Fish only no live rock?

[reefer.alx]

Hello there!

I have a friend who is interested in having just a couple saltwater fish, no corals.

My experience is only in heavily equipped coral tanks

What's the bare minimum he can get by with?

Does he need live rock?
Skimmer?

Thanks for your help!

 

[username in use]

Live rock is still his easiest solution for processing the ammonia from the fish waste and organic breakdown in the tank. If the tank is lightly stocked he won't need a whole lot, enough to look nice should be enough.

 

[pyithar]

live rocks= yes. fish need to be fed and they pee/poo so to process them, you need place for beneficial bacteria to live. and fish need some place to hide. even quarantine tanks have pvc for hiding. also the tank will not look good without any aquascape imo.

skimmerless = might be fine but he'll need to apply other methods of exporting nutrients such as water changes, algae scrubber, growing chaeto, etc.

 

[Pigpen17]

What size tank is he thinking?

Also, that was my thought. Live rock is the best looking aquascape anyway.

 

[reefer.alx]

Cool
So far the consensus is live rock as a minimum.

So what about the skimmer?
I'm of the mind that elevated nitrate levels aren't too much of a concern for fish.

He wants to use a 26g bowfront and stock a couple ocellaris at first.

 

[pyithar]

i have a 67g broodstock tank for an ocellaris pair. there's no skimmer in it. but i do 5g water change every week. i even have some corals and a giant clam in it.

 

[Dmorty217]

There are all sorts of ways to go about this. You could get dry rock and seed the rock with bacteria, you could buy another media (will use Sera Siprorax as a example) and use that as the filtration. Point is you need something to put the good bacteria in your tank. Could be live rock or it could be something like Startsmart (the Sera and startsmart are what I used to setup my 625g, added the startsmart and the fish the same day and never have had ammonia issue) With the media you will need much less sand and rock in the tank, to the point you may not need any rock at all. There are several people on here that have nothing but coral structures in their tanks with basically little to no rock and things are thriving

 

[Sk8r]

Live rock and a decent skimmer will lead to healthier fish and a greater chance of success. A proper match between the fish species he wants and the tank rig he can afford is essential, and the kindest thing to do is to use your knowledge and resources to be sure he has enough tank and enough rock and equipment not to waste his money...

 

[Roccus]

aside from it's filtering value....live rock gives a natural place for shy fish to seek refuge and feel safe...and it looks nice too!

 

[Dmorty217]

aside from it's filtering value....live rock gives a natural place for shy fish to seek refuge and feel safe...and it looks nice too!

Yes, but most stuff that is sold as "live rock" is anything but. After the stuff has been sitting for weeks/months in a vat with a pump and nothing else, everything that makes the live rock "alive" isn't living anymore( and thats after it has sat in a box in a warehouse somewhere where the temps are over 90 degrees everyday) At that point you are paying a premium per pound for essentially dry rock.

 

[lifeoffaith]

Can you do a tank with no live rock, yes, but you'll have to have a bunch of mechanical filtration to make up for it, and you'll have a very bare looking tank without.

 

[gallegos]

You don't need live rock with a fish only setup. Just need to use a wet/dry sump with bioballs too get the bacteria going

 

[reefer.alx]

Thanks everyone!

I'm working with a guy who doesn't grasp the idea of spending money to be more successful/stable

He's gonna go the live rock route.
I'll do my best to convince him of the skimmer.

Since he's not gonna keep corals, how about the ocellaris' host?
I've read people using ornaments for them.
Any opinions on this?

Thanks!

 

[Brando457]

Clownfish don't need to host...

Also he shouldn't keep more than 2 in a 26g tank

Also he should have at least some rock for filtration.

Sounds like he needs to do MORE research before getting into this hobby. I recommend linking him to the New To Hobby section

 

[reefer.alx]

Lol, he's a tech dumb guy.

He's not even aware of how to peruse forums unfortunately [emoji53]

 

[billdogg]

"Fish only no live rock" is almost impossible unless he plans on nothing in the tank except fish and maybe a plastic pirate ship. Spending $$$ on "live" rock is not necessary, but even dry rocks used for aquascaping will quickly become "live".

Way back in the days of undergravel filters, before the concept of live rock, we were doing just that, without even knowing. I'm quite certain that the rocks becoming live is what allowed most of the even limited success we enjoyed in the old days!

 

[Dmorty217]

"Fish only no live rock" is almost impossible unless he plans on nothing in the tank except fish and maybe a plastic pirate ship. Spending $$$ on "live" rock is not necessary, but even dry rocks used for aquascaping will quickly become "live".

Way back in the days of undergravel filters, before the concept of live rock, we were doing just that, without even knowing. I'm quite certain that the rocks becoming live is what allowed most of the even limited success we enjoyed in the old days!

This

 

[Pigpen17]

Cool
So far the consensus is live rock as a minimum.

So what about the skimmer?
I'm of the mind that elevated nitrate levels aren't too much of a concern for fish.

He wants to use a 26g bowfront and stock a couple ocellaris at first.

Sounds a lot like my first tank. 29g fish only. I did run a skimmer, but I didn't spend a bunch of cash on one. Just a cheep HOB skimmer, powerhead and live rock. My tank was amazingly stable. I was also cash challenged though, so I bought my live rock a bit at a time. I think I started with 10lbs then added one fish a few weeks later. When I was about ready for my second fish, I added another 10. And so on, and so on. I was lucky at the time though. My local fish store had amazing live rock.

Too bad you guys aren't in Washington State. I have an old skimmer just sitting on my shelf.

 

[cloak]

Just treat it like you would a freshwater tank...

 

[Timfish]

Unfortunately there is a lot of very different products that qualify as "Live Rock". Most only has bacteria which might help initially getting the basic nitrogen cycle going but nothing else. Quality maricultured or wild collected live rock will have sponges, tunicates and stuff that are very beneficial to establishing a healthy, diverse ecossystem. Sponges especially have a very beneficial role and the best way to get them is with live rock.