# Looking for my first marine fish



## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

Any suggestions?

I want something extremely hardy that wont become a bully later on.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Most people start with clown fish


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

if you have one for sale let me know


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

I heard they were pretty hardy too.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Coral beauty has been my favorite from literally day 1 over 13 years ago.


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

cool! and they cost about the same as a clown fish from j&L


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

i have a undulated trigger thats bullet proof but he is a killer he smashed my bi coller angell and ate it hes 20 $ if you want


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## arash53 (Aug 13, 2011)

if you have plan for corals , stay away from tigers and angels , your best choice are :

Clown 
Firefish 
Flasher wrasse


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## CisBackA (Sep 4, 2011)

Claudia said:


> Most people start with clown fish


ew.. no one starts with clown fish


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

CisBackA said:


> ew.. no one starts with clown fish


well there Claudia. you stand corrected hahahah. except maybe for asash53............


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

CisBackA said:


> ew.. no one starts with clown fish


Yes cause they are hardy


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Locally bred clownfish are hardy. Wild caughts are not.

I have not found firefish to be very hardy. Easily spooked and picked on.

Flasher wrasses are a good choice.

For angels, I have had great luck with dwarf dwarf Cherub angels. 

I also really like all my Lubbock's Fairy wrasses.

Of the damselfish, the only one I recommend are the blue with yellow tail. Most others are like sw cichlids. These are more gentle and less territorial.

A less colourful but hardy and interesting fish is the lawnmower blenny or black sailfin blenny. Algae eaters with personality.


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

wow, firefish look really awesome! I am definitly going to get one of those as my first fish. Thanks

Also are fairy wrasses aggressive?


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## yvr75 (May 21, 2010)

Firefish is a great choice and it's a good idea to have it as your first fish to give it chance to adjust and claim it's territory without other fish harassing him. 

J&L has a couple of great wrasses in stock right now and they that stay fairly small. 


Angels are NOT a first fish choice. They can be very territorial and aggressive. If you put an angel in there as your first, chances are that you would not be able to have any other fish in there. The angel would bully it and eventually kill it or force it to go into hiding and slowly starve.


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

CisBackA said:


> ew.. no one starts with clown fish


I started with clownfish! lol I liked them, they even had eggs and babies in my tank.

To the OP: What size of tank do you have?


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

try a fox face


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

I've never had any luck with fire fish in new setups, I'd suggest damsels, good beginner fish and extremely hardy

Princess damsels and yellow tail blues seem to not be very aggressive


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## George (Apr 21, 2010)

Fishdude said:


> Any suggestions?
> 
> I want something extremely hardy that wont become a bully later on.


How big is your tank? Your tank size will determine what fish you can keep. 
I would suggest you go to liveaquaria and look at all their marine fish pictures, requirements and their recommend tank size. Come back and ask any questions you may have here. Fish choice is a very personal thing. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

my tank is 125g, so far all I have is one tiny hermit crab. I tested my water and there is already .025 nitrite. Is it too late to add fish? 
I think I'm going to get a school of green chromis to start off. Are these guys though enough to cycle the tank?


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## George (Apr 21, 2010)

Fishdude said:


> my tank is 125g, so far all I have is one tiny hermit crab. I tested my water and there is already .025 nitrite. Is it too late to add fish?
> I think I'm going to get a school of green chromis to start off. Are these guys though enough to cycle the tank?


The tank is still cycling. Wait until you have un-detectable level of nitrite. Don't use any fish to cycle the tank. Throw in some fish food every day. Fish food will fuel the de-nitrification bacteria and help cycle your tank. If you like school of small fish, some cardinal fish (not all) in the Apogon genus are more peaceful and more likely to school in our tank. Chromis tends to pick other up and you will end up only one or two in the end and they won't school that much in an aquarium. Red spot cardinal fish or blue eye cardinal fish are good candidates.


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

So much info! So cycling with fish is bad idea I guess.


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## arash53 (Aug 13, 2011)

the only fish could make it in cycling is damsel


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## George (Apr 21, 2010)

arash53 said:


> the only fish could make it in cycling is damsel


There is also the humane side of thing. I am sure damsels can live through a cycle, but it must be painful to them. Fish food is just as good as fish waste (fish waste is the main reason someone wants to use live fish to cycle a tank).


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## arash53 (Aug 13, 2011)

I did mine fishless without even fish food , left it for 1 month with live rock and live sand


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

okay, I am going to do a fishless cycle. Thanks for the info. 

So the only thing is my girlfriend put a hermit crab in there, will he be okay or should I give him back to the petstore?


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## arash53 (Aug 13, 2011)

Fishdude said:


> okay, I am going to do a fishless cycle. Thanks for the info.
> 
> So the only thing is my girlfriend put a hermit crab in there, will he be okay or should I give him back to the petstore?


OH NO Invertebrates more sensitive than fishes


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## noisetherapy (Jul 25, 2011)

Fishless cycle is the way to go. That hermit crab is probably not feeling the greatest, and the humane thing to do would be to put it in safer waters. However, we are talking about an animal that costs less than $2 and the effect on the environment with transportation gas and more plastic bags for transport probably outweighs the cost. catch 22. leave him in there, slap your GFs wrist, say "NO!" and move on.

at any rate, start with a clownfish. they are pretty nice to look at, and everyone loves nemo.


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

there's a clownfish in my tank!


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## Fishdude (Feb 20, 2012)

I have an update, to make matters worse! 
Yesterday mom went out and got me a clownfish ... without telling me. So I got home, to find a nemo swimming in my tank... if that wasn't bad enough I called her only to find out that she apparently did not acclimate him at all. Brutal!  (this is why you don't give mom a copy of your house key ._.)

My uncle almost bought me a fish! Luckily he had the sense to called me from the pet store first; it otherwise I would be stuck with tang too. :lol:

So now I am stuck with a nemo and a hermit crab that the pet store won't take back. As they insist he will be fine.

I made a call to Seachem, apparently they all have bio degrees; they answer even non-product related questions...super helpful.

Anyways, they said that if I use armguard every 72 hours until the ammonia and nitrate spikes are gone the hermit crab and fish will be fine. They said I could even use prime but that it would only bind for 24 hours. Apparently ammonia can be made safe through binding. They advised me not to do any water changes until there are no ammonia or nitrite readings.

Right now they are both eating Midas shrimp and seem to be doing well, the hermit crab has even made several burrows. 
On a positive note however,

My friend Nic can house my clown for a few weeks till the cycle is complete. He will even take the hermit crab, although I won't get the same one back. He even offered to give me a fish once the cycle is complete. He apparently cycled his tank with clownfish, so he thinks I'm crazy. I'm just glad he is willing to help.

So my question is:
Is this worth bugging my friend? Someone on here did say that "even if they can survive, it's still stressful on the fish." I definitely see the logic there. Will they still be stressed out even with the use of amgaurd, and stability? Should I still hand over my fish and crab?

I have got to send out a cc an email, apparently people want to buy me things; I feel loved. :lol:


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

When I first set up my 75g SW. A handful of live sand, a few live rocks. The coral beauty went in on day 3 and lived for over 8 years until I killed almost everything.


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## monocus (Sep 27, 2010)

there will be no problem or stress to the clownfish as it is the only fish in a 125 gallon tank.the main thing is to check for ammonia for the first week and then also start testing for phosphates,nitrates and nitrites.i was going to say put in a snowflake moray to cycle the tank as they are extremely hearty and have a slime coat


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