The little butthole that beats my hands up royally every time I service the tank.
I have to place him in a container as he will otherwise leave me hurting and with ample bites.

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My grandson's buddy.
Always greets him.
Lets my grandson stick his hand in the tank and touch him.
Will actually let you scratch his belly.
A Scribbled Angel.

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dont we all???
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Almost had my hands on a few of them actually.
The importer was scheduled to receive a mass shipment of them and right before that, he went out of business. Long story.
I was getting three for $300 each, landed cost in my hands.
Haven't had the desire to add a fish in over five years since then.
Just not worth losing what I have over diseases.
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Blueline Angel.

Don't recommend them.
They are not hearty although this one is with me around 6-7 years.
They have the tendency to go blind like Harlequins.
He can still get around and eats well but can't see squat.

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Last one.

No swim bladder.
Cool fish.
Uses fins as we use hands and swims in the tank as we do.
Can't sustain himself in the water column as no bladder to do so as normal fish have.

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Ive always wanted a salt-water tank.

On average how much time do you need to dedicate on a weekly basis to the maintenance of the average sized tank?

How difficult is that maintenance?
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I got this guy when he was about the size of a very small Flame Angel.
Have had him for around 5-7 years, guessing but closer to the 7 mark.
He had his juvenile colors and lines.
As he became an adult, the lines left and the solid brown/tan face set in.
Cool to see transform.
I had another Emperor Angel that I raised from juvenile to full adult, that got along just great with the larger Emperor believe it or not.
Decided to sell him to make room for the growing fish.
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I agree 100%!

for those out there thinking "oh its just a fish tank. Whats the big deal."

Many of these tanks ivestments are wekk in the thousands. My 24 gallon tank certainly was. If you dont pay attention or cant take care of them for even a week. This can happen, and did to me.
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That will vary.
For most, early on in the hobby, they either do too much or not enough.

I believe in hands free.
Great equipment, like a massive skimmer, triple to quadruple what the tank would require normally.
Water changes once a month - I do 50%.
Remove the rocks (in my case as I have to bleach them), once a month, when I do my water changes.
My tank takes once a month, but that day takes me about 3-4 hours due to the slow process in bleaching the rocks, to ensure no chlorine back in the tank.
The same regimen is what I did for my customers for years.
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Beautiful tanks and fishies!!

We had a couple of freshwater tanks while I was growing up. Loved to sit and watch them.

Thanks for the pics.

Please, sirs, may I have some more?
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That sucks so badly.
We have all been there.
My son lost a 75 gallon reef thanks to a hurricane.
I was lucky mine survived.
He then set it up again and it crashed again due to rust from the UV going in the tank.
Each time, he had the most unreal reef, due to working for the importer.
He got to take home all the frags on a regular basis and they would all grow to nice corals.
Lots of rare stuff and thousands of dollars lost.

I have a generator dedicated to my tank for power failures.
That is how crazy this stuff is.
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For a beginner, would you recommend a reef tank, or a fish tank? It is my understanding that you cant have many fish in a reef tank
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You can do either.
Just don't go crazy until you have it down.
Me? I would go fish only, then add corals or modify to a reef as you develop more.
In my case, I never finished developing as I stayed with fish only due to the kind of fish I wanted.
What I do recommend is to go as big as you can and have all the equipment you need before you add a drop of water, let alone fish.
Most don't do it that way and pay dearly.
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wow... I think I just died a little inside.
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Anyone can face that day in this hobby and boy, does it suck.

Here is a sucking story.
I have two mated Conspic Angels.
The larger, male, gets PO'd with the smaller one and goes all over the place chasing it, continuously, for days.
I decide to get the aggressive one out and sell it (that is where I got my money for my Clarion).
As soon as I pull it out and sell it, within a week or so, not having ever been harmed or injured, not showing any signs of stress, a $3K fish is belly up.
I could only imagine it died from heartbreak that I didn't give them a chance to work it out or go to counseling.:-)
I guess I can laugh about it now as I was able to soon find another Conspic to replace her.
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Thanks for the info.

sounds like its a whole 'nuther slope!!!
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OMG!!!

You have no idea.

That tank of mine has around $12K in fish and another $10K (wholesale and doing it myself) in equipment.

Talk about a slope!!!
I was fortunate to do it as I was in the business, got the equipment wholesale, did my own labor, and bought the fish at wholesale, cheaper than the stores as I got them from the importer directly.
Otherwise, heck if I would have this.

You can imagine how much I look forward to hurricane season and power failures.
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I sense another reality TV show: The Fish Whisperer :-)

That does indeed suck, sir.
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this thread has inspired me to look back into the hobby
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