Basic care guide for various livestock

[krusty krab]

If this title doesnt explain the intent please allow me to expand a bit. I am new to marine aquariums and it's many, many life forms. I do my best to inform myself about whatever creature I would like to have in my tank. I think it would be very helpful to a few of us "newbs" to have a thread on the basic care of any and all livestock members would like to share, at least it would help me alot. Just a few examples I can think of right away because I am interested: Star fish, Clams, Gobies, Tangs, all the different corals, ect.. Just basic setup requirements, feeding, compatability.

Now there will be some who are going to say research it yourself. I would much rather learn from the members of this club and their experiences than 20 hours of sifting thru information on the net. Just a thought and I appologize if this seems crazy. I would like to go to one place I feel I can trust to get my information more from practicle experience.

 

[maveri9720]

Not sure if I really agree with your theory of learning from here, as opposed to people who dedicate their entire careers to marine life and then write books and journals and articles in magazines about their findings and what their research has produced.

Don't get me wrong, there is loads of valuable info that you can learn from forums such as this one, but I wouldn't make the mistake of taking what is said here as written in stone.

The best thing to do is get a couple books, "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner is a good one that I have read and personally recommend. Eric Borneman has some good books out. Julian Sprung has a couple out. And read up on what the pros have to say first, to give you a good foundation to build on.

Then, once you have your foundation, start researching different forums and websites for what they have to say. The more places you pull info from, the better off you will be, b/c then you can see what overlaps in different areas and know that those things will work and have worked for others and you can also make up your mind as to which direction you want to go in.

There is a multitude of ways to do things in this hobby and none of them are wrong if the marine life is healthy and happy.

Also, this hobby isn't something you can just read a couple threads on and think you have a good grasp on it. I have spent 6 months just researching and reading and asking questions and talking to people every chance I get and I still consider myself to be a newbie, even though I have gained alot of knowledge.

My personal opinion is that you grab some books, research on the net and ask questions and talk to people, as opposed to trying to get all of your knowledge from one place. It's not possible. To get info you can trust, it has to come from alot of different sources and they should mostly agree on them, before you put your faith in it.

Just my .02 though

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Ok Mitch, I owe you another rep point now!

 

[jhutto]

Mavrik is 100% right. Read to get the foundation and those questions that are fuzzy can be answered here. I find all the advice very helpful, but you need a foundation first. Fenner's book is outstanding.
Joe

 

[ms_ k]

A really good website that you can try is