Fishy question!

[Sevaede]

My husband and I had a fifteen gallon fish tank in the place we lived before we moved here. In it, we had an angel fish, a red fin rainbow shark, a horned plecostomus, an african frog, and another fish who I forgot what it was. They were all great. We HAD been rescuing fish from Wal Mart (about ten) and they ALL died except for the shark. So, when we discovered the store just for fish in (previous) town we were elated. The people were so friendly and extremely knowledgeable (they had an in store pet chameleon, =O!). We got the rest of our fish from them and only one died (a flame eel). So, I've blabbed enough. We would like to get a couple more fish tanks when we decide where we want to live permanently. We REALLY want a HUGE salt water tank. We've been trying to do our homework and would like to know of any sites or books that would be useful in being successful and proper in our fish/tank care. Also, what are some good and hardy sw fish that would be good for beginners? Has anyone ever ordered live fish from a mag or online (salt or otherwise)? Where they live? How in the heck do they ship live fish? Also, I am considering ordering out of Foster and Smith once everything is said and done. Good route or bad?

[IRescue452]

Do you know what the nitrite cycle is? This would be a good start for research. Aquariumadvice.com has lots of info. Then onto the stocking scheme. You 15 gallon was overstocked and improperly stocked and the fish probably died because of that. A site like liveaquaria.com has info on fish and proper tank sizes for each. I know many many people who order their fish online and most are very satisfied with the fish. I've never ordered online. The only one time I remember a problem is when somebody ordered an oranda from a betta breeder, who didn't know anything about shipping this type of fish. The poor guy had ammonia burns all over.

[Sevaede]

Do you know what the nitrite cycle is? This would be a good start for research. Aquariumadvice.com has lots of info. Then onto the stocking scheme. You 15 gallon was overstocked and improperly stocked and the fish probably died because of that. A site like liveaquaria.com has info on fish and proper tank sizes for each. I know many many people who order their fish online and most are very satisfied with the fish. I've never ordered online. The only one time I remember a problem is when somebody ordered an oranda from a betta breeder, who didn't know anything about shipping this type of fish. The poor guy had ammonia burns all over.

Yep. Foster and Smith have an aquarium outfitters mag, of which I am subscribed to, and they talk about it in every issue. Wow, crap. The fish store folk (We didn't start getting anything from them until *after* the last Wal Mart fish had died) told us what fish would be good together and we took them up on their advice. I guess variety doesn't really go hand in hand with health, huh? In any case, the fish that we got from them ( the plecostomus, frog, the angel fish, and the shark) all lived. We couldn't travel for four days with a fish tank in the car so we ended up giving the fishes to a woman who had several rather large fish tanks. (The same lady who gave us our girl cat)