I'm quitting keeping salt water fish

[Hermie]

I'm sorry dude. I have a water puppy too. And I'm going through a bad time with livestock now as I have 2 carnivore Peppermint shrimp that are attacking and killing my 6 dollar cowry snails every night. It's giving me terrible anxiety because I can't go to sleep knowing the snails, who are workers cleaning algae for me, they are getting ripped apart every night by these shrimp. I'm getting them out of the tank tonight even if I have to take the rocks apart.

 

[Tamberav]

This is pretty much a venting post, sorry. A little history, I've been keeping salt water fish for 1 year and I feel the stress of it is way more then the fun of keeping salt water. My water params have always been completely stable and normal. Even down to the phosphates my water was almost perfect. I took time and money to get expensive and very good water. I took months to cycle my aquarium and make literally everything perfect as I could. Through out my journey I took hundreds of hours researching on how make everything the best I could for my fish. Even after all of this half of my coral has died, and half of my fish have died with no reason at all. No water fluxuations or shocks or really anything that could cause something like that. Also recently out of the blue green hair alge has taken over my tank taking at least an hour of work a week to fight it back to keep it from killing my remaining coral. Then today the final nail in the coffin stuck. My favorite fish a figi pufferfish as completely disappeared. I looked over all the rocks and he didn't come out for feeding so I am assuming the worst. This fish was almost like a little water puppy dog and to not have him anymore really hurts. I cant keep doing this and taking hundreds of hours just to watch my pets die. Not to mention that ive lost almost $500 in fish coral and having to buy recommended supply's that didn't even help. I'm finishing my salt water journey sadly and I will deeply miss the fish I currently have. Ive raised most of them from 1/2 inch to 2-3. Seeing them grow and then giving them away will be heart breaking. Thank you to this community for all the help you've given me to try and help me through this but Im done. If any of you know any forms for fresh water fish I would be grateful for the recommendation!

I can’t keep freshwater fish alive sooo.. I gave up on them.

SW... I mostly need to make sure they are QT and then they are pretty easy. Seems like FW fish are so poorly bred they just die prematurely.

It’s hard to be in this hobby if you are a beginner and don’t QT or buy pre QT fish and have a newish tank. New tanks don’t typically do disease management well.

Maybe instead of quitting... reconsider how you are running your tank. QT is also something that takes experience to be good at but there are numerous venders that sell QT fish. You would just need to fallow first.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hey gang let’s keep it friendly please. Thanks.

 

[ruger11]

As a few have said, the first year or two is a steep curve, and this is when many lose interest because of frustration. I'd encourage you to stick with it, but I think your mind is made up most part. Best of luck with the freshwater if that is the new direction

I think its going to be, atleast I have several years experience with fresh so I should deal with much less frustration

 

[Doctorgori]

I got you pegged for a repeat offender....
Statistics show “serial Spenders” like us just can’t help themselves ...
We’ll see you back on the “yard” buddy, yup no doubt about it :p
Take care!

 

[Rams]

So sorry to hear that,let us know if you need any help in staying back in the hobby

 

[Gup]

As Scarsazian mentioned, I too had a saltwater FO tank 40 plus years ago. To have an undergravel filter with charcoal compartment on the top of the back return tube. Lite with a fluorescent shop worklight. I had little to no trouble with that 55 gal for several years. Some difficult animals like a CBB, a green Mandarin, Hippo Tang and several Seahorses. Only the seahorses work difficult when I could not get live brine.

4 months into a reef, I had a major injury, so I couldnt service the tank and lost several frags & darn near lost every fish. With help from my Wife and Brandon [here at R2R, my grief & system are on the mend. I too wanted to just quit because I'm not fully healed yet but I & my Wife love this hobby to our core. I've never been a quitter and that 70, I'm still not....

YOU WILL REGRET QUITING AT SOME POINT, and that regret may haunt you for years

 

[Alvaro_Spain]

I too had a bad beginning a few years back when I rushed into buying expensive corals for a "new" tank. I say this because you say you can´t afford a RO system but you bought $500 in livestock. That happened to me as well.

