What made you choose saltwater?

SmallFry

Hi all. I recently joined the forum a few days ago and initially I had planned on setting up a moderately sized, planted freshwater aquarium. Then I just had to go poking around in the Saltwater section and revive an old idea about doing that instead. I am only setting up one tank in the foreseeable future so I have to decide between the two. I have absolutely no experience with saltwater, and a moderate history in freshwater.

So...what made you go saltwater? What do you "gain" from it? Do you enjoy changing things and tweaking the tank, or is watching the fish your main objective?

Just pondering my aquatic future. Hopefully I'll get some feedback

denrgb

For me it was a couple of things...

The challenge of learning a lot more.
All of the amazing colors and choices of fish, reefs/coral.
Just doing something different other than freshwater.
The excitement of watching it grow into what it wants.
Finding new fun creatures that come out of the rock is always interesting too...
...and of course the relaxation and stress relief of watching the fish for hours and hours.

Good luck if you choose to get into it! It's a challenging yet fun road, and mine isn't even set up yet.

badxgillen

there is simply just more to it than fish...thats the attraction...so many shrimps,crabs,clams,dusters,corals,anemones,nudibr anchs,snails,starfishes,and an infinate array of life on a much smaller scale...as mentioned before just watching the rock at diffent points of maturation can be fun...but there are the cons ...lotsa research.....a chunk of cash....and patience....we can help you with some research i suppose...i still like fresh water but if i had to keep only one it would be salt...thats just me....

wake49

It's funny, because I chose saltwater for the colorful, exotic looking fish. After I learned about reef tanks, I had a huge craving to do that instead of a FOWLR. The only problem became that certain fish (the ones that my wife and I had wanted in the tank) were not compatible with a reef. So I had to settle for Tangs and clowns instead of the nice Anglefish and Wrasses that pick at corals...

When I was moving in with my wife, we decided that I can get a fish tank. I was going to go the Discus route, and she was like, "Man up!! Go saltwater!!" That's probably the biggest reason: a woman questioned my manhood via fishkeeping skills...

aunt kymmie

She's a toughie!

Pasfur

All great reasons...

For me, it is the look on random peoples face when they walk into the room and then just stand there staring at the tank, having never seen such color in an aquarium before.

bearwithfish

for me it was the opportunity to learn more, the challenge of being successful with what seemed so complicated when i first started out... the beauty of a reef, the wonder of all the micro life, the fact that i know what i put in my tank and yet each day i look into it and find yet another form of life either growing or showing itself for the first time ....

reefsahoy

initally, i thought salt water fish was more beautiful than dull FW fish so i started a FOWLR, then i got bored because i had all fish and just unassuming rocks. I then went into reef using softies, then LPS and now i'm full blown sps. Keeping sps is quite challenging but however rewarding. Anytime someone comes over to my home they B-line over to the tank and just sit and stare in awe, then a ton of questions follow. Now i'm begining to get bored again and am considering a either a planted tank or reaquascaping my current reef. The biggest difference between SW tank and planted tank to me is . Planted tanks are beautiful and is all about calming scenery, FOWLR is about colors, a reef tank is about colors and scenery. check out my album to see my tank.

willieturnip

Freshwater didn't require enough tinkering.

There's just not enough to freshwater. It's just a glass box and some fish.

DisneyCoralReef

That's one of the magical things about a salt water tank. There is just sooo much going on all the time. Fish, little creatures, coral! so much to look at, so much always changing! Being able to work around what you have and being able to add or change and watching the tank transform. You have a little piece of ocean right into your home, its beautiful!

...and you're kidding! I just had the chance to see the tank of a forum member and I was in awe! and I've seen many tanks now, but it never ceases to surprise me how beautiful and how individual each and every tank is.