Freshwater Is BETTER Than Saltwater, Here's 10 Reasons Why

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[seanhaag]

I really enjoyed having saltwater tanks. Lost a reef while a friend was taking care of it while on vacation. Took me out of the hobby for a while. Now large heavily planted freshwater is what I’m intro these days. Large schools of fish are awesome.

[brandonclaflin]

As somebody who keeps both, fresh is SOO MUCH EASIER. My fresh tank it’s self contained and I haven’t done anything aside from add water in over a year, my reef tank takes weekly maintenance, but I love both of them equally.

[bigo]

We are blessed to have a little slice of nature in our lives no matter what.

[Svoboda]

I setup a freshwater tank 1 year ago. I use to sit and stare at it for literally hours. That being said, I’ve recently setup a reef tank and I find myself much more drawn to it. If you’re thinking about switching to saltwater, I 100% recommend it. Newcomers don’t be afraid! Maintaining a reef tank is kinda like raising your first child, initially it can be hard and definitely requires attention to detail, but over time you really get use to it and it becomes much easier.

[karenmills]

Whenever I have the urge to have a salt water tank, I go to our favorite seafood restaurant where they have a huge salt water aquarium on display. Clown fish, blue tang, puffer fish, an angel or two, parrot fish, squirrel fish, sea urchin, and more are cruising in and out of a reef. The whole thing is magnificent and professionally maintained. Then I go home to my fresh water aquariums that make me happy in Pennsylvania.

[space.cowboy]

Always go fresh first. You have to make sure you’re able to do the maintenance and fresh is much more forgiving. I tried SW back in the day and it was too much and ended up losing $300 in livestock. Did FW for a while and now moving onto my first reef. Finally feel educated enough.

[quinnodonnell]

I've been recently getting into the fresh water, hobby what got me into it was I saw it as an extension of plant care: I saw all these really cool planted aquariums and I needed to build one. Salt water looks amazing and I'm always really impressed, but for me nothing beats a green aquarium.

[vetkin]

I had both Reef and Freshwater aquariums and you're definitely right about the delicate of having a Reef tank. Anxiety sometimes struck me on my reef.

[christopherlewis]

My local fish store has had their coral frag tank quarantined for like 6 months because there's a bit of hair algae and the owner is terrified of the reef snobs who will freak out if they see a single filament in their precious tanks... Personally, I like having a bit of algae as long as it doesn't overgrow my corals. I'm trying to create a realistic aquatic environment, not a sterile show piece.

[augustbrown]

My roommate has salt water tanks. I have freshwater. Whenever I go to do something for my tank, like cleaning the filter, putting in plants, rinsing something off, whatever, he always has to “give me advice” then proceed to mansplain how to do stuff I already know how to do. He thinks because “saltwater” is harder that means he knows more than me about how tanks work. Obviously not everyone who is into saltwater is like that, but man, he’s a snob about it.

[erikawilson]

In Scotland. Salt water peeps are the nicest folk. No snobs here. All great to go to for issues, problems and general advice. I found them a great community and great help when I was dipping into salt but due to health I opted back for severums.

[batman]

You will lose the algae, diatoms, cyanobacteria fight one day with a reef tank for sure. (15+years reef tank keeper and one of my clown fish is 15 years old :)...)

[lynnlutz]

I agree with the points made in this video. I'm almost 70, and have kept freshwater since my teens.

In the 80's I dove into saltwater. Even kept an octopus. However, I lost $1000 worth of fish over a couple of days due to ich. Devastated, I dropped out of the hobby for 30 years.

Last year I returned to the hobby doing a freshwater planted nano tank. I'm enjoying fishkeeping again. I will never do saltwater again.

[driftmeister]

I’ve recently got myself a reeftank after being in the saltwater hobby for a while. A freshwater setup is much easier to keep and maintain for sure. And there are many cool freshwater fish aswell. That being said, there is something special about keeping a reef in your own home.

[typicallyusual]

The two main barriers for me are money and maintenance. Don't get me wrong, I'm neither poor nor lazy. I spend quite a bit on my freshwater tanks and I love to fiddle around with them whenever I have the time. But this all just lets me know that I'd spend way more on saltwater and spend a lot more time being anxious about my fish. Planted tanks just take care of themselves.

[aussiedan]

Was freshwater for 5 years now Saltwater for 5. I'd NEVER go back to freshwater. It's all about the coral for me, grow and sell my own coral which is a great little money earner on the side. Saltwater people aren't really into the fish side of things. It's coral.

[ReefDork]

I've watched both videos and I think the only way to settle this is for you and Jake to have an arm wrestle 😅

[ghostman]

I’ve done freshwater my whole life and was afraid of saltwater. One day I got bored and decided to try saltwater and never looked back. Saltwater is soooo easy. Just gotta take that first step. Great video though !!!

[rohoaqualuna]

We are currently attending Macna Aquatic Expo which traditionally was a saltwater only event. This is the first year freshwater was invited and we gave the only booth! Getting to talk to the reef folks this weekend has been great! There are going to be quite a few shows this year from what we heard that are going to now incorporate freshwater, so I think this may be the start of something beautiful!

[Mr_Tequila_Travels]

I’ve had both fresh and saltwater, and I like both. Two things that are also nice about freshwater fish and where not listed in the video is you can keep bigger fish relative to the tank size. The other thing, particularly with cichlids, you can find fish with significant personality.