Poll: Do you challenge yourself in the hobby?

[dbl]

Not sure I can explain this well enough, but I'm wondering how many people buy fish/coral that are known to be difficult to keep. I just finalized an order for a few fish to finally restock my tank after the losses from a hurricane last year. I really didn't want anything that would be too difficult to keep. I have my tank running quite well and I'd rather try to enjoy it now than have to "fight" to keep something alive.

Is that bad thing? Am I taking the easy way out? Curious how others approach their stocking. I realize this poll may be geared to folks that have been at it a while and not just getting in to the hobby. But I'm wondering how folks approach new additions.

Thoughts?

 

[4FordFamily]

Well I challenge myself with fish species after research and see if it’s something I can accommodate. Coral I make easy selections as I don’t really dose much nor do I have any automation.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I like animals I know I can keep. I also base off what animals will work nicely in my system, that I personally like, and if possible captive bred. I have worked with challenging fish in the past and had some success. Now, with such a mature system, I rarely add anything. However, with my changeover to a new tank (my old 50yr old glass tank is leaking) I will consider re-arranging and adding a few things.

My 40g is packed and I love the animals in there, so no more to add. I do add to my kids traveling tanks though. Randomly through my own cuts or from other great organizations that donate livestock. With the little tanks, the animals do not have as long a lifespan and if they grow too large, they get moved to appropriate home, so more commonly I add to those more often.

I guess, I like less stress these days and like to stick with things I know will do well for me. I may try a leaf fish soon, but I have kept them in the past so nothing new for me. (my buddy jumped out of the tank and I did not notice. Even got out from the lid. I was so bummed. Loved that fish.

 

[AlexStinson]

I am willing to try more demanding corals, but fish I try to not get anything more difficult than tangs or anthias. I feel a lot worse when a fish dies than if a little frag doesn't pull through.

 

[Deezill]

I generally only purchase fish that I know I can keep. I don't like to have the challenge of keeping fish. For some of use keeping SPS provides enough challenge. Now I do have three tangs in my 150 and I won't be adding anything else because so far I have a peaceful community. all my fish are small anthias, Chromis, Clowns. cardinals (decent sized) my three tangs are the biggest. I have a total of 17 fish. Now me trying to keep SPS and keep my parameters on spot is a different story which is why I don't need a challenge from fish. I am good with LPS but I begin to like those sticks we call sps. Acros, Millis, Montis, etc.

 

[Deezill]

I am willing to try more demanding corals, but fish I try to not get anything more difficult than tangs or anthias. I feel a lot worse when a fish dies than if a little frag doesn't pull through.

Are anthias hard to keep? I have four of them and they seem to be growing and they are just fine. Let me know. Thanks.

 

[AlexStinson]

Are anthias hard to keep? I have four of them and they seem to be growing and they are just fine. Let me know. Thanks.

They just like to be fed multiple times a day and can sometimes be picky eaters starting out.

 

[Captain Quint]

Great thread.

David, I don't think one is taking the 'easy way out' or a bad thing to purchase an easier type fish or coral, ever. I think it is smart.

What is difficult for one could be simple for another.

IMHO, this thread is great as it leads us to thought-provoking, well-planned purchase if really considered all the variables.

I was in an LFS one day and a new person to salt saw and fell in love with a nice Moorish Idol. It was a Hawaiian species which tend to be a bit easier, but still. The employee did not try to talk the guy out of the purchase, but I did. Arg.

 

[Retro Reefer]

At this point in the game I have no desire for challenges so for the most part I only keep what I know will have the most potential to thrive in my reefs.

 

[Deezill]

They just like to be fed multiple times a day and can sometimes be picky eaters starting out.

ooh ok. I try to feed twice a day anyway. I am trying to increase my bioload which in turn will increase my nitrates.
my nitrates hit zero once and I am trying to keep them between 5 and 10ppm which feeding twice a day is really working well. I feed flake then during the second feeding i feed mysis with Spirulina

 

[brandon429]

I have a certain challenge I'm hooked on: It's the same dopamine rush one would get from bunjee jumping off a bridge but in reefing format

= asking to take on someone's invaded/challenged tank via message or thread. It's a fantastic challenge to reef remotely, and impart profound actions into a reef tank of significant $ solely via type and pics and not a single other form of input. It's risky. Kill one, word gets out and no more work. Zero mistakes are allowed, that's the rush part. If it's a live thread, everyone is watching for you to bungle

Even a single killed coral among many from advised actions to remedy an invasion is a devastating loss to the owner... it's very high stakes game, time and money are the drivers.

Admit it
If your tank is in a state of stink, your work day is less cool, subconsciously. Irritable just a little bit inside. ---> Reef is prime? It's sellin time, thats my day anyway.

Working remotely is jacking with people's work day. It's pressure

Then six at once show up two with mad dinos.


Taking on external challenges is how to move ones own reefing into 2.0 no matter the level someone is on, even if they are a book author on reefing. What you can effect and sustain in another's challenge reef is the ideal challenge, and so many forums abound for practice.

all factors summed up R2R is giving me the best challenges with the most nimble participants of serious resolve. Good after pics r coming


One can make their own reef nearly bullet proof if they'll purposefully spend time taking on someone else's tank under stress, and multiply it over hundreds of tanks. It's literally reef exercise even if ones own reef is already filled up. it's total accountability.

 

[mtraylor]

If you are looking at a difficult fish, it is very important to first off make sure that you have the proper size aquarium and environment for the fish that you are looking at. That is the first thing I look at. If you can check off those boxes. The next thing to ask yourself is...... Do I have the proper equipment to keep fish and environment sustainable? If those boxes check off, then the next step is to see if there is any special care that is needed for that fish. Make sure you can provide whatever is needed. If so, then you can look into getting the fish. Some difficult fish are tagged as such because they require pristine water quality and stress free environment and certain eating habitts. Be prepared for these.

If you have a well established reef. Most difficult fish become easier. Next thing that comes to mind is that some difficult fish are prone to disease. So getting that fish and QT'ing that fish and make sure your fish is healthy well go a long way.

 

[Adele]

I feel knowing your limitations is a good thing. As long as it is not ego dictating the challenge, I do not see a problem with adding a difficult fish and or coral. If a proper system is in place and knowledge obtained prior, I say go for it. I for one however stick to the easy/easier care species and feel that I am at bio load capacity for the health of my animals so I don't have to think about any adds for a while... I hope.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I tend to take calculated risks with corals. I'm more careful about fish choices. I'll take on fish if I'm fairly confident I can take care of them, but avoid fish I'm truly afraid I might kill.

 

[andrewkw]

Yes. I like a challenge but in my current situation it's much harder to challenge myself despite having a lot of free time. Other then keeping giant fish or something like a nudibranch that eats one thing most challenges are somewhat specific dietary needs ie sponge or frozen only, to a more extreme live foods only. The other challenges often involve species that don't do well in reefs unless the reef is build around them. Either because they require different temperatures, or they need low flow / high flow / low light. I say my current situation because I am out in the middle of nowhere without access to much of the stuff I previously did. In fact being located in Canada far from an ocean limits you too.

When I hatched dwarf cuttlefish not only did I have a nursery for them I had a tank for mysid shrimp (their food) then buckets of baby brine shrimp (their foods food). Once you start feeding your foods food there isn't much further you can go. The hardest part about keeping those cuttles was not the time, but rather the fact I had to import mysid shrimp bi-weekly. At least at the time no one in Canada was breeding them, and from what I understand my old source no longer even ships to Canada. This was very expensive as far as overnight shipping went but in addition to that I often had to go to the fedex hub and pick them up since they did not always clear customs in time to make it on the express delivery truck. It just got too expensive for me. Then of course there is the finding someone to feed your difficult to keep fish while you are away. Sure you can trust just about anyone to drop in one cube of frozen, but can you trust them to net live shrimp + feed the shimp + feed your other fish ect.

Another example is garden eels - I loved these guys but had to give them away before I moved. They are often labeled as hard to keep. Guess what they aren't hard to keep in a tank built for them (deep deep sand, specific flow patterns that ensures food pass them by). If you throw one or 2 in a reef that has semi deep sand in one spot with a lot of aggressive fish that's not going to work.

In my reef I'm a little more conservative. As far as coral goes I generally try to keep what I can keep. I know my tank pretty well, it's sort of unusual in that it's a softy dominated lower nutrient system. I can usually keep sps frags but wild maricultured can be a bit more of a challenge. That's not to say I won't try, but I wouldn't do something stupid like buy 6 wild colonies dump them in and hope for the best. Also I won't try fish that are not reef safe at all in a reef to push the envelope. Or something extremely oversized or undersized for my tank. ie a huge tang in my 112 gallon or even tiny gobies that I'll never see and are likely to be eaten by my larger fish. In conclusion I will try a challenge if I can do my best to have a chance to succeed, but if it's just some random hope for the best thing I won't go there.

 

[dbl]

Great conversation so far...just what I was hoping for. I should have added to the original post, any additions (fish/coral/inverts/anything) should be researched to make sure your tank can handle the addition, be it an easy or difficult creature to care for. In my case, I'm adding 5 fish to bring my total back to 13 in a 120g so I already know the tank can handle the bio load. Compatibility was also checked and verified so I'm hoping it all works out fine!

 

[fish farmer]

I don't challenge myself anymore when it comes to fish, my DT is only 29 gallons. I did try a tank bred mandarin years ago since I got lucky with mandarins in year's past.

As for corals I'm pretty much still keeping similar stuff that I had success with when I started 18 years ago, mushrooms, palys, GSP, branching LPS like frogspawns, hammers, candy canes. Favias, etc. Softies like colt, nepthia.

I almost paid money for xenia the other day. Nice little white pom poms on frag plugs. They grew like weeds in my first tank, but became a challenge in my current tank a few years ago.

I'm going to try some easy SPS. I had short term success with some before a heat wave killed off my entire tank years ago. I'm getting back into a routine with my tank now where it will be time to try SPS again.

 

[Zeal]

New to the hobby but i can already tell my interest lies in coral

 

[LMDAVE]

One thing I regret about how I started this hobby was not researching enough, and finding out all I can't have. Starting with a 40 gallon reef, I'm so limited to what I can have, difficult or not to keep. I'm still with a clown pair and royal gramma. But any desirable fish I could fit in there's an issue. I even enjoy the looks of simple Domino Damsels and Electric blue damsel (Too aggresive, stay away they say). Many dwarf angels I'm attracted to (Stay away, not reef safe), Dragonettes (Stay away, you cant maintain the pods in your tank), Gobbies and Blenny (Cover you tank, they'll jump).

Fortunately my clowns and gramma are beautiful animated fish, but wish I had some ideas of what else I could add in. Just one more attractive fish (difficult or not) would be nice to look into for a 40.

 

[alanbetiger]

With corals I start off easy with softies and then progress to SPS, anenome and clams.
With I try to be as responsible as possible. Get cative bred clownfish and seahorses. Pick easy "pretty" fish. Stay away from the difficult fish (Moorish Idols, Achilles Tang, Ribbon Eel). Yeah you hear some success stories but if we all really were honest about our husbandry we'd be setting most of these up for disaster. If the experts say they are difficult then they really should be left with the experts. The "challenge" shouldn't be the motivation.