Mr. Saltwater Tank

Why I Select Small/Juvenile Fish For Saltwater Tanks


When I purchase a fish for my saltwater tank, I like them small and I like juveniles when available. Here’s that’s important.

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Comments for this article (6)

  • Great advice ,thank again ,this is Rajindra from Trinidad,alway logged on.

  • Brandon Roten says:

    Awesome tim for most! Here’s a weird question.
    Why does the purple/yellow Dottyback not get along with the Six line Wrasses? Is the Dottyback jealous that the Wrasse has more lines than her?haha
    I wonder why the two species just fight like Beta fish?

  • Allspicedlh says:

    Thank you Tim. Your quick tips are quite informative.

  • Jim28fl says:

    Cute.. another good point that may hold water is juvenile fish of many species may be less likely to be cyanid collected due to there schooling tendencies. I see when i dive that juvenile wrasses, basslets, chromis, anthias and so forth, are easier to catch in a net from a school and I’m not targeting a single large fish, which may entice some illegal collectors to use other methods than skill. Unfortunately I can offer personal data that I take more losses on small fish than larger fish for some reason so the two may offset each other in the long run. When ever possible I get fish from another hobbyist who has had the fish for a significant period of time and the fish is already established to tank life. Thats always a home run.

  • steve dodd says:

    Hi Mark, so when I upgrade shortly to a larger tank, and transfer my old ( 5years, plus) yellow Tang to it , will I be ok to add 2 very young yellow tangs at the same time, hoping they do not all fight as its new surroundings, or will my adult take out the young ones?

  • steve…yellow tangs are in the zebrasoma family of tangs and are known to not like their own kind. I’d stick to the one you have.

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