Completely new.. what fish do I get?

[Bugdozer]

Don't get tiger barbs. The internet is chock full of people making forum posts about how their tiger barbs are too aggressive. I don't understand why anyone keeps them.

 

[SeanTrollope]

because they are pretty

 

[HazMatt]

Don't get tiger barbs. The internet is chock full of people making forum posts about how their tiger barbs are too aggressive. I don't understand why anyone keeps them.

I kept a group of Tiger barbs in my former fish keeping life. My biggest draw to Tigers is that they are constantly active throughout the entire water column. They are nippy but, in my experience, they did well with other barbs, yo-yo loaches, Cory cats, and 3+ inch gourami. Basically, anything as tough as Tigers or, armored against them, will probably do well with them. They did nip the fins of my angelfish though. I ended up rearranging my tanks, the angel's fins grew back even more beautiful than before. Of course, each individual fish can have its own personality, some may be more aggressive than others.