How To Look After Marine Fish (AKA Saltwater Fish): Full Guide

Modern technology has made saltwater aquariums more accessible and straightforward to maintain. Although marine fish tend to be more expensive than freshwater fish and require you to invest more money and time into them, it is most definitely worth it.

A saltwater aquarium can sustain more delicate and unique species and marine life such as:

• clownfish
• angelfish
• seahorses
• live coral

It can be overwhelming to start your first aquarium. Even experienced fish owners can sometimes feel unsure. However, careful thought, planning, and research will ensure your new saltwater aquarium thrives. In addition, these simple steps will make your experience more convenient and rewarding.

Step 1: Planning Your Aquarium

Planning an aquarium is a great chance to use your imagination and create your ideal tank. Additionally, it enables you to decide what you want to accomplish and on what scale.

Planning can help you determine what you’ll need for your aquarium and avoid wasting money. When planning your new tank, you should decide:

• what type of aquarium
• how big it should be
• which species of fish

Decide On The Type Of Aquarium

The kind of aquarium you decide on will significantly impact what species of saltwater fish you can accommodate in your tank. Further, the aquarium type determines the range of colors and decorations you can add.

Different tanks and species come with various expenses and costs and require different levels of expertise to maintain them. Different kinds of saltwater aquariums include:

• Fish Only: If you are only interested in the marine life of a saltwater aquarium, then the fish only tank is ideal for you. This is a very simple and cost-effective aquarium to set up. However, fish only aquariums require a bit more maintenance due to the lack of live rock and other systems that help to control waste. Changing the water in the tank needs to be done more regularly.

• Fish Only With Live Rock: This brings the focus to the fish in the tank with only a cluster of live rock in the aquarium. Live rock produces bacteria in the aquarium that help maintain the tank. You can add artificial corals and seagrasses to give your aquarium the appearance of a reef.

• Reef Tanks: These are some of the most iconic and majestic tanks and usually are what people imagine when hearing about saltwater aquariums. However, these are the most expensive and comprehensive tanks because coral dominates them, and coral can be complicated for beginners to understand as they are living organisms. Additional equipment is required to maintain these aquariums.

• Species-Specific Tank: This is typically made up of one or several species with similar requirements. These species are often aggressive and cannot coexist in the same tank as other species.

Choosing An Aquarium Size

Choosing the correct size for your aquarium will tremendously impact the outcome. However, you must carefully consider your budget when selecting the aquarium size as it will significantly impact the costs of:

• equipment
• maintenance
• tank setup

Larger saltwater tanks are easier to maintain, so we recommend that you start with the largest one you can, considering:

• Your complete budget.
• The space you have available for the aquarium.
• What marine life do you want in the tank?

Choose The Right Fish For Your Tank

The most suitable species or combination for your saltwater aquarium depends on many factors, including:

1. The type of aquarium you decided on.
2. The size of your tank.
3. Your budget.
4. Your experience with saltwater aquariums.

However, the best fish choices for beginners will be:

• cost-effective
• available
• resilient
• easy to maintain

Some of the best types of saltwater fish for beginners that meet these criteria include:

• Damselfish
• Clownfish
• Hawkfish
• Seahorse

Step 2: Setting Up Your Aquarium And Equipment

The fastest and most efficient method would be to purchase a pre-assembled aquarium or have professionals install the aquarium. However, if you decide to make your experience complete by building an aquarium yourself, you will need the following: (these links will take you to the specific products on Amazon; they are products I personally picked out for myself as they are great value and good quality!):

• aquarium tank
• stand for the aquarium
• filtration systems
• protein skimmers
• UV sterilizers
• heater
• pumps
• thermostat
• lighting system
• saltwater
• large bucket or container
• rubber hose or tubing
• sump
• test kits

Wet Testing System For Problems

After installing the equipment in the aquarium, you should run a wet test on the system to ensure full functionality and that there is no leakage. Do a wet test before adding:

• saltwater
• live rock
• marine life
• substrate

To run the wet test:

1. Ensure that all connections are secured.
2. Fill the tank with fresh water.
3. Dry the entire aquarium so you can easily spot any leaks.
4. Power the pumps one at a time and carefully inspect all connections for leaks.
5. Carefully check the sump to see if it overflows.
6. Check that the protein skimmers make bubbles and the pumps used for them are running.

Step 3: Substrate, Saltwater, And Auqascaping

Now you can start cleaning and adding the substrate you have chosen for your tank based on what type of saltwater aquarium you are setting up.

First, you should gently add a thin substrate layer to the bottom of the tank before pouring in the rest to avoid unnecessary scratches.

Next, fill up the tank with saltwater that you can purchase or make yourself by mixing aquarium salt and reverse osmosis de-ionized water.

If you are going to add live rock and have fully cured it, you can add it to the tank along with any other plants, stones, and other decorations. This step is where you can use your imagination and give your aquarium a theme or bring the image you had in your mind to life.

NOTE: Thoroughly rinse all the items before adding them to the tank.

Step 4: Install Aquariums Lighting System

Your tank will have different lighting requirements depending on what type of saltwater aquarium you are setting up.

In addition, the marine life in the aquarium will require at least 8 hours of darkness daily to sleep. You can install a light timer to make this process easier.

However, if you add coral, you need to install reef tank lighting (Amazon link), as coral has more specific lighting requirements than the fish species.

Step 5: Water Cycling And Testing

The ammonia and nitrite in water are toxic to fish. Therefore, before adding any marine life, you must cycle the aquarium for at least a month.

Cycling the aquarium allows bacteria cultures to build up as they act like a biological filter, converting ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates.

Next, you should test your aquarium water to look for any imbalances in the water chemistry and problems with the general water quality.

Step 6: Introducing Marine Life To The Aquarium

Adding a few snails or hermit crabs to your aquarium can help maintain and minimize algae and waste build-up in the tank.

Next, if your tank supports coral, you can add a few to the tank. From here, you can slowly add more marine life to the tank.

However, if you add too many fish, coral, or live rock at a time, you risk disrupting the system and restarting the nitrogen cycle, causing catastrophic problems.

Fish are susceptible to changes in water conditions. Therefore, you need to slowly acclimate fish to the water in your tank before adding them to the aquarium. Further, you must closely monitor new fish as they are the most susceptible to parasitic outbreaks caused by stress.

You can adjust fish to the water conditions of