Saltwater tanks are A LOT of work and need constant testing, especially since most of the organisms require very narrow water parameters or they will die.

There are many different freshwater fish, not just goldfish or guppies. I think guppies are beautiful fish, but I can understand if you don't want a smaller (I guess you can call them plain) fish. There's no need to post on the freshwater forum because we can continue this conversation here. I think there are a lot of very interesting freshwater fish. I wouldn't recommend puffers for you until you get more experience with diseases and water quality, but there are freshwater puffers. Beginner fish that are colorful and very entertaining, in my opinion, would be cichlids. They are hardy and quite colorful. They're semi-aggressive and aggressive (depending on species) so they can be very interesting to watch. As far as breeding goes, they are the parental sort and will watch carefully over their young, which is very rare in the fish world. What size tank do you consider too big? Because you said you want a centerpiece and to me that means a rather large tank (maybe like 100 gallons or so). The bigger than tank, the easier it is to take care of, meaning the water parameters don't change as drastically as they do in a smaller (say 10 gallon) aquariums. No matter the size of the tank, water changes should be conducted every 2 weeks and should change 20% of the water volume. Gravel cleaning should be done, and filter media should be changed as well.

Live corals should only be kept for very experienced hobbyist, and hobbyists with time and money for all the equipment and food items, etc. needed to keep coral happy and healthy. That being said there are plenty of saltwater fish that can be kept without a reef tank... that is once you get to the experienced level required for saltwater tanks.

When you are getting ready to start a tank setup, let me know and I will send you an article on aquarium setups, and how to cycle your tank properly before you add fish. If you want more options for beginner freshwater fish, let me know too so I can send you the names and information on those fish.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

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