Where did you get your knowledge?

nina&noah

nina&noah

Member
Can anyone recommend a good book or website for researching about this hobby. I have so many questions I don't even know where to begin. It seems that I am doing everything wrong and everyone keeps telling me different things.

For example my LFS and the guy who helps me with the maintance on my tank all told me to feed my fish twice a week. They said that pellet food and the algae strips would be fine. Well I lost both my sailfin tang and my coral beauty angel, so now I am only feeding pellet food. However, I'm reading on here that you all not only feed your fish daily, but sometimes multiple times a day. I'm so confused!!!
Where did you all learn so much? I want to learn to keep a healthy tank.
 
shinobi9119

shinobi9119

Active Member
for feeding you should feed a certain amout o food that ur fish will eat in X amount of minutes. Im not to sure on how many minutes I hope someone else will chime in on that. It is adjusting process but you can get it down.
As for the knowledge, i learned just about everytihng fomr this site there are some links in the new hobbyist for people who are just starting.. ill go get them
 
shinobi9119

shinobi9119

Active Member
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/301033/101-tips-to-beginning-and-maintaining-a-saltwater-aquarium - this is 101 tips to beginning a maintaining a saltwater aquarium. its is long but it is very good
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/264597/a-list-of-extremely-helpful-threads-for-all-hobbyists Highly recommend this one, its a page that has links to everything you want to know. You can get a good base of knowledge from this and if you need the blanks filled in just ask on the boards everyone here is very helpful and friendly.
these two can be found at the top of the new hobbyist section.
If you dont want to be on a cmputer, my friend has the book "the concensious (spelling) marine aquarist, and The New Marine Aquarist. i have only skmmed through but they seem ok. I hope someone else can offer more opinion on these.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists by Robert M. Fenner
Aquarium Corals : Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History by Eric Borneman
The Nano-Reef Handbook by Chris R. Brightwell
A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Fishes: 500+ Essential-To-Know Aquarium Species by Scott W. Michael
A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Invertebrates: 500+ Essential-to-Know Aquarium Species by Ronald L. Shimek
Dr Burgess's Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes by Warren E. Burgess
And of course multiple website forums where you can glean some valuable and some not so valuable information.
 
nina&noah

nina&noah

Member
Thanks! I had already read the 101 tips link. That is where I began to realize I was doing everything wrong! I just clicked the other link and it looks like a great resource.
I will look for the books that were recommended. It is great to have different resources available to research. Trusting the people at my LFS is getting expensive and frustrating! I think they are great at helping me pick the right fish, but I don't know that they are always giving me the best advice on how to care for them. Some people just have more experience/knowledge.
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
Online research, research, research... asking our friend who has been in this hobby for 7 yrs...
Complete Encyclopedia of teh Saltwater Aquarium by Dakin
Tons of magazine
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2469687
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists by Robert M. Fenner
Aquarium Corals : Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History by Eric Borneman
The Nano-Reef Handbook by Chris R. Brightwell
A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Fishes: 500+ Essential-To-Know Aquarium Species by Scott W. Michael
A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Invertebrates: 500+ Essential-to-Know Aquarium Species by Ronald L. Shimek
Dr Burgess's Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes by Warren E. Burgess
And of course multiple website forums where you can glean some valuable and some not so valuable information.
All excellent books, and of course there are lots of others out there, depending on your personal interests; reef or FOWLR. Recommended feedings vary depending on the source you look at, the fish you keep and what you personally want to do. Its generally accepted that all food fed should be eaten in two minutes time or you are feeding too much. I've fed my fish daily (fine in a FO tank, but I don't recommend it for a Reef tank - too much waste), when I had a snowflake eel, we only fed him once a week (that was all he would eat and he still produced a ton of waste) and I've fed my reef tanks every other day and only once a week (in both cases the fish were fine). Realize that in nature, many animals don't eat once or even twice a day every day, they eat when they get an opportunity to do so. Some will eat multiple times in a day, some only once a week. Determine what works best for you, your fish, and your aquarium and stick with it. Also fish don't always die because they starve, there are lots of other reasons. Good luck
 
sinner's g

sinner's g

Member
I spend many years here reading and asking questions, some thing I've learned by trail and error.
I have Marine Fishes and Marine Invertebrates. LOVE those books.
 
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