Midlife crisis = saltwater aquarium, what?
Well I don’t know if it’s a midlife crisis or my jobs just gone to hell the last year and I wanted a new hobby to engage my mind positively, but I always wanted a saltwater tank - on and off the last 20+ years. So I finally decided wth I was going to do it. Spent months of research bc that’s just me. I decided with my low confidence probably a waterbox AIO system would be best. Got a 50 gallon bc I wanted it upstairs and was concerned about the weight and location although I would’ve liked slightly bigger for certain fish.
Got 2 AI prime 16HD lights, 2 AI Nero 3 pumps, Sicce syncra silent 2.0, 2 100w titanium heaters with inkbird itc-306a wi-fi, tunze osmolator 3 with 5 gallon reservoir, kraken mesh lid, brs 5 stage 75 gpd ro/di system and all the stuff with that - a heater, a pump, 2 food safe trash cans etc.
Anyways took 4.5 months of getting the waterbox tank then several weeks setting it up. Had to install a new outlet in the location it was going bc the spouse threw a fit with it upstairs. Now it’s downstairs and it’s ok there but wish I had gotten a slightly larger tank.
Anyways I’m a newbie and read a lot and watch a lot but have no clue what I’m doing. The local fish guy sells live Bali rock so I got that although very expensive. Then I cycled. Numbers were good so I went to get my clownfish. I got a bonded pair that had been there since June. I go there a good bit and know they were there and looked fine. The female went easily into the catching cup but the male would not. The guy even had a hard time getting him in the net. Eventually he did and we went home. I transferred them into a larger bucket and then acclimated them about 30 mins. I will say the male got stuck for a few seconds in the plastic bag. I guess I poured them out too slowly. Anyways I put them in the tank after acclimation. Female looked fine, still does - although I’m paranoid. Male kept to the bottom then went up to the outlets for the return pump. Hung there for awhile. I went to bed and found him dead under one of the rocks. I took a sample of my water to the store and they agreed all nos were good and just said sometimes they get stressed with transfer. Said they’d order another that matched- it was a fancy type. Anyways any clue on what happened? Any advice going forward? Guy at the store says come in two weeks for 2 gobies (different varieties) with pistol shrimp if everything looks good. I’d like to eventually get corals - want things that are hardy though.