My first fish tank and it's a reef tank, the haters said I would never make it

jrevoman

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My whole life they told me I'd never be anything. Well look at me now. Shrimped up 25/7. I drink reef water, it runs through my veins. I do not have long to live.

Ok serious now, so my mother has been telling me for years that I should get fish, I've always been obsessed with marine life. I was an aspiring marine biology student, but now I don't know where I'm going with that as I may be a bit too mentally ill for traditional school. I still hope to find a job in marine biology or conservation, that is my true passion. But anyways, whenever my mother told me to get fish I was always just picturing like a betta in a bowl, it wasn't until recently that I found out I could just have an entire coral reef in my living room. I've had my tank for about 2.5 months now, and it's been awesome. Here are my tank stats as of right now, with the creatures in the order that I added them:

20 gallon aqueon
4 Red Leg Hermits
Zebra Dartfish
Emerald Crab
3 Cerith Snails
Fighting Conch
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Neon Leather Coral
Tailspot Blenny
3 Bumblebee Snails
Yellow Watchman Goby
Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp
and tons of live rock and all the cool creatures that come with it :)

I just added the YWG and Pistol yesterday, and I'm very excited to keep learning about this hobby. I have been completely obsessed with it, probably spending an average of 3 or 4 hours every day just learning about different species and the hobby in general. I especially love the live rock animals, I've found tons of little snails, multiple brittle stars, I love watching the pods when I go flip my kitchen light on at night and I had to deal with a massive gnarly looking vermetid snail a couple weeks ago. Also pretty early on I added a springeri damsel, which I will admit I did not do research prior to buying, it was an impulse buy when the fish store lady told me they were the most docile of the damsels. However I added the cleaner shrimp a couple weeks later and the damsel picked on it relentlessly, so it was right back to the fish store with him. I now will not buy anything without doing very thorough research first. That was the only hiccup I have had so far though, testing my parameters every week, doing weekly water changes and other maintenance when necessary, and it looks beautiful. I am so happy I found this hobby and can't wait to keep making my little reef more colorful and lively.
 

Tentacled trailblazer in your tank: Have you ever kept a large starfish?

  • I currently have a starfish in my tank.

    Votes: 64 31.5%
  • Not currently, but I have kept a starfish in the past.

    Votes: 53 26.1%
  • I have never kept a starfish, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 42 20.7%
  • I have no plans to keep a starfish.

    Votes: 42 20.7%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
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