Potential Fish To Avoid For Newcomers

[diburning]

add these to the list:

arapaima gigas
catlocarpio siamensis
arowanas of any kind
snakeheads

 

[Talz]

It's nice to know which fish to avoid, but are there any fish that anyone would recommend for a complete beginner (like me!)?

Rainbowfish, they tend to look drab in the stores mostly due to the fact that they dont colour up till adulthood but once they do they are GOREGIOUS and in my experiance ive only ever had one die, it is also interesting to note that unlike most fish rainbows can handle hard alkaline water, they need lots of plant material in their diet though and frequent water changes if they are to be at their full health and colour! Do some reasearch into them and I think you will like what you see! They tend to be rare and expensive though, or atleast were I live

Corydoras, these little catfish are very easy to come by and come in a wide array of varietys, although they are often looked upon as the "garbagemen" of the tank it is very important that both water and substrate be kept clean if they are to thrive.

Loaches, preety mutch the same story as with the cory exept that you have to be carefull as some types such as the populair clown loach will outgrow the average community setup, although they grow frustratingly slow (well acually I dont care but some people dont like small fish)

Danio, VERY hardy

It is also important to note that I really am no expert so take this with a grain of salt, the true experts should be by any time now to correct me good luck!

 

[Little Sushi]

my little fighter has litterally become ill in like 2 says, i noticed last night (after i changed his water, added salt and increased his temp) that he has like glaucoma (i'm a nurse, can't describe it any other way) over his eyes with flaky bits over his scales on his head, but this morning, the flakes were gone, but his eyes were still glazy.

it would surprise me if i go home today and find my little one belly-up... i was just wondering if anybody knew what this illness may be, so that i can buy appropriate medications etc for my next little fighter.

tah... Little Sushi

 

[nijohnnyuk]

wow

a lot of food for thought!

i have learnt so much from this site already! who needs books!!!

Morbid, where are you located? I have a pond that may possibly work for him.

are neon tetras something to avoid?

i love their colours

 

[australian rainbowfish]

I had some irridecent sharks, they worked well. but the jack dempsey killed them. that dempsey's gone now, he pased. But I think he was old. he was 'bout 6". I'm an intermediate-advanced keeper. sorry I posted in beggener thread.

 

[Bichirs man]

A friend of my family gave us a red-tail catfish!!! I'm not a beginning in general fish caring...but a red-tail catfish with it's potential size is way out of my league...what' should I do with the thing??? I didn't have the hearts to flush it down the toilet when he was only 5in".... but now it's already 1ft long!! luckily it has its own tank so we didn't lose any little guys to his appetite...and what an appitite!!

wow, It must be hard giving away such a great fish. but try to find a store that specializes in aquatics. Like, in my town, there is a big fish store called "denezins of the deep", and we gave a 8 inch texas cichlid to them. And he was taken care of by them and when we went to see if he was there, he was gone. I think he was sold. so an aquatics store may take him off your hands.

good luck. B)

PS- thats an awesome bichir in your avator!

 

[Ashli]

I'd also add guppies to the list, like the neon tetras, I find they also die quite easily and are one of the less hardy fish around

 

[Callum]

isnt it illegal to flush fish down the toilet? i heard it on the news.

 

[Anthony!]

On the note of the Pacu, I know a guy who had one in a thirty gallon tank along with an Oscar . After about an hour and a half of fierce arguing about him taking them both back, I showed him this picture of a pacu. He now has a guppy community. Picture of a Pacu, yes the same ones IN YOUR LFS .

 

[fatguppy]

It's nice to know which fish to avoid, but are there any fish that anyone would recommend for a complete beginner (like me!)?

In my opinion corys (particularly bronze) are great for beginners as they are so easy to keep. You do need them in groups - the larger the better though so tank size needs to be considered, but in a community tank they stay mainly on the bottom and keep themselves to themselves.

Other generally easy fish are swordtails (ideally kept as one male to two females) although beware that they are livebearers and will almost definitely produce fry.

My main advice would be to find an lfs that you trust (not always easy) and ask them loads of questions. If in doubt - either use this site for advice or buy (or borrow) a book.

Again, as has been pointed out - a lot of it is suck it and see - but beware of small fish in the lfs - some of them grow HUGE!

 

[Boids-n-more]

I'm glad i saw the Pacu mentioned , but i haven't seen the notorious Oscar mentioned. Those guys get big quick with big appetites , and they are well known for the damage they cause in a tank.

 

[reg]

I think that zebra danios are the best-i had 9 in a 2 gallon unheated tank with few problems; my last one recently died after more than 5 years.

BEWARE RED-CLAW CRABS! I was sold one and told that he'd only eat my danios if he could catch them-once a couple of them were dead, the store told me that the fish were never safe, even though they're active, because they sleep on the bottom!

My first oto died after a week since I didn't have any algae; however, my next one entered the tank when it was full of algae and lived for between 2-3 years.

 

[Washbelly3]

It's nice to know which fish to avoid, but are there any fish that anyone would recommend for a complete beginner (like me!)?

Hi Nelly, I'd reccomend mickey mouse platys as a starter fish becuase we still have all four of ours since we first started. They are tropical btw. Stay clear of Neon tetras because they are very delicate. Only go for them when you have a lot of experience. And if you dont like the look of the platys i'd reccomend Guppy fantails which are very beautiful and very strong fish.
Washbelly3 xxx

 

[Nelly]

Wow! I haven't been on here for a while - busy summer working But thanks for all the help and advice! I'm moving soon so hopefully we'll get an aquarium and I'll certainly try and bear your advice in mind when finding something to put in it!

 

[xostrawberryox]

Yeah I'd avoid neon tetras, they prefer more mature tanks and arent very hardy. Mollies are my fave xx