Cant do nothing

[xdave]

Wheres your original want list? A lot of cool fish are ok with a 75.
The fact that nature isn't cooperating with your decorating plans is not the fault of the board members. Many many people have made lists of what every fish requires, They're called books. You may be tired of everyone saying you cant have this or that but if all the beginners would start by reading a book nobody would even ask those questions. Maybe they wouldn't even have bought the tank. If I hear 1 more person say 'I had a whatever in a 75 for a year' I think I'll scream. If you bought a dog and kept him in such inappropriate conditions that he only lived a year you could be put in jail for cruelty.
What size tank a fish is in in the store is totally irrelevant. They have St. Bernard puppies in a 3' x 4' cage. You wouldnt try to keep 1000 Neon Tetras in a 10 would you?

 

[nirua64]

i hav had two clowns for 5 yrs and a yellow tang, niger trig, hamu trig, blue damsel two starfish for 3 yrs starfish had babies in a 55 gal, i lost a lot of fish at first but it was due to lack of exp and not reading, i think it is realy up to quality of water some fish i know not to get like a shark or ray etc lets be reasonable now

 

[a sea k]

Its late and I'm tired so I apolagize in advance for anything I say past this point. ( I only read the first post and felt I should speak up from my own experiance)
I started with a 65 gal tank and quickly realized how little I could keep in this tiny tank. (very dissapointing would be a understatement)
So several years later the wife and I decide to get a truly big tank, you know, the one you can keep most any fish in. So we buy a 210gal tank. (that ought to do the trick)
Guess what? turns out that several of the fish we really wanted won't work out in the long run.
The point of this is, In the long run, if you do your research, truly care about the fish you want to keep, you will know what fish will and won't work.

 

[ice4ice]

Read The Conscientious Marine Aquarist.
We understand your frustration and all but you realize there are alot of peole here that have made mistakes and have learned from them. You can't tell a fish "Ok, this is your new 75G home. This is all I can afford. Make do with the swimming room because that's all I have to offer." A fish is not going to listen to you. Neither is God's intended nature when he created them. All Tangs, even Triggers, need at least 125 gallons because they need the swimming room. Yes, some have put them in 75G tanks but they were baby fishes when they got them. They don't stay small forever.
I am a beginner myself and I won't actually dive into it for at least a couple more years. But, I have and still am doing alot of research and reading. I have read countless books, talked to numerous people about SW and there are reasons why they say this and that. Heck, I don't even have a tank yet.
I guess what I and the rest of us are trying to say is, don't get frustrated because of the reasons you can't keep certain fishes. Some species have certain needs. ie : swimming room (Tangs, Triggerfish), specialized feeding (Mandarinfish), plenty of live rock for hiding, etc ... or whatever they require. Even aquacultured or tank-raised fishes still have to meet those needs.