The stock

Well, there is an infinite range of possibilities for stocking with fish, corals and other lower animals.

And this is precisely the problem faced by beginners, who, due to the sheer variety, soon no longer know what they want and often follow the advice of enterprising dealers. They often, without hesitation, sell even the most complete novice animals that even a professional can barely keep.

One might almost say that the more colorful and funky the animals look, the more difficult they are to keep. Be it the well-known tweezerfish or the red-and-white soft coral.

The beginner wants to immediately own the dream of a colorful mix of tropical reefs. The awakening only comes much later, often after so much frustration and failure that the person is lost to reef aquarium hobby forever.

The sheer number of losses this entails is almost unbearable. We owe it to the animals to approach the construction of this small reef area with care and caution. However, there are also those who are patient and have studied the basics of marine aquarium keeping extensively before ordering and setting up their first tank. Consuming sufficient literature is a prerequisite.

Therefore, not only an inexpensive booklet but also high-quality specialist books should be purchased in order to obtain a multiple overview of the often differing opinions of authors.

Or you can use the internet to gather additional information. Only then can you be somewhat protected against overly aggressive 'fish salesmen' in our pet stores. And since your own wishes are often strongly confirmed, all reservations are thrown overboard – first the reservations, then a few days later the animal is dumped in the toilet. This shouldn't be allowed to happen! Enough philosophizing and hopefully, a wake-up call.

But what does the initial stocking of a beginner's tank look like? After introducing the live rock and getting the equipment working, the tank needs a few weeks to establish its biological and chemical stability. During this time, you can learn how to measure important water parameters and operate the skimmer, calcium reactor, and similar components.

Often, the usual pests like slime algae, cyanobacteria, filamentous algae, and others are on the move in the first few weeks, testing the aquarist's patience. With good live rock, many inhabitants can also enter the tank that one never expected. These include crabs and crayfish, bristle worms and snails, certain types of algae, sponges, sea squirts, and perhaps the occasional encrusting anemones or other types of coral that survived the transport and initial period of storage. So, for the interested observer, there's already plenty to discover, and the first few fishless weeks can be easily endured.

Small, growth-feeding hermit crabs, snails, or even tough leather corals can be gradually added as separate purchases. A good stock of these is half the battle for successful fish keeping. Water and coral care automatically means the best water to keep our finned friends healthy.

When it comes to fish, please choose species that can tolerate poor water quality without immediately reacting with white spot disease. Even if it's the yellow surgeonfish as your first stock, which hundreds of other tank owners also keep and which you didn't really want in the first place... But it's better to have a living, healthy, and happy, common fish than the corpses of highly complex animals cluttering your aquarium career.

There's always plenty of time for delicate animals, because the reef tank isn't built for the moment, but rather for a hobby that often lasts decades. And even in aquaristics, success requires hard work. Nothing happens on its own.

A common question is: Will they stay the same color in our tank? Well, there's almost no answer to that...! Unless you take the possible color fade as an opportunity to work on your system to improve the conditions so that the corals regain their natural coloration. Remember: it's not the corals' fault if they lose their color...!