A Fish or Creature for a ten gallon?

[purplecandle]

Hello all!

Ok here is the deal, I am a total marine noob..but I have some Green spotted puffers that I would like to go to full marine with. Currently, they are brackish. I keep them 2 per 55 and I have a total of 6.

My hope is to start acquiring marine equipment (as I find deals and sales LOL)
And then around tax time I will purchase a tank large enough for all of them, and make it marine. I could then make the 55's fresh, thus saving me some $alt :)

My problem lies in not understanding marine equipment fully, I have some help from a few friends, but I would really like to practice marine before I go with such a big tank with highly sensitive puffers.

So, I have a spare ten gallon. And I thought I could practice marine in it. This would give me the opportunity to study and understand some equipment, and Since the tank is small I could afford to try different equipment.

I was thinking fish only, and then once I get my feet wet..add some live rock in the ten gallon.

So my question is, is there a marine fish that would be happy spending it's life in a ten gallon?

I am not a fan of over-mixed community tanks..so I would prefer single species with perhaps a worker or two (provided a ten gallon would be suitable)

If there is not a fish that would do well in a 10, how about a creature?

Thanks! Any thoughts or opinions about my plan are also welcome!

[olemiss reb]

I'm not familiar with ten gallon tank dimensions, but a single damsel should be fine. They are a good beginner fish as they are pretty hardy. They are aggressive but is a moot point since you are planning on a single fish. Live rock should be added from the get go. If you don't know, smaller tanks tend to be harder to maintain- much easier to crash. There is a "new to the hobby" section at the top of the page where you will probably get more responses.

[purplecandle]

Yes, I have heard that they are hard to maintain!

I just don't want my first try to be inflicted upon scaleless puffers!

If the ten, becomes a bit much I can upgrade toe a 20-30, or maybe use one of my 55's

Yes, I am reading every newbie thing I can find!

I get "it" as in I know what a fish needs to stay alive..

What I do not get is the vast array of equipment, what works best, and what specifically that equipment "does"

For some reason I always thought damsels were schoolers??? I guess because I have never just seen one in a tank!

Wish me luck!

[csarkar001]

i know that nano setups are the rage right now. but for a beginner, keeping a marine 10G stable is much more difficult than a 55g. temperature stability in hot weather is harder and one little maintenance mistake and everything goes a kilter.

if you end up struggling with the 10 gal, hopefully it will not serve as a deterent to upgrade your 55 to salt.

bigger tanks take longer to clean but just about everything else is easier.

good luck with your salt water experience. :)

[Fibinotchi]

I have a ten gallon salt with a five gallon sump. I have a clown and a mandarin as well as hermit crabs, lots of coral and snails. Mine is extremely easy to maintain once I got the balance right. I have 150 watt metal halide in a custom hood with fans to remove hot air. The tank stays a good temp. I have a cpr overflow, a cpr bak pak 2r skimmer and a hydor 300 i believe as a return pump. I have had it pretty over stocked at times and had a little excess algae but with one clown and mandarin it is maintenance free. I also have an auto top off system which tops off with ro/di water.

[psykokid]

The one thing i can recommend is an ATO for the small tank. Keeping your salinity in check with a smaller water volume is one of the more challenging bits you have to deal with. I have a 12 gal nanocube that has a 3" sand bed, about 10lb of live rock, a bag of chemipure in the middle chamber and an ATO. No skimmer, moderate fish load atm.. With the big sand bed and rock the actual total water volume is around 7 or 8 gallons max. I change a gallon of water a week and feed daily. I keep a pellet trained mandarin, firefish and a flasher wrasse that is healing up and recouping after getting mauled by my evil sixline in the DT..

Tank stays rock solid and has better parameters than my main DT, go figure eh?