How to know which salt water fish live peacefully together
- Thread starter clarinuto
- Start date
There is no such groupings as "community" or "aggressive" in the marine aspect of the hobby.
Knowing the compatability of saltwater fish requires a multitude of factors. A quick run down:
1) Size of tank
2) Individual species, are they compatable with tank size?
3) Size of individual fish
4) Color of individual fish
5) Are they a predator or not?
6) Are they territorial?
7) Are they juvinials or adult?
8) Were they introduced together or seperately?
9) Is there enough rock decor in the tank?
10) Are they schoolers or solitary?
11) Will they eat coral or invertabrates?
12) What region of ocean do they come from (Atlantic, Indo-pacific, red sea etc)?
13) What is your skill level as a marine aquarist?
Some rules of thumb that usually hold up when stocking a saltwater tank, but not always:
1) Assume all saltwater fish are aggressive
2) Only one individual of a species per tank (ie one angelfish, one triggerfish, one tang etc) if they are non-schooling species
3) Only one fish of each color (ie one yellow tang, one orange angelfish, one green fish etc)
4) For territorial fish, the more rockwork the better
5) The more fish you intend for the tank, the larger that tank ought to be!!!!
6) All marine fish will grow very large, keep this in mind when stocking. A pair of small fish now become a pair of big fish in the future, and your tank may get crowded quickly
7) Predators should not be kept with anything that looks remotely as if it would fit in their mouths, beware, some groupers can consume prey larger than they are
8) If you do wish to introduce a pair or triplet of the same species (say, three yellow tangs if your tank is perhaps 75 gallons or more), introduce them all at the same time. Always have a q-tank ready to quarintine anybody that either gets way to beat up, or to remove the aggressor
9) Spend as much time observing the fish you intend to purchase as possible to get to know that individual's behavior "personallity", never buy on impulse. Fish are individuals, and someone else may have a "dosile" clown trigger, but the one you purchase is a serial killer.
Good luck.
~~Colesea
Knowing the compatability of saltwater fish requires a multitude of factors. A quick run down:
1) Size of tank
2) Individual species, are they compatable with tank size?
3) Size of individual fish
4) Color of individual fish
5) Are they a predator or not?
6) Are they territorial?
7) Are they juvinials or adult?
8) Were they introduced together or seperately?
9) Is there enough rock decor in the tank?
10) Are they schoolers or solitary?
11) Will they eat coral or invertabrates?
12) What region of ocean do they come from (Atlantic, Indo-pacific, red sea etc)?
13) What is your skill level as a marine aquarist?
Some rules of thumb that usually hold up when stocking a saltwater tank, but not always:
1) Assume all saltwater fish are aggressive
2) Only one individual of a species per tank (ie one angelfish, one triggerfish, one tang etc) if they are non-schooling species
3) Only one fish of each color (ie one yellow tang, one orange angelfish, one green fish etc)
4) For territorial fish, the more rockwork the better
5) The more fish you intend for the tank, the larger that tank ought to be!!!!
6) All marine fish will grow very large, keep this in mind when stocking. A pair of small fish now become a pair of big fish in the future, and your tank may get crowded quickly
7) Predators should not be kept with anything that looks remotely as if it would fit in their mouths, beware, some groupers can consume prey larger than they are
8) If you do wish to introduce a pair or triplet of the same species (say, three yellow tangs if your tank is perhaps 75 gallons or more), introduce them all at the same time. Always have a q-tank ready to quarintine anybody that either gets way to beat up, or to remove the aggressor
9) Spend as much time observing the fish you intend to purchase as possible to get to know that individual's behavior "personallity", never buy on impulse. Fish are individuals, and someone else may have a "dosile" clown trigger, but the one you purchase is a serial killer.
Good luck.
~~Colesea