This time I´m taking the opposite approach. Not rushing and setting the tank the best I can before getting expensive livestock. Maybe just try to run that fish only with low lighting for some time and see if it works for you.

Anyway. Good luck with whatever you decide. Hobbies should be a way out of our stressful lifes. Not contribute to our stress. :)

 

[SimbaAnto]

This hobby is always learning from mistakes. Every experienced hobbyist would have crossed the scenario you are right now. No doubt about it. Everyone have had losses like you. The best thing about this hobby is bouncing back with learning experience.

My humble suggestion. Don't quit. You have had 1 year experience now. Start with minimal and go from there. This hobby is just like life how we get ups and down. Don't worry you will be an experienced hobbyist in a while. Hope to see you bounce back with a photo of your new setup.

 

[chrisgold]

This is pretty much a venting post, sorry. A little history, I've been keeping salt water fish for 1 year and I feel the stress of it is way more then the fun of keeping salt water. My water params have always been completely stable and normal. Even down to the phosphates my water was almost perfect. I took time and money to get expensive and very good water. I took months to cycle my aquarium and make literally everything perfect as I could. Through out my journey I took hundreds of hours researching on how make everything the best I could for my fish. Even after all of this half of my coral has died, and half of my fish have died with no reason at all. No water fluxuations or shocks or really anything that could cause something like that. Also recently out of the blue green hair alge has taken over my tank taking at least an hour of work a week to fight it back to keep it from killing my remaining coral. Then today the final nail in the coffin stuck. My favorite fish a figi pufferfish as completely disappeared. I looked over all the rocks and he didn't come out for feeding so I am assuming the worst. This fish was almost like a little water puppy dog and to not have him anymore really hurts. I cant keep doing this and taking hundreds of hours just to watch my pets die. Not to mention that ive lost almost $500 in fish coral and having to buy recommended supply's that didn't even help. I'm finishing my salt water journey sadly and I will deeply miss the fish I currently have. Ive raised most of them from 1/2 inch to 2-3. Seeing them grow and then giving them away will be heart breaking. Thank you to this community for all the help you've given me to try and help me through this but Im done. If any of you know any forms for fresh water fish I would be grateful for the recommendation!

Post pic of your tank

 

[chrisgold]

I too had a bad beginning a few years back when I rushed into buying expensive corals for a "new" tank. I say this because you say you can´t afford a RO system but you bought $500 in livestock. That happened to me as well.

This time I´m taking the opposite approach. Not rushing and setting the tank the best I can before getting expensive livestock. Maybe just try to run that fish only with low lighting for some time and see if it works for you.

Anyway. Good luck with whatever you decide. Hobbies should be a way out of our stressful lifes. Not contribute to our stress. :)

I did the same still recovering mate haha

 

[ZoWhat]

Fish and coral losses are an unavoidable reality of this hobby. Ive actually quit pet-naming fish bc of losses.

I think it gets easier the longer you've been in this hobby. You almost come to expect your time with a particular fish is only a few years at best. Having a fish for over 5 years is maximizing your time


.

 

[Greybeard]

Failure rate in this hobby is high. Well over 50%, though I know of no study to back that up. Why? Well...

I've been keeping salt water fish for 1 year
half of my coral has died, and half of my fish have died
ive lost almost $500 in fish coral

If I were giving advice to a potential new hobbyist, just starting with marine aquaria, I would NOT recommend starting with a full blown reef. Start with fish only. Get comfortable with them, then, in a year or two, if you want to, you can start into corals. As for fishes, quarantine, or find a vendor willing to do it for you. Be cautious. Research each addition. GO SLOW!

$500 in fish and corals in a tank less than a year old? What's the rush?

 

[S2G]

I almost had to pack it up myself. You setup one of the most difficult tanks possible during just about the worst year possible.

 

[Clownshow]

This is pretty much a venting post, sorry. A little history, I've been keeping salt water fish for 1 year and I feel the stress of it is way more then the fun of keeping salt water. My water params have always been completely stable and normal. Even down to the phosphates my water was almost perfect. I took time and money to get expensive and very good water. I took months to cycle my aquarium and make literally everything perfect as I could. Through out my journey I took hundreds of hours researching on how make everything the best I could for my fish. Even after all of this half of my coral has died, and half of my fish have died with no reason at all. No water fluxuations or shocks or really anything that could cause something like that. Also recently out of the blue green hair alge has taken over my tank taking at least an hour of work a week to fight it back to keep it from killing my remaining coral. Then today the final nail in the coffin stuck. My favorite fish a figi pufferfish as completely disappeared. I looked over all the rocks and he didn't come out for feeding so I am assuming the worst. This fish was almost like a little water puppy dog and to not have him anymore really hurts. I cant keep doing this and taking hundreds of hours just to watch my pets die. Not to mention that ive lost almost $500 in fish coral and having to buy recommended supply's that didn't even help. I'm finishing my salt water journey sadly and I will deeply miss the fish I currently have. Ive raised most of them from 1/2 inch to 2-3. Seeing them grow and then giving them away will be heart breaking. Thank you to this community for all the help you've given me to try and help me through this but Im done. If any of you know any forms for fresh water fish I would be grateful for the recommendation!

Fishlore is a pretty good and active freshwater forum.

 

[kutcha]

so i know you are saying your water was perfect but im wondering what tests were you using?

 

[davidcalgary29]

I'm sorry to hear about your losses. But instead of quitting saltwater, have you considered a jarquarium? No, seriously -- they're great, and a lot easier than people think. They can also be much, much cheaper to run than the full tanks, because you literally only need a light source and an airstone to keep them going, although I also do heat most of mine. I turned a beverage dispenser into a tank for a Catalina Goby at work (it's unheated); in another, I keep a gorgonian, trumpet coral, blue cloves, a KT frag, snails, and an urchin; I have an unlit, unheated third jar where I quarantine incoming snails (trochus snails, and they're fine). You can build amazing ecosystems in miniature, and you only need about 1g of water to do a water change in a 3-4g build. Algae and pest problems are also much easier to deal with when you can clearly see what's getting out of hand. Yes, big tanks are great, but I spend much more time looking in my jars.

 

[ruger11]

Fish and coral losses are an unavoidable reality of this hobby. Ive actually quit pet-naming fish bc of losses.

I think it gets easier the longer you've been in this hobby. You almost come to expect your time with a particular fish is only a few years at best. Having a fish for over 5 years is maximizing your

That's my problem with salt water and when the fish are as expensive as they are that really hurts. My experience with fresh water I was able to keep fish for 12 years without issue and even the quickest died after several years. It all is probably experience that lends to this but I cant keep morally losing fish after months with no cause that I can find.

 

[davidcalgary29]

That's my problem with salt water and when the fish are as expensive as they are that really hurts. My experience with fresh water I was able to keep fish for 12 years without issue and even the quickest died after several years. It all is probably experience that lends to this but I cant keep morally losing fish after months with no cause that I can find.

The secret of SW builds that few like to talk about: with few exceptions (mostly the bigger fish), inverts are much more interesting creatures to watch in tanks. Fish are lovely and pretty and decorative, but watching an urchin eat alage on the side of the glass, and then poop it out, is both an experience that's both fascinating and kind of gross. Snails are cheap. And bristleworms and other hitchhikers usually come for free! Inverts rreally are continually full of weird surprises.

 

[LegendaryCG]

I can't afford an RO system so I was buying RO water from my LFS and I also checked there TDS to make sure it was good. $7 for 5 gallons was the best price I could find near me so at this point finically it no longer makes sense. In hind sight I should have just got an RO system when I started.

If you can’t afford an RO - I‘m gonna be completely honest with you. This is not a hobby for you. There’s things you can do to keep things cheap but very few of those involve starting with bad water.