Good Saltwater Fish for Beginners

 Here is our list of saltwater fish that would be great for the beginner to start with. We've also included some invertebrates to add some diversity to your aquarium. For pricing purposes, we used the LiveAquaria.com site.

• Clownfish are from the same family as damselfish and enjoy basically the same ease of care as damselfish. Clownfish can be aggressive towards other fish in the tank, particularly tomato clownfish. Price range is $7.99 to $34.99.
• Blennies need plenty of hiding places but in return will demonstrate easy appetites (they'll eat just about anything you drop in the tank for them). Price range is $10.99 to $32.99
• Crabs are a great invertebrate choice for a beginner's saltwater tank. Choices include hermit crabs, arrow crabs, and porcelain crabs. Price range is $0.99 to $23.99.
• Damselfish are great for beginners because they're small (for the most part under 3" in tanks although some species will get up to 8"), cheap, and hardy. Couple that with the fact that they come in vibrant, electric blue and striped colors. Damselfish sure don't act like "damsels in distress;" they can be aggressive towards other fish in the tank. Price range is $3.99 to $18.99.
• Gobies are relatively small (usually staying under 3" in tanks). Price range is $6.99 to $29.99. (We're not including the extremely rare Griessingei Gobi which will cost you $149.99 to own.)
• Shrimp demonstrate interesting behavior in the tank. For example, cleaner shrimp eat potential parasites off of fish - it's neat to watch fish and shrimp interact. They are relatively hardy but you'll need to watch copper and nitrate levels. Price range is $4.99 to $39.99.
• Wrasses are usually categorized as reef-safe or for fish-only tanks. These beautiful fish showcase sherbet colorations not seen in many of the other fish species. Wrasses are larger than other fish in our list and prefer live food. Price range is $10.99 to $119.99.

Saltwater fish that aren't great for Beginners

 Briefly, here's a list of fish that you shouldn't pick the first time you start up a Marine tank (and why):

• Seahorses are picky, picky eaters. They often won't eat anything other than live food (brine shrimp and fish fry). They also need a very quiet environment.
• Jellyfish require multiple feedings daily, for starters. Besides that, the more serious issue is keeping them safely enclosed without turning their extremely delicate gelatinous bodies into "chopped liver." You could buy specialized (i.e. expensive) tanks but don't a couple of sea urchins or starfish sound good instead?
• Octopus. Just because you can find these for sale doesn't mean you should buy them. There's a reason why most people only see these creatures at the zoo.
• Sharks and Rays are the perfect backdrop for a James Bond movie but exceptionally difficult to keep in a house setting due to the sheer tank size you'd be dealing with. Unless you can devote your entire basement to keeping your new prize beauties, keep away.
• Scorpionfish and Toad Fish. Exotic looking? Yes. Hardy? Sure. Easy to handle? Of course not! Those dorsal-fin spines are packed to gills (so to speak) with very painful neurotoxins. They are also avid predators and will not play nice with tank mates, eating most anything that can fit in its mouth.
• Clams require specific lighting requirements and often do not do well with as much water movement as the rest of your reef tank may require.
• Eels need much space and plenty of food.
• Angelfish might be a surprise to you since they appear ubiquitous in the marine tank. But for the beginner, angelfish are problematic because they can grow to be quite large and are usually very aggressive towards other fish in the tank.
• Pipefish are similar to Seahorses; they've simply been "unbent" through evolution. The same feeding and care issues come into play with pipefish.

Online Sources for Buying Saltwater Fish

 Now that you know what you should get for your first marine tank, we're not about to leave you empty handed! Here is a list of our favorite online sources for saltwater fish:

LiveAquaria.com is a part of the Doctors Foster and Smith Pet Care company. They offer a great inventory and a 14-day shipping guarantee.

ETropicals is another Doctors Foster and Smith website. This site focuses only on Caribbean tropical livestock. The wonderful 14-day live guarantee also applies to your new purchases on this site.

MarineDepotLive.com sells saltwater and reef livestock, offering a 5-day shipping guarantee

SaltwaterFish.com doesn't have as pretty an interface as LiveAquaria but they do offer an outstanding 15-day shipping guarantee.

TIP: Notice the shipping guarantees - this means that the store guarantees your fish for that time period after you receive the fish as long as you can demonstrate that you had a mature tank and knew what you were doing.

 

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