Diamond Watchman Goby" They are a bottom dweller, live on the sand and create caves under the living rock. They do have their own personality, but their biggest benefit is that they filter the sand through their gills, eating left over food and such. As a result they will help keep the sand clean and keep the phosphate levels down. This is an easy, peacful species and is rated for beginnners. Also not sure where you intend to get your fish, but I use liveaquaria.com and bluezoo. They stand behind their products.

It's not a good idea to order fish off line. When looking at fish you need to see that that fish is healthy and eating well. The poster above was good until they got to liveaquaria two or three time I've seen them send out fish with Ick. I have a friend here had a 125gal. reef tank full of nice fish. The last fish he added came from liveaquaria wiped out his whole tank. Where ever you go to shop for fish always ask them to feed the fish while you are standing there. And if they say something like they just eat just say O.K. I'll be back tomorrow to watch it eat then.

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That is a good idea. Sometimes the fish won't eat in the store even if they aren't nessesarily sick or whatever, they are just stressed. A lot of times if you go in right after the store gets a shipment the fish are still stressed out from the whole shipping/moving process so they won't eat. But it isn't good to buy stressed out fish, because with the added stress of moving again to a new enviroment, there is a good chance they won't survive, especially with sensitive specimens. I don't think I would ever buy livestock online unless it was something that I REALLY wanted and I couldn't buy it anywhere local. Some people buy everything online and they are fine with it, but I just think it is better for everyone, including the animals, if they aren't bought online. Just think of the conditions in that bag. Low oxygen, dark, dirty, cold, etc. You want the fish/invert/coral/whatever to be in the bag the least time possible.

+1

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I guess part of this depends on WHERE YOU LIVE. Here in Maine, we do not have alot of alternatives. I use one local source ( 1 hour travel time) when I can. But if he doesn't have what I am looking for, then he has to order from suppliers and have shipped in. personally I have not had issues. Maybe I am lucky, don't know. But sometimes geography does play into it.

Very true the closest store worth me going to is about an hour and a half drive and the other is about 2 hours away. I'm willing to take those trips to be sure of what I'm getting versus taking a shot in the dark online.

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Yeah, like I said, its all your opinion. I'm not saying that one way is better for everyone, its just that for me, I have a really nice LFS 20 minutes away, so I just don't see the point in buying online. I'd just rather not risk it, you know what I mean?

Yeah, like I said, its all your opinion. I'm not saying that one way is better for everyone, its just that for me, I have a really nice LFS 20 minutes away, so I just don't see the point in buying online. I'd just rather not risk it, you know what I mean? And the thing is, sometimes it is good to buy online, because a lot of times they have a larger variety of things that are harder to find locally. It just depends on what your willing to do for certain livestock. I think that if you have a good LFS withing reasonable driving time, it is better to use that source. Just my .02.

Hmmm.....I added corals first! I had my tank set up for 2 years before the first fish ever went in.

It can work that way, people just normally put fish in first, because generally fish are easier to take care of, and most corals require an established tank. (this is unless you are talking about mushrooms, zoanthids, or xenia. In my opinion, these are bulletproof if you follow all the obvious rules.)

I have been to prolly 7 different salt water fish stores and there's not a lot of selection onlinethey got all kinds of things so it is really tempting but i agree with you guys

There too many disease's when u buy online

I wouldn't buy online if you don't have to. I just think it is a little cruel to the animals.