What fish, coral, sponge, etc. should I get for my Marine Aquarium?

Well, what would be really nice would be if you got real aquatic plants. That way, you could have a whole ecosystem in your tank. They only cost about $3 at petsmart for a batch 3-5, the non potted ones which in my opinion are just as good as potted, you just have to plant them in a day.

As for fish, I say neon tetras, platies, betta, barbs and what would be cool would be to get at least 3 cory catfish. cory catfish are bottom feeders so will make the bottom of your tank just as interesting as the top.

For your first tank, I'd recommend going with easier to keep corals and fish. Some easy corals are mushrooms and softies (leathers, Kenya tree, star polyps, Anthelia, etc). They don't require as much light to thrive and are less finicky about water conditions, but will still look nice and reproduce in your aquarium.

Some recommended fish to begin with would be clownfish, cardinalfish, a gramma, a watchman goby, and maybe a hardier dwarf angel like a flame or an argi.

Steer clear of the really touchy fish like butterflyfish, mandarins, and some of the larger angels and tangs until you've gotten the tank more settled.

okay, well, most certaintly dont put in the freshwater plants they sell at petsmart. You need to decide what kind of tank you want, hard coral, soft coral, or do you want larger predatory fish??

I would go with live rock, some soft corals, you can usually find a beginner pack, a foxface lo, some clownfish, gobies, a cardinal or two, and maybe a sea star.

I highly recommend doing additional research in regards to keeping a marine tank (since you plan on keeping coral, I recommend www.reefcentral.com as a excellent site to start).

Many fish aren't reef safe and may damage or destroy corals, so there's a lot of research involved.

You'll probably want live rock, live sand and will need a refractometer (or hydrometer), protein skimmer, lights which put out enough light to support the corals you want to keep, etc. (your lighting will determine which corals you can and can not keep).

here are some ideas from the book "the Encyclopedia of aquarium and pond fish"

yello safin tang

blue tang

clownfish

angelfish( marine veriaty)

butterflyfish

how bout a clownfish and several other fish from finding nemo.it

looks good no kidding.and dont expect for good jokes from the clownfish! te he he