selecting the inhabitants
Once you have decided what type of aquarium you want, whether it be a tropical freshwater or a tropical marine, you will need to consider the compatibility of your fish, will they all co-habit peacefully?
With a tropical freshwater aquarium there are very few compatibility problems, making this the easiest type of setup to choose livestock for. Tropical freshwater species are varied and plentiful and are generally peaceful.
A tropical marine aquarium is much more interesting to set up; there are plenty of species that will live together, for example the infamous Nemo and Dory, or to those in the know, Percula Clownfish and Regal Tang.
However, some are considered territorial or simply too large for smaller aquaria and some species, like the Volitan Lionfish in our header photograph, are predatory and should only be housed with other larger or predatory fish, ideally in a fish-only system.
The most colourful and interesting type of set up by far is a coral reef; this would obviously include corals and invertebrates, and a clean-up crew, possibly consisting of algae snails, sand-sifting starfish and other useful animals.
There is of course a price to be paid for owning a coral reef and financial cost aside, there needs to be a time investment; the water quality has to be more controlled and your fish stock is lower than it would be in a fish-only aquarium, the reason for this is that coral is more sensitive to fish waste and build up of nitrogenous compounds, this can be controlled with regular water changes and maintenance. aquapacifica offer a fully comprehensive maintenance contract at reasonable rates.
