300 gallon saltwater aquarium

[tlindsey]

Why do saltwater fish have to be so expensive. Corals might even be worse

Some species are probably becoming harder to collect and for Corals although they are propagated in farms I don't know.

 

[Deadeye]

Supply and demand. It’s “exotic” so you can charge more. Lots of cheap corals, but just like fish, the more colorful and rare the more expensive. Common fish like clowns are cheap but rarer guys get bad.
Corals are the complicated part, they require perfect tanks to survive. With fish it isn’t much harder than freshwater just with added salt.

 

[Deadeye]

I have an emporer, picasso, niger, narrowline puffer, harlequin tusk, chainlink moray, scopas tang, & a few others I'm forgetting. A fuzzy lion will get ripped apart if it doesn't starve to death while you try to get it to eat first.

Lionfish are predators, but very very timid. You'll have to decide between it or aggressive fish. A volitan or russels are about the only ones that really do well for the average person. My triggers & puffer shaved a big urchin so a lionfish would die a horrible death.

Humu/picasso triggers are pretty mild on average, but don't take any crap. Your killers in the trigger world are undulates, queens, clowns, bluelines, & pineapples.

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I love that last pic! One of my favorite fish memes.
How is the tusk’s aggression? Only one I’ve seen in person was injured at the lfs by I forget what was in the tank with it (grouper maybe?). Beautiful fish though! The angel is also stunning!

 

[Benthebassmaster]

Now that I’m hear talking about saltwater, what is the min tank size for a peacock grouper

 

[Deadeye]

Online says 250. For a 2 foot active fish I would say 8x4 minimum footprint.

 

[Benthebassmaster]

Also what is the min tank size for a single blue line grouper. Could they be in a 180 gallon tank

 

[Deadeye]

Probably even a 125 as a solo fish. 180 far more ideal. I read 75 but that doesn’t seem fair, comparable to a 11 inch cichlid in a 75.

 

[PYRU]

Why do saltwater fish have to be so expensive. Corals might even be worse

They're all wild & most are hard to breed in captivity. You have to pay someone to collect it in the red sea etc then import to cali then to you. Coral is ungodly expensive & the really cool fish usually eat them.

I can get sw fish local more readily than the fw fish I like so they're usually the same price after you add shipping.

Why does saltwater have to be so confusing to. This is a filter system for a high-tech reef system. I found this in one of my aquarium booksView attachment 1464160View attachment 1464160

Lol that's like an 80s style setup. Reef tanks get pretty complex with dosing elements. Fowlr (fish only with live rock) is way simpler. Your rock & sand are your bio, then you use power heads to generate your flow, & then your sump is basically hiding your equipment. My sump goes return chamber, then skimmer, external pump, & off my return is an algae scrubber. My fw tanks are way more effort.

Reef2reef forum is going to be way more informative than here for salt if you want to dive deeper down the rabbit hole.

I love that last pic! One of my favorite fish memes.
How is the tusk’s aggression? Only one I’ve seen in person was injured at the lfs by I forget what was in the tank with it (grouper maybe?). Beautiful fish though! The angel is also stunning!

I wouldnt consider it aggressive, but stands up for itself. Now it will dismantle your clean up inverts, but that ship has sailed with my tank anyway. That pic isn't close to doing justice to the colors def a show stopper with blue teeth.

A guy broke down his fish only and didn't want it eating his snails/hermit crabs in his reef so I got a killer deal.