Tropical Fish A To Z Quick Reference Guide

[ArauraDiscus]

Quick Alphabetical Reference That answers all these questions!!!!

- What PH do my fish like?
- What food do I need to make them grow big and healthy?
- If I feed them right, how long can they live?
- Are they EASY, INTERMEDIATE, OR ADVANCED in difficulty?
- Are they Hardy, Fairