Pretty much all marine fish, and certainly all Mandarin fish, are wild caught which really underlines why you have to do the right thing. Some species of Clowns and Cardinal fish are tank bred, but a lot are still taken from the wild for all that.

A lot of Clownfish in NZL are tank bred. There are a couple of breeders in NZL who supply the importers. Bangaiis are often bred in NZL also.

Unfortunately only half a dozen people in the world have successfully managed to raise a mandarin. And even then only 1-3 were raised. Blue tangs have not yet been raised (or any other tang) to my knowledge in captivity.

I'm sure some gobies are tank bred aren't they?

hi will this system work for the water? reverse osmosis

This high production unit provides 1.7 litres per minute of pure water as required

with NO storage tank ... That's 50 times the output of standard Reverse Osmosis systems!

4 Stage design for the best quality water.

Carbon pre-filter to remove sediment and chlorine.

Two Reverse Osmosis membrane elements for water separation.

Carbon post filter for great taste.

Made in the USA by " GE ".

Please download our PDF file for a full brochure... Click Here

Price: $ 1399.00 + installation

so all i would need to do when doing water changes is fill a bucket or something with the water from there and add the sea salt? or do i need to treat the water some more

Definitely

cool looks like that will be the bank breaker so far will save and have one installed ill start there fist i think when im ready then the tank

no,your skimmer will be your bank breaker.

no,your skimmer will be your bank breaker.

And the lights tooooo

We laughed when some one told us to allow $1000 per foot, we thought they were winding us up, well they wern't kidding, had 3ftr on the cheap ie DIY lights and good skimmer no sump etc,and sort of worked OK but when we upgraded to a 5ftr we decided to do it properly, ouch wallet is still smarting but will be worth it in the end. Going to fit a new skimmer in the weekend. Wahoo

Definitely Expensive, Definitely Rewarding

Soooo worth it in the end

ouch have seen a few lights and they were quite expensive and im guessing 8ft lights are going to be worse havnt seen them around yet and havnt had a chance to look for skimmers any one recommend a excellent skimmer?

i found this skimmer for 7 hundered and something what should i be looking for for a 8ft tank?

Reef Octopus Skimmer DDNW-150-6530~~

Exteranl Use,matching 2 OTP-2000 Needle Wheel pump.Whole Cast Acrylic material and Dark Grey PVC Fittings.Good Quality and High Performance.

2 x OTP-2000 Needle Wheel Pump

Suitable for tanks up to 1300L

Size(mm):150680

FootPrint:450200

Water Inlet diameter 25mm

Water outlet diameter 25mm

Recirculating model (Can be use insump or not)

how much liters will be in this tank? 2400x600x600mm

864 aprox.

I'm sure some gobies are tank bred aren't they?

In the states alot of them are, esp the Shrimp Gobys. But I don't know if any of the ones in NZL or bought in are tank bred. I am not aware of anyone in NZL breeding them.... Yet

i found this skimmer for 7 hundered and something what should i be looking for for a 8ft tank?

Reef Octopus Skimmer DDNW-150-6530~~

I have the DNW 200 recirculating.its rated for 1500 ltrs.Great skimmer.around $500 if a remember . 8)

cool thanks and to the person who did my calculations thanks for that didnt know it was that little lol but all good

I'm sure some gobies are tank bred aren't they?

Yes.

Here's a bunch of captive raised fish available from an overseas e-tailer, once economics dictate, we might see more in NZ.

http://liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1500

Dantezgirl you can get a quality RODI to produce your filtered water, for much less than per your previous post. I'm still confused about the rules this site has about recommending vendors so if you could pm me an email address I can email you contact details for this.

Other than that though, unless you just won the 1st division lotto, I think you should start smaller than 8 foot, not only will it be expensive, but any mistakes will be expensive. Nearly everybody who starts, designs their tank, runs it for a year or two, sees things that could be better plus learns a lot, then upgrade to a better system in light of the things they have learned.

This despite mostly thinking that their first tank is "it". :lol:

so you would recommend i start small should i stick with the 4ft tank and up grade every few years when ready its only because i would like a tang that i thaught id go big

tang would be fine in a 4ft, i currently have a yellow tang, blue tang, mandarin, sixline, pair of clowns shrimp in a 5ft

Agreed.

My opinion, use your 4 foot tank. But get a skimmer capable of running a bigger tank. Use this set up for at least a year. During this time you will learn much.

Then if you still want to, do a bigger tank. You will not have to buy a new skimmer, and rock etc can be transferred to the new tank.

ok will 2 clowns and 2 mandarins fit in a 4ft together longterm?

They will certainly fit, and you could have other fish also. But wether the tank can supply enough food for the manderins is doubtful. Every tank is different but for most 4 foot tanks 2 manderins is not going to work.

My own tank is a 4 footer and i've never had a manderin because I know the tank would not support it.

But hey, manderins are not the only cool fish. 2 percula clowns in an anemone are VERY cool. If you get two juvenile ones, (which are available in NZ tank bred), one will change sex to become the girl. They will live together in the anemone and behave exactly as in nature, because even in the wild they only have a very small territory and are totally contented in a tank, long as they have an anemone to live in. They will lay eggs regularly which they carefully look after.

Also you could get a yellow tang & a blue tang, long as you start out with small ones. Plus a heap of other types of fish.

And then there's the corals!

They will certainly fit, and you could have other fish also. But wether the tank can supply enough food for the manderins is doubtful. Every tank is different but for most 4 foot tanks 2 manderins is not going to work.

My own tank is a 4 footer and i've never had a manderin because I know the tank would not support it.

But hey, manderins are not the only cool fish. 2 percula clowns in an anemone are VERY cool. If you get two juvenile ones, (which are available in NZ tank bred), one will change sex to become the girl. They will live together in the anemone and behave exactly as in nature, because even in the wild they only have a very small territory and are totally contented in a tank, long as they have an anemone to live in. They will lay eggs regularly which they carefully look after.

Also you could get a yellow tang & a blue tang, long as you start out with small ones. Plus a heap of other types of fish.

And then there's the corals!

I agree with all of the above. People often look at Mandarins as the only awesome looking fish, but Mandarins are a very limiting fish as far as tank mates are concerned. Most Wrasse become off-limits if your tank has a Mandarin (or 2) as Wrasse dine heavily on Pods.

While I am a huge fan of Mandarins, I also think that some Wrasse, Gobies and Blennys (ex Scooter Blenny, as they are same family as mandarin) are awesome fish. My Wheeler Shrimp Goby is a real character in my tank now.

Double Post =\

4 stage portable RO with iron exchange $569.00 is that a good price?