I’ve Gone To The Dark Side!

Very envious! 
Learning lots from your thread!

Goodness… this needs and update and a half… I recall I stopped posting here as I had trouble with the clownfish and got a bit down and nearly out of the saltwater hobby over it.

It’s been a long journey let’s just say but steering clear of common clownfish seemed to be the fix and I have now got a thriving tank including anemones, a royal gramma, neon goby and clown goby, and lots of other interesting critters. I’ve really got into macroalgae in quite a big way. In contrast to corals they are inexpensive, easier to care for, need less equipment and provide a great sense of movement as they waft about in the flow. Win win as far as I’m concerned and I personally feel they look much more natural than coral tanks with blue lights and fluorescent corals - photo below.

I had a pico macroalgae tank set up for a good while (before baby Matt number 2 arrived!) with some Eviotas (tiny gobies), some interesting inverts like boxer crab and floating/swimming see-through shrimp, hermit crabs etc and grew some mangroves in it for a while - photo also below. This tank is no longer with us though.

The reason I thought to look at this thread was because I’m actually considering clownfish again… a different species this time Clarkii clownfish. They readily pair with an anemone and it’s just the absolute dream to have this symbiotic relationship on show in my tank. I do feel nervous given the troubles I had previously but I know I’m doing everything right and the tank is much more matur, the water crystal clean etc etc and therefore I think the time has come! (Not my videos but to give a sense of Clarkii colouration etc see https://youtu.be/HfR-wW8wg50
https://youtu.be/C2l03izxM84