- Joined
- May 6, 2020
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- 95
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A warm greeting to fellow enthusiasts. Some background first is appropriate. I was an avid reef aquarium hobbyist back in the 1980s/90s until I moved overseas. I would classify myself as intermediate to advanced back in the day but am certainly out of date on some things. Retirement is approaching and I am planning a new house with a large island marine aquarium prominently positioned between dining and living rooms. The fish room will be directly below in the basement. I have paid attention to the hobby over the years albeit on an at arm's length basis as I have had no aquarium in operation. First, I am amazed at how this hobby has grown: equipment availability, livestock availability and general expertise. Lots of youtube videos but serious books over the pat 10 years seem lacking. This retirement project is going to be a big challenge and cost for me, but I believe I have at least the fundamentals to build upon. I am an experienced engineer in the field of power generation and so suffice to say that by nature I will be focused on the system engineering aspects of a large aquarium. I hope this community will be supportive in my new learning curve and that one day I will be able to pay it forward.
The first topic that I don't see too much discussion on is just how the size of the aquarium influences fish selection and compatibility. Obviously parrots will munch on coral and puffers will snack on hermit crabs regardless of the aquarium size, but is it possible to maintain multiple species of the same family when the tank gets large? The reason for this query is that I am still contemplating whether to have multiple (2 or 3) smaller aquariums dedicated to different personalities and diets vs one monster aquarium with necessary compatibility restrictions? My recollection is that many fish from a similar family/genus (by family I mean say Butterfly or Angel for example) tend to be aggressive towards sister species. And some species can be very aggressive towards each other. But with more real estate, can they become more compatible especially if there is larger numbers from each family or species?
Are there any monster tank owners who can give me an idea of what might be possible from their experience?
The first topic that I don't see too much discussion on is just how the size of the aquarium influences fish selection and compatibility. Obviously parrots will munch on coral and puffers will snack on hermit crabs regardless of the aquarium size, but is it possible to maintain multiple species of the same family when the tank gets large? The reason for this query is that I am still contemplating whether to have multiple (2 or 3) smaller aquariums dedicated to different personalities and diets vs one monster aquarium with necessary compatibility restrictions? My recollection is that many fish from a similar family/genus (by family I mean say Butterfly or Angel for example) tend to be aggressive towards sister species. And some species can be very aggressive towards each other. But with more real estate, can they become more compatible especially if there is larger numbers from each family or species?
Are there any monster tank owners who can give me an idea of what might be possible from their experience?
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