Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

Technically, yes, I think it is a brackish water tank. But most of the fish aren't 'brackish' species. They're marine fish that can venture into a mangrove lagoon, in various salinities, easily and often. So I prefer Biotope tank. It describes it better.
 
Thanks for your blessing on the Caribbean thing. But I agree, they may not look right, with the other fish. Especially the black ones. A school of silver ones might work though. I'd love to get a Caribbean Silversides, but I haven't seen them live.

Your objection is noted and respected. Is it because fish are more intelligent that plankton? Do you eat fish? I do. We are consuming fish, being in this hobby. Whatevas! To each his own. I have no desire to create a death trap for any fish. I do want to emulate nature, and it's food web. Zooplankton consuming phytoplankton. Manatees eating Manatee Grass. Fish eating snail eggs. Lookdowns eating small fish. It's all the same to me. Nature.

If I do end up with some lookdowns, I want to take good care them. If I could maintain populations of mollies and shrimp that would be awesome. I'm sure I'll have several foods for them. We'll see with the Mollies. Kind of a pricey feeder fish, but they multiply.

I'd really love to approach having a tank full of life that fed itself and filtered itself. I drive it with energy, and nature takes it from there. But of course, our aquariums are not ultimately maintenance free, and we have to intervene to make up for the aquarium's limitations. I look forward to playing the role of Manatee!
 
I was just looking at my fish wish list. I put numbers by each fish, indicating the numbers of each, I'd like to have. 12 chromis, 7 grammas, 1 blennie, 4 cherub angels, 6 chalk bass, 1 'undetermined' basslet, 2 neon gobies, 1 blue tang and 4 lookdowns. That's 38 fish. A lot! And that doesn't include the possibility of mollies and feeder shrimp. I'm not sure my tank will support that many. At least they're all small fish, except for the blue tang and lookdowns. And of course, it will take years to complete the fish 'community', so we'll see. As cool looking as it is, I don't want to overcrowd my tank. It's too stressful for the fish, and it also means more work for me to maintain water quality.

So I may need to trim down my fish list a bit. I should prioritize them, according to their niche in the food web in my tank. What do they eat? At what level in the water column do they eat? It's a fascinating problem to solve. Every creature in the tank has to 'pull his weight' and do his part in maintaining the tank for me. I could substitute mollies for the chromis and/or chalk basses, since they eat algae and reproduce easily (which could feed the lookdowns). I could do with less lookdowns (the top predators), maybe just one or two. And then I need to close the circle, with flora and fauna that consume the lookdown's (and the other fish's) P&P.

So, we'll see! Right now I'm just trying to get this puppy up and running!
 
I had contemplated doing a large tank with a miniatus grouper and have a bunch of mollies that would breed so the Grouper would get natural feeding behavior.
 
Dr.Brain Coral, I have seen a few threads about folks using 'saltwater mollies' as live feeder fish. The problem is you don't see live saltwater feeder fish in the hobby, at least to my knowledge. And fresh water feeders don't have the right nutritional mix for salt water fish. So people look for alternatives, like the Molly.
 
Sweet! A source for live silversides! Dr.Brain Coral, I thank you. Yet another reason these forums are awesome. Information exchange at its best!
 
Your Welcome. Hey I want to suggest something. I was wondering if you wanted to make a thread on Nano Reef so the Folks there can see this. Thats where I spend the majority of my time and I think all the people there would like to see this.
 
Let me think about that. On one hand, I'm not comfortable posting in Nano Reefs, since this isn't a nano tank. On the other, maybe I could post a link to it. I'll take a look at the nano forum and see if it looks kosher.
 
The Nano Reef forum has a section specifically for large tanks, such as yours. I am sure they would be delighted to have your tank. They also have a section just for Biotopes, and there have been large tanks posted there in the past as well. I have to agree with Dr Brain Coral- they would be delighted to have a thread for your tank there. Generally speaking, I think the Nano Reef crowd is a little more enthusiastic about biotopes. Especially if you include lots of pictures! ;)
 
Thanks, Dr.Brain Coral and JLynn, for your encouragement. I went ahead and posted links to this thread, as well as my DIY threads. Maybe we'll get some more bodies to the party!
 
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