Every once in awhile I have someone ask why there is no saltwater information on the site. There are multiple reasons for this, but the largest is just that I don’t have much experience with that hobby. While I have 18 active years experience with freshwater tanks, I have 3 years of passive experience with saltwater tanks. I’ve kept a saltwater tank for 3 years now. It actually hasn’t been the same tank; I’ve done 3 different tanks during that time and have had good results with every tank. I haven’t however put the amount of time and energy into it that I usually put into my freshwater tanks. End result is that I wouldn’t feel comfortable providing information on saltwater aquariums. There are other sites that do that and do a good job at it and I commend you to those sites.

This site is also freshwater because I believe it to be a better setup for hobbyists. I assume that this article will generate feedback, and that is good. Opinions are great! I’ve included some of my opinions below.

In all fairness to saltwater I do believe that they are great things to see. I am a big fan of public aquariums. I studied and graduated in Marine Biology in college. I’m confident I understand tidal ecology better than most of the people reading this. I lack no love for the Ocean; I just don’t think it’s the best thing to have in everyone’s home. So with that, go forth and enjoy!

Freshwater vs. Saltwater

1-ENVIRONMENT REPRODUCTION-This may seem like a strange category, but really I think it is the most important. Saltwater fish live in the sea. Freshwater fish live in lakes and rivers. It is much harder to reproduce the ocean in your living room than it is to reproduce a lake or river. This factor highly relates to several others below and is really the encompassing problem with saltwater, though not the reason I believe freshwater is more fun. When fish are not at ease, they do not act as they would normally would. They do not breed and are more susceptible to disease.

2-COLORS-Unfortunately most hobbyists never keep killifish or adult African cichlids and therefore they don’t believe that freshwater fish are colorful. While it is true that reef-fish are pretty, the majority of saltwater fish are not pretty either. However, since with few exceptions only reef-fish are sold in the hobby, the issue here is whether or not reef-fish are prettier on average than freshwater fish. All I can say is "Aren’t those reef-fish something?"

3-BREEDING-The biggest downfall for my lack of interest in saltwater fish is the inability to breed them. This links back to no.1 as it is largely due to being unable to reproduce their environment. If you do not breed freshwater fish, you are not likely to stay in the hobby long. Whereas keeping fish is slightly interesting, watching their behavior as they rear their young is absolutely fascinating. Saltwater is beginning to catch up, but while there are perhaps 20+ saltwater fish you can breed, there are thousands of freshwater fish you can breed. Cichlids are the favorites b/c their behavior is perhaps the most interesting, but Gourami, tetras and catfish also have their points of interest.

4-EASE OF KEEPING-Freshwater fish are easier to keep b/c their environment is harsher on them. The ocean environment due to its size is not very dynamic. Whereas river temperatures commonly vary by 20º+ during different times of the year with additional high variations of pH and hardness, the ocean is more or less constant. This means that there is a higher ability for error in freshwater fish. You also can create a smaller setup for freshwater fish where the water conditions are not as constant. When you add reef-keeping to saltwater fish, the difficulty goes up 10 fold.

5-EXPENSE-I think this is another good indicator of why freshwater is better. Saltwater fish require more expensive setups to reproduce their environment. Salt, lighting and filtering are just a few of the areas where money will be spent in addition to having much larger tanks as mentioned above. Freshwater requires very little. I’ve been to a house that housed hundreds of aquariums, each running a simple sponge filter without a heater and using the skylight to give light. Of course we don’t all have skylight, but you see the point.

6-VARIETY-There are many strange and interesting freshwater fish that are unfortunately uncommon in pet stores. Such fish as the pipefish, puffer, mono, sculpin, discus, killies, loaches and others help to provide a large variety to freshwater fish. However, saltwater certainly has a MUCH higher abundance of the strange and unusual. Not 10% of it ever gets near an aquarium, but it is certainly more abundant in saltwater than in freshwater.

Final Tally

Conclusion- Now of course I was biased from the beginning and that bias comes from my personal experience. Breeding and rearing fish is the most interesting part of the hobby to me. That is actually my reason for keeping saltwater fish. I’ve kept damsels and tank-breed/raised clown fish. My feeling has always been that if you don’t REALLY find the fish you are keeping to be interesting, you won’t take care of it and you will eventually leave the hobby. With that in mind I find freshwater to be better for me. That’s why I’ve made The Aquarian’s Net a freshwater only site. I hope you enjoy it, and if you enjoy saltwater fish more, more power to you!