Saltwater vs. Freshwater Fish Tanks

Freshwater fish tanks aquariums are sub-divided into planted tanks, cichlid tanks, brackish tanks, predator tanks among others. Saltwater fish tank aquariums are also divided into three sub-categories known as fish-only, fish-only with live rock and reef tanks.

It is important to start to understand the only real main difference between freshwater fish and saltwater fish. As the names suggest, freshwater fish exist in fresh water while for saltwater fish, their environment is the sea. In the end your selection of tank is largely based on personal preference and budget; however, this article gives some additional information to factor in when making the decision to purchase your next tank.

Freshwater Tanks 

The Good

1. Freshwater tanks are the easier than saltwater to maintain. Keeping saltwater fish and maintaining a saltwater aquarium definitely requires much more effort and money than freshwater so if your new to aquariums a freshwater aquarium would be a inexpensive and easy first tank.

2. Freshwater fish are also not as expensive to purchase. Keeping fish successfully is a learned porcess and primarily done by trial and error so unless budget is of no concern you probably do not want to trial and error with costly fish.

3. Freshwater fish have no problems breeding in tanks and should probably be your choice of tank if you are looking to breed fishes. Saltwater fishes have very stringent breeding requirements and very few have been successfully bred in captivity.

4.  In regard to environment, you’ll find freshwater fish are way more resilient and forgiving through mess ups to their environment than saltwater fish are. When you are first starting out getting the proper chemical balance in a tank can be challenging, freshwater fish are hearty and much more likely than saltwater fish to live through dramatic shifts to the chemical environment in their tank.

5. Water for freshwater fish tanks usually comes direct from your home tap, and salinity of tap water is never suited for you to rear saltwater fish.You also need to treat the tap water before it goes into your freshwater fish tanks aquariums, but the effort and steps require are less than that of saltwater tanks.

The Bad 

1. Freshwater fish are less vibrant and color however to be fair there are some actually gorgeous freshwater exotic fish available for you to select for your aquarium.

2. Freshwater fish tanks aquariums can get very expensive if you set up demanding tanks like planted tanks. The large amount of plants in the tank requires a lot more lighting and fertilizers. These can be more expensive than your fishes and make your freshwater tank more expensive than saltwater tanks.

Saltwater Tanks

The Good

1. Saltwater tanks undeniably get an edge over freshwater tanks in terms of the variety of fishes and the colors they can add to your fish tanks aquariums! Saltwater tanks can contain many invertebrates like shrimp, crabs and corals, which freshwater tanks lack.

2. Saltwater tank can be even more colorful with the addition of corals. Freshwater tanks can also be quite colorful if you rear tropical freshwater fishes, but even then, nothing much comes close to a reef tank when you’re talking about color and variety.

The Bad

1. Saltwater tanks require you to treat the water specially to achieve the correct salinity and to maintain them in that way. Maintaining  freshwater fish is far easier than maintaining saltwater fish. This is particularly true in terms of tank water chemistry where the fish owner has lots more to handle. Then you’ve got the salt water mix to be troubled with.

2. Saltwater fish cost a great deal more than the freshwater fish do. Most saltwater fish are caught in natural habitats while the freshwater fish are bred in captivity. Saltwater fishes tend to cost more than freshwater fishes because they are more difficult to acquire and also costs more to maintain.

3. With respect to size the saltwater fish definitely need the larger tanks compared to freshwater fish. If you have space issues and budget constraints you might want to rethink choosing a saltwater aquarium.

4. Some of us here may like to breed fishes of your own in your fish tanks aquariums, but saltwater fishes have very stringent breeding requirements. Most of them breed during seasonal changes when tides or temperature vary. But this is difficult to create in a tank environment; therefore saltwater fishes rarely breed in captivity.

Sea anemones are of the more difficult marine life to keep in an aquarium, but if you are a little more advanced and want to add some spice to your tank, a sea anemone is a great addition. Anemones are a little more fickle than your average sea-dwelling friend, this information will help you understand them a little better.

Sea anemones need some special attention, before and after they have arrived at their destination tank. Once a sea anemone is retrieved from the ocean, it needs about a week of living in an aquarium for it to feel acclimated and calm again. So, when choosing an anemone at your local fish store, make sure it didn’t just arrive the day before, give it some time to settle. The process for moving the anemone from the store to your tank is a bit complicated and would best be suited for the professionals, unless you are able to dedicate 2-3 hours to carefully and slowly submerge the anemone in the aquarium water.

After your anemone is in his new tank it is important to keep him extremely happy, as stated earlier, anemones are fickle and can get sick if the proper attention is not paid to them. You may want to have your aquarium specialist set up the best light and temperature for your specific situation so that the environment for your anemone will be just right. They can even help you place the anemone is the proper place in your tank.

Feeding your anemone may seem tricky at first but once you get the hang of it, you’ll have a healthy anemone. Start by feeding it once a week, that will condition your anemone and after a few weeks you will be able to see from it’s appearance how much to feed him in the future. With the proper lighting, your anemone will get a lot it needs, simply from the light, so it won’t need food every day or even every week. (See how important it is to have a professional help you with lighting!) If your anemone is growing that means it is getting sufficient food, but if it is growing without food, you may be over feeding. You might be able to feed it once or twice a month. If your anemone is not growing or even shrinking, this is a sign that not enough food is getting to it.

Now that your anemone is happy and healthy you can look into getting some clown friends to hang around. Just be sure to ask you fish store which is right for your anemone and stay tuned to Sea Anemone 102!

Lubricogobius dinah is a fantastically coloured goby that is found predominantly in the Ryuku islands off Japan, and Papua New Guinea. The little fish is painted in a striking highlighter yellow with a silvery stripe that runs from the head down the dorsal region to the caudal penducle. Many often make the mistake of comparing this little gem to the common Yellow Clown Goby (Gobiodon okinawae), but the two fishes differ in almost all aspects, except probably for the colour and relative shape. The Dinah’s goby is placed in a different genus, Lubricogobius, which it shares with another six members or so.

The Dinah’s goby can be found at 10-36m in depth, but is cryptic and difficult to spot. Their geographical range also makes them rather difficult to obtain. It’s little wonder then, that this little fish is very rare in the trade, and specimens are typically shipped to the Japanese market where Goby enthusiasts pay up to USD1,500 per pair.

The gorgeous and beautiful photos above by Tony Wu illustrates the exquisite beauty and daintiness of these rare gobies. These are probably some of the best photos of the species on the internet. For a detailed account on the photography of the gobies, you can check it out here.