sargassum fish, living rocks

Question
When I was young, I would always find sargassum fish in the weeds floating toward shore at the local beach. I took them home to my salt water aquarium, but never could figure out how to keep them alive. Have you read of anyone that has had luck with them? The pipe fish, trigger fish, crabs, shrimp, and so on, did fine - but no luck with the sargassum fish. And, living rock. Did not have such things when I was young. What is on the rocks that works so well? My friend said it was the sea anemones. Act like natural filters.

Answer
when a saltwater tank is cycled, it is not the water that is mature with beneficial bacteria it is the surfaces in the aquarium, this includes the rock the sand and the glass panes of the tank. the thing live rock and sand does is speed up the cycle by already providing a bit of beneficial bacteria to provide a boost. the hitchhikers on the rock are a whole other can of worms, you can run across many beneficial creatures such as bristleworms and little starfish, or bothersome ones such as mantis shrimp or aptasia anemones.

as for the sargassum fish i really have not the slightest clue as to how to keep them, as i live nowhere near the coast and have all my experience with fish available to the average hobbyist. i can only guess that there is a reason why nobody has readily attempted to breed it in captivity and have it available to the general public because it generally doesnt do well in captivity. which oould make it understandable as to why you have troubles keeping them alive. i would suggest sticking to the fish that you know you can keep thriving in your tank.

hope that helps!

Marcus