Marine versus Fresh showdown.

There seems to be a weird kind of heirachy amonst fishkeepers. Being a marine reef enthusiast for many years and recently entering the realm of keeping tropical freshwater fish, I'm curious as to why marine seems to be considered the superior form of a, at its roots, very similar hobby.

I'll concede that the first impression by a total newcomer into a lps will be that marine fish seem so much brighty and more lively than their freshwater cousins, but that's like coparing Picasso to Rembrandt. It's completely dependent on taste?

Then there's the difficuly factor. Marine is made out to be so much more complex. Not so in my opinion! Principals are exactly the same, with some variations on species being accomodated of course. The bottom line to this is that a newbee in either field will have losses of fish/invertebrates. This brings me to my next point. Losses in marine species generally make a direct impact upon the environment, ie a dead fish is one less fish swimming on a reef. As I understand it, most freshwater species are aquacultured, so none of the collareral damage?

So on the whole, freshwater seems to be a far more sustainable and eco-friendly way to enjoy the hobby? That's without even tallying up the huge additional cost in electricity required for marines.

Hope I'm opening a huge can of worms ) Really curious to get some opnions on why you all chose fresh over salty water?

 

For me the answer is simple... Lake Tanganyika and its cichlid species.

 

i have a 2,4m high tech planted tank and i have a huge electricity and water bill tank cost me about 35k for everything so its also expensive if you go all out. starting my 1st nano marine tank in the next month or 2 and i personally think its only expensive if you make it expensive. also i think its much harder to make a FW tank look impressive than a marine tank. but i love both

 

That's the point in a way. They both look impressive in their own right. IMO freswater requires a lot more creative input than marine. You need to scape in such a way as to create a natural looking environment. With marines you can get away with manky looking scenes, because the fish and corals are the focal point, not the overall composition.

 

Yeah.... 35k is hectic, but some of these marine okes are tripling that hey.

 

yeah i know. im trying to do a 50L nano for under 3k for the tank and hardware.

 

Good luck with that. It's doable, but maybe only just.

Just remember one thing with starting a marine nano... Things go wrong quicker in a smaller tank. And hectic fluctuations in a marine system, are more destructive to fish and corals, than in a freshwater system.

Having said that, my most favorite fish on earth has to be my old powder brown tang. He was an absolute beauty. I absolutely loved my marine system, but I lost all of my fish to a brooklynella infection that wiped out around R8000 worth of fish in less than 5 days.

Personally, I'd love to get a marine tank again. But one day when my son is a little bigger. I'd look at a 100l system, minimum.

I still prefer planted tanks though. You can actually see the growth on a weekly basis. You don't have to take pictures of your corals every 2 months to see if they have grown. Hahaha!!

But I'm pretty sure that most of the people on this forum would change their minds if they saw what @Broder 's tank used to look like! Damn that was an amazing reef.


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ja i know its not easy kewping a,marine nano. but wont really habe livestock. going with softies only and im a sucker for a zoa and nice bubble coral

 

marines become way more difficult than FW when you want to keep SPS coral. If you had to compare a Marine predator tank against a freshwater counterpart, the FW will take more work due to the more water changes. Budget wise, I don't think FW will ever get close to Marine. I use to spend massive $$$ on my Marine tanks, everything is more expensive in Marine, right down to the actual water.

 

Zoa are awesome, I wouldn't suggest the Bubble in a Nano

 

i started from a young age with freshwater fish,to an extent it became 1 dimentional and very boring same old same old..... @ a later stage and age i dwelled in to marines and man oh man was it fun. I recently ended my marine hobby due to moving house... now that im settled im researching planted tanks.... little did i know its just as fun with less work involved and less equip needed and also less elec consumption making the hobby more enjoyable... so yeah some may recognise my name from MASA but now im a freshwater junkie lol

my plans is a 3.2x800x1m built into a wall with cladded finish leaving the top of tank exposed for a waterfall feature into my planted valley lit up by suitable leds:bigsmile:

so watch this space, im still building tho so may be a short while,but in meantime i will use the time to research stocking plans,get to know the plants etc and compatibility mostly

 

@jsplayn - BEST you post pics of EVERY step of the way when you start you build. And a I mean EVERY step and decision you make along the way !!! Going to be awesome I hope - good luck man.

 

dont worry dude,i come from 5yrs reefing and being a member on masa so i know bout the "pic whores" lokl

 

dis al wat ek soek