Do fish die---naturally---often? Do they have short lives?
Once they survive being hatch---those that make it to adulthood can live a decade or more---record for a koi is 235 years.
For most that we keep, 10 years.
For a clam---hundreds of years.
For a coral---virtually immortal, in terms of breaking off and both bits growing. That frag you just bought has an ancestry maybe going back hundreds of centuries. If not hundreds of thousands of years.
I have a crab I know has been with me over 10 years. Little scarlet microhermit.
An 'experiment' with live fish and critters is not your only option.
TESTS of water quality will see your specimens live longer and grow well. Test weekly. A key one-and-done test for most weeks is Alkalinity. If that's ok, calcium and magnesium will be. If you have to restore balance, however, bring magnesium to 1300, THEN your alkalinity to 8.3, then your calcium to 420. These readings work well for stony coral and about anything else.
Read the thread "Cycling isn' t the End of It" up above for more help. ^^^ It can save critters, and save you a lot of money and grief.
Once they survive being hatch---those that make it to adulthood can live a decade or more---record for a koi is 235 years.
For most that we keep, 10 years.
For a clam---hundreds of years.
For a coral---virtually immortal, in terms of breaking off and both bits growing. That frag you just bought has an ancestry maybe going back hundreds of centuries. If not hundreds of thousands of years.
I have a crab I know has been with me over 10 years. Little scarlet microhermit.
An 'experiment' with live fish and critters is not your only option.
TESTS of water quality will see your specimens live longer and grow well. Test weekly. A key one-and-done test for most weeks is Alkalinity. If that's ok, calcium and magnesium will be. If you have to restore balance, however, bring magnesium to 1300, THEN your alkalinity to 8.3, then your calcium to 420. These readings work well for stony coral and about anything else.
Read the thread "Cycling isn' t the End of It" up above for more help. ^^^ It can save critters, and save you a lot of money and grief.