Starting a Saltwater Aquarium – FOWLR – Fish Only With Living Rock

Fish only with live rock (FOWLR) aquariums can be an amazing and beautiful addition to your home. Besides seeing it on T.V. how else can see such colorful and amazing marine life? Saltwater (FOWLR) aquariums contain saltwater fish and living rock. Other creatures that can live in this type of tank are snails, crabs, and urchins. The great thing about a FOWLR tank is that the rock filters the water naturally. These aquariums are also much easier to setup and maintain compared to a coral reef aquarium. There are basically two types of FOWLR aquariums that you can setup: one for aggressive fish or one for peaceful fish. We suggest not mixing the two.

Aggressive Fish

These creatures are beautiful, but are really the bullies in a coral aquarium. They do however live peacefully in a FOWLR aquarium. Here are some of the most popular ones:

Large Angelfish
Large Angelfish are a vey unique and striking fish. They dart all over the aquarium and help keep the tank clean by eating algae in the rocks.

Surgoenfish (Tangs)
Surgonfish have scalpel-like spines on both sides of it’s tail. This is a defense mechanism. They like to hide and prefer a large tank.

Triggerfish
Triggerfish have a rectangular shape and sow in several different colors. They are called triggerfish because their dorsal fun has a strong bone that is used to help hold their position in the rocks.

Pufferfish
Pufferfish look like they have a beak and have really strong jaws that they use to eat crustaceans. It is common for pufferfish to even eat out of someone’s hands!

Peaceful fish

Dartfish
Dartfish are small and colorful fish. They have a long and elegant look. They are an active fish and even like to jump, so make sure you keep the lid on your tank

Cardinalfish
Cardinalfish are also very elegant. They have very interesting color patterns. They like to live in groups and are not too hard to breed in your tank.

Squirrelfish
Squirrelfish do not like acorns and have fluffy tails. They are red and bring some color to your FOWLR aquarium. They are also a very social fish.