Help with new tanks

[kyriewann44]

My friend and I have decided to start 2 salt water tanks for the first time. We both have been fish keeping for years, them much longer, but only ever freshwater.

We have a 100 gallon already, and are in the process of getting a 130 gallon. We would like Eels in both, 1 snowflake and 1 golden dwarf moray. We aren't sure about tank mates or substrate though. We would also like at least one tank to have coral as well.

With the Snowflake, I have read that they do well with lionfish and porcupine fish, but don't know what else to put in there or if we would even get them since we have no experience with saltwater.

For the Golden dwarf, I haven't found much information at all, other than maybe being housed with a marine betta. We would maybe like a pufferfish as well, but are not sure yet.

Any advice on proper care, set-up, or tank mates would be appreciated. These tanks won't be set up for a while, but we would like to get as much information as possible.

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I would think @littlefoxx would be a great resource here

Best of luck!

 

[littlefoxx]

Snowflakes and golden dwarfs (if you can find any no one has seen one for sale in years) are fine with fish in general. They eat inverts not other fish, just keep them fed. I have 4 morays in my tank with two triggerfish, 4 tangs, 2 predatory wrasses, a dwarf puffer, tomato clowns, damsel, grouper and a hawkfish. Everyone is fine together no issues

 

[littlefoxx]

Also marine bettas are kinda like groupers but nocturnal and they like to hide all day. Beautiful fish though

 

[littlefoxx]

I will say all the fish youre asking about are not beginner friendly due to care requirements. I would suggest simpler fish first then adding those kinds of fish after you get the hang of the saltwater world

 

[kyriewann44]

I will say all the fish youre asking about are not beginner friendly due to care requirements. I would suggest simpler fish first then adding those kinds of fish after you get the hang of the saltwater world

Thank you so much! We will definitely start with more starter friendly fish then. The guy who originally talked to us at a local pet store made it seem like these guys, other than the lionfish, would be good as long as we had fishkeeping experience in general. Glad we got this information before even setting up the tanks.

 

[littlefoxx]

Thank you so much! We will definitely start with more starter friendly fish then. The guy who originally talked to us at a local pet store made it seem like these guys, other than the lionfish, would be good as long as we had fishkeeping experience in general. Glad we got this information before even setting up the tanks.

Yeah they are very specific as far as feeding habits and schedule. Eels and lions both eat on a fast/gorge diet. Lions can be hard to get eating frozen so you might have to start out with live food then move to frozen. No pellets or anything like that for these kinds of fish! I would do a easier care fish like clowns and other fish that are not predators or labeled expert fish! I kept saltwater fish for about a year before moving to the predators. You also have to build a tank around predatory fish (aggression, fish that are similar in diet, and other things) that you dont have to do for a regular saltwater tank