starting

Question
hello my name is ty I've been wanting to start a salt water aquarium for a long time i don't know what species are difficult to raise but i want to be able to just get the ones i like i have no intention of starting with easy species i have plenty of time to learn what i need to do for the ones i want what i want to know from you is what species can i have together in a tank i plan on a rather large aquarium in comparison to furniture to give an estimate since I'm unfamiliar with what size in gallons tanks usually are but i want signature species such as rays, eels, seahorse, crabs, starfish, colorful reef fish etc i would really like to know perhaps sets of species that will go together because i don't want the fish eating each other but i would still like to find exotic boundaries i could push i thank you for your time and anything you can help me with is greatly appreciated

         sincerely Ty

Answer
Reef aquariums are something you really dont want to just jump into, there is a reason many sites and books reccomend beginning with easier fish species. if you have absolutely no experience whatsoever in fish keeping, you need to start by researching your butt off. with just a few quick google searches i could find very useful info for you such as how seahorses are very delicate and can really only be kept in a species only aquarium because of their need of live foods in their diet, so they have no competition. and how rays and sharks need extremely large aquariums and are some of the trickiest fish to keep alive in captivity. and how eels are natural predators of crustaceans and any in the tank will not last long. and how some starfish such as the choclate chip actually feed off of live soft coral and other stars such as the linkia are notoriously difficult to keep.

this is the kind of very useful info you need to know before starting a tank. starting with a large tank is a good idea though, larger tanks are more stable and therefore have much more room for error. considering what type of fish you want to keep and how many i would say you want a very large tank, between 200 and 400 gallons. and just looking online those are very very expensive but then again nothing about this hobby is cheap. also considering the variety of species you want to keep you could also just set up several medium sized tanks to house the all peacefully because many cant be housed comfortably or safely together. like simply setting up a 55 gallon seahorse tank, and a 180 gallon mixed reef with some tangs and butterflies, then a small 20 gallon tank with some corals and crustaceans and sea stars.  

i highly reccomend waiting until you are an expert in the hobby before even attempting more difficult species such as sharks and rays or octopi. these require very large tanks ande very expensive filtration systems. it is definitely no small feat to care for them. even many public aquariums have problems keeping these species alive.  

after you decide how youw ant to do your setup(s) cycle the tanks and the first fish you add should be hardy and easy to care for, i would stay away from clowns and damsels though because they are very aggressive and territorial. some good fish to add right after the tank is cycled would be cardinals, dottybacks, gobies, and blennies, these are all easy to care for and colorful. then after a few months youc an get into some harder fish like tangs and surgeons, then eventually butterflies. a few fish to stay away from until you are very experienced:

Moorish Idol
harlequin filefish
leopard wrasse
mandarin goby
many butterflies
seahorses and pipefish
ribbon eel
garden eels
cleaner wrasse
any batfish
parrotfish
tilefish
grunts
remoras
clown tang
powder brown tang
rock beauty angelfish
multibarred angelfish

this is just a sample of a few with very specialized requirements. just remember to research until your sick or researching and then research some more. maybe one day youll have the guts to get yourself a conspicuous angel, a little personal goal of mine that i will most likely never achieve.

hope that helped a bit!

Marcus.