I think it was Harrison that asked how many people actually do hardcore research before they buy anything. I can't speak for everyone, but here's my story. I'll start at the beginning, and when I get to the end, I'll stop. (Sorry, I've been watching Alice in wonderland with my kids this week.)
After our son was born we had to get rid of our ferret because the little fuzzy had a thing for dragging the kid under the couch. Yeah. Anyway, we started looking for a more kid friendly pet and something that could be a fairly long term commitment, ie no mice, etc. I'd kept freshwater fish as kid for about a dozen years but hadn't had any for about 8. Eventually it became a tossup between birds and fish. I had also bred budgies, and we spent some time talking with my parents about their experience with my animal keeping, since my memories were pretty colored.
So we decided on fish. I had always been told that saltwater was expensive and very difficult. But we went to several fish stores, and looked at many pictures of tanks before deciding that we wanted to do salt. Cost and difficulties are just small obsticals to be overcome. We then made a list of all of the fish that we wanted to have, as yet we didn't know you could have corals, clams, etc. The list included eels, lionfish, groupers, puffers, clowns, tangs, pretty much a sample of everything. So I spent about a month coming home at night and scouring the net for info on our various fish. At the top of our short list were seahorses.
I spent the next month trying to learn 'all there was to know' about keeping seahorses. This is the setup I figured I needed, keep in mind that all of the info I had the time said that SH are extremely fragile and shouldn't be kept with other fish. I needed: a 50+ gallon tank that was atleast 18" tall, and preferably thicker also so as to have better aquascape; a 10-20 gallon refugium complete with plenum; a plumbing scheme to get the water back and forth between the two tanks; basic lighting since SH come from a lowlight area; protein skimmer; mechanical filter; minimal cleanup crew; algae for nutrient export.
I then went and bought a 58 gallon show 36x18x21 and stand and a 20 gallon normal and stand. I rigged a maxi-jet1200 and flex tubing to pump the water and 1.5" primed U tube as a return. I put a six inch sand bed w/plenum in the refugium and 1" of crushed coral in the main tank. I then ordered the live rock #90 and the live sand #30. The rock cured/cycled in about 10 days. Once the parameters were clean again I ordered: variety of macroalgae; red tip and scarlet hermits; margaritas and turbos; peppermint and cerith snails; a brittle star and impatiens cuke; stomatella varia and mysid/gammarus/amphi/copepod culture; mini brittle and soft stars; bristleworms and an emerald mithrax crab; peppermint, coral banded, and camelback shrimp; and a red fromia and blue linkia. We spent hours and hours just staring at these guys. Then I lost my job and we didn't have enough cash to get anything else for about two months.
In that two month period I kept reading. I found that there are loads of fish that can be kept with seahorses. I found out about corals, of which I am hooked on. We got a couple silver mollies and a week later we got a scooter dragonet. The tank stayed the same until I got some extra lights, which have seen burned up. Heh used means used up. I traded some macros for some green star polyps and xenia, and have also bought some blue chromis and percula clowns and toadstool. I've got a BTA and two cleaner shrimp headed this way for tuesday. I'll get myself some new VHOs when I come back from OCS.
Casualties:
red fromia and blue linkia
The fromia had already started to separate when I opened the box, so I attribute him to shipping. His replacement arrives with the BTA. However, the linkia hung around for about 10 days, and I think it was the acclimation technique. I followed the directions from the company which were the same for fish. I now trickle everything.
6 black mollies
All died overnight. I honestly attribute them to the LFS they came from.
1 silver mollie
Had her for about 3 months. She started breathing hard, which I attributed to the sudden decrease in pH, but she died shortly after I fixed the problem. I was too slow.
1 mithrax crab
No friggin idea. No changes in behavior or appearance. He woke up one morning and was dead. Had him almost 3 months.
2 camelback shrimp
Atleast I think they're dead. But I've thought that twice before only to find them both hopping around.
2 blue damsels
The bigger ones bullied them around. I was told they schooled.
As you can see I still haven't got those seahorses. Right now the plan is to get some after we move this summer. I'd have to say the biggest lessons I've learned are keep reading and never forget the people with the livestock you want are salesman and behave like salesmen.
I've had the tank up since 08/06/2001 and everyone looks extra-super happy. Any suggestions?