Video:How to Select Fish for a Salt Aquarium

Transcript:How to Select Fish for a Salt Aquarium

Hi, I'm Jonathan Wolf with Blue Planet Aquarium Services in Chicago, Illinois for About.com. In today's video we're going to discuss how to select fish for your salt water aquarium.

Be Sure All Fish in the Salt Aquarium are Compatible

First off, compatibility. There's nothing worse than getting a new fish home only to have it immediately harassing every fish in your aquarium or vice versa. Carnivores. These fish flat-out should not be added to a reef aquarium. They include eels, groupers, solider fish, puffers, and lion fish. If they flat-out won't eat the smaller fish in the tank, they'll certainly will eat a lot and firing a lot of food into a reef tank isn't such a good idea.

Other non-reef compatible fish include: larger angelfish, butterfly fish, larger wrasses, trigger fish and parrot fish. If these guys flat-out won't eat corals, crabs, and snails in your aquarium, they will at least pick on things. They are however very compatible with the carnivore group, and so, work very well in a fish-only aquarium.Tangs or surgeon fish and rabbit fish. These guys are welcome in most reef aquariums and will work well in a fish-only aquarium as well. Typically they will eat a lot of undesirable algae in your reef tank and will make a nice show fish in a reef style aquarium.

Reef safe fish. This includes a large variety of fish such as basslets, chromis, clown fish, anthias, and gobies – all of which are completely safe in most reef aquariums. They'll also work in fish-only aquariums however being they're smaller they may be picked on by some of the larger, more aggressive fish.

Check Quality of the Water and Health of the Salt Aquarium Fish.

First of all, every time you're going to buy fish, make sure you do a water test to make sure all water quality and perimeters are correct. When choosing a fish for your aquarium there's a few things to be very careful of. Always look for a few things such as cloudy eyes, frayed or tattered fins, lacerations or red streaks on the body, a salt-looking sprinkle on the fish's body or eyes which is indicative of parasites, and white cottony tufts on the fins. Behavior-wise make sure that the fish isn't overly aggressive, and make sure the fish is responsive and not constantly hiding. Also it's a good idea to ask to see the fish eat before you take him home. If he's eating in the shop that you're looking at, there's a good chance he's well acclimated and is going to do the same thing in your aquarium too.

Thanks for watching our video. For more information be sure to check About.com.