Years ago one of my son's tried an river like ecosystem, he called it aquatica, had a portion of dry land with plants, tree limbs and rocks which sloped down to the water which was only about 5" deep, he had geckos, turtles, and small feeder fish, it went well for a short time, but eventually only the turtles were left, he grew tired of the maintenance and released the turtles, I'm not sure what he did with the tank, it was 100 gallon tank

My wife and I would love to have one but fear it will require lots of knowledge and maintenance....true or not?

true

my favorite low maintenance fresh water tank is an Amazon theme. Peacock bass, arowanas, red tailed cats etc.

Sounds very cool!

the peacocks are fun to feed. I find them 1-2 inches long for $20.

I have North American native tanks, but have some experience with Salt.

Here are some recommendations for a reef safe tank;
Firefish Goby
Watchman Goby
Mandarin Goby
Flame Angel
Coral beauty
Cardinalfish
Antias (lots of kinds of them)
6 Line Wrasse
Carpenters Wrasse
Tangs (lots to different species)

Corals are pretty expensive and require good lighting. But a real showpiece when someone in charge knows what they are doing. Good luck on your tank, look forward to pics.

If you passed high school Chemistry , you can do a reef tank .

Sorry dude . Gotta disagree about Mandarins . They need a huge population of micro-crustaceans ( amphipods /copopods) in order to thrive . Kinda like seahorses .

YES!!! But worth it when you do.

Question. Y'all know I'm gone lots of weekends for teaching gigs and whatnot. So will stuff die if I don't give it care every single solitary day?

For instance... I have a few tetras in a tank I stuck some pothos in. They're fine if I don't feed them for a day or two. They can and do pick at the plants. If I'm gone for a day or two will my tank suffer and die? I know the lights need to be on an automatic timer. That isn't an issue.

Thats a fair point Siberman, but I don't think they should be crossed off the list. Katt mentioned it being a low stock tank, thats good for Mandarins. Less stress and less competition. Plus, the Pods will use the live rock as a place to reproduce, and if needed, they can be bought and added. I have been lucky with Mandarins, had success with them eating live Brine Shrimp and frozen foods which helps with the Pod problem. These are cool little fish.
Couple articles on Mandarins,

https://www.algaebarn.com/mandarin-goby-fish-care/

https://www.petcha.com/tips-on-keeping-the-mandarin-dragonet/

Not a problem.

I kept a saltwater tank many years ago. I would get as large of tank as I could. The larger the tank the easier it is to maintain levels. My favorite fish was the clown fish. He was like a puppy dog. I could feed him by hand. I mostly had live coral and enjoyed watching the coral as much as the fish.

I have this absolute love of the little stuff. Mandarins are beyond comprehension cool. I've had this love of corals forever.. because they're *NOT* plants, but looking at them you might think they were. And I love how they spread out over time, slowly growing into spaces.
I love how the cleaner shrimp have personality. They're interesting. You never know what you're going to see.

Most people want a bunch of fish in a tank. I have plants that happen to have interesting fish and other critters in there with them.