questions about starting a tank

[hahnd37]

Hello, I am new to owning aquariums. I have always been very interested in fish, and since my overall aspiration in this is to eventually own a small shark(coral or banded) I thought this would be a good place to start getting my advice. As I said I am new, and that is way down the road. For my first tank I was thinking something in the 40 to 50 gallon range to cut my teeth on, and start learning the basics of the hobby. My main question now is since I obviously want a saltwater tank eventually, would it still be best to start with a freshwater tank to learn the ropes? That any other advice you could give me would be great.

P.S. The shark and an appropriate sized tank is way down the road and I have no intentions of keeping it in a 40 to 50 gal tank. Just throwing that out there to avoid any angry posts.

 

[livebearerfreak]

salt water is alot harder then fresh water so id start with fresh water for a year or so just to get the hang of fishkeeping and to see if fishkeeping is for you, that way if you decide not to want to keep fish you can just give or sell your aquaruim and not have to worry about spending a forten (sp) on salt water.. so yea start witih fresh if i was you.

 

[Allan01230]

I would say if your passion is salt then go with a fish only tank with some tomato clowns and live rock. Just read up on starting a salt water tank. Fresh and salt are two differant animals. If salt is what you want go for it. Clowns with live rock seem to be the easyiest way to start in salt. Don't try a reef tank at first because it can be very expensive and frustating. Good Luck. Listen to some of the old saltys on here as I 'am more experianced with fresh.

 

[phillydog1958]

You sound like a reasonable person. I say go directly to a salt tank, especially when your goal is to eventually own a shark. Don't waste your time with fresh, if your heart is truly in salt. With the internet, you have access to a wealth of information on saltwater tanks. Go for it.

 

[hahnd37]

thanks for the input. i just had suspicions that it was so different that it would be like starting all over again