What would you do?

[Scuba Kid]

Well I almost sorted everything out with the guy I was buying freshwater stingrays from....however he had some problems right before he was going to ship them and he hasnt exactly said what he is going to do....

I was thinking earlier today how cool it would be to have a big saltwater preds tank....(the tank is 150)
im pondering switching over this 150 gallon freshwater amazonian tank to a fish only...maybe FOWLR saltwater pred tank since the freshwater ray thing may be a no go.
The reason i was thinking about this is because of the snowy grouper i caught this past summer. He is in a 40 gallon breeder sized tank (it has a good sized width but i think it is shorter and not as high) and he is outgrowing this fast. Since I caught him, he has gone from about 2 inches to about 6 or 7 inches. He will definitely not be able to stay in this tank forever, but i thought he would be able to stay for quite a while in the 150.

The question is, should i? I talked it over with my mom and she is okay with it as long as i pay for everything (which i probably will be able to) however she has her doubts about it....
What would you do? Saltwater or keep it fresh?
if you dont mind, state the reason why and any pros or cons for it.
By the way, experience with saltwater will not be an issue, as I already have two saltwater setups running and I have been keeping saltwater for years, my mom has even longer.

Thanks,
Katie

[leveldrummer]

wow katie, thats a tuff call, i would go for the salt tank, but i think it really boils down to if you CAN afford it or not, the live rock is gonna need some pricey lights, and the filters and skimmers and such is something to consider too, if the rays dont work out, and you can afford it, i say definatly go for it.

[flamingo]

If you go with saltwater you would definitely have to plan thing sout right and get alot of money.

I personally like sw predatory tanks if they are well thought out, most people though just stick 50 pounds of live rock in it and add a trigger and lionfish in and leave it at that. I'm sorry but if you pay that much money why would you only want two fish that everyone who has sw fish has?

Also, keep in mind that the snowy grouper is going to get very big, a 150 still isn't going to cut it. Correct me if wrong, I have never personally seen a snowy grouper, did a search on it and seen it gets pretty big (up to 4 feet). But usually when you hear grouper you know it's going to be big.

Predatory sw fish also usually need more space and a bigger territory than most fw predatory fish.

Basicly it all comes down to 1. you have the money to do all this and 2. you find some good sw fish that you like.

[Scuba Kid]

so you think stick to fresh? i know the snowy grouper wont stay there for life...that's why i said he'd be able to stay there for a good while. not forever.

[flamingo]

WEll, like I said on chat I would personally stick with fw lol.

[ron v]

Scuba, all my tanks are fresh water. I have thought about saltwater and I probably have all the equipment ( except a skimmer ), but I still can't do it. The challange of this hobby, to me, is to get the fish to spawn. If I can't do that, it almost seems like a wasted aquarium.

[Fishfirst]

I'd give that grouper a new home.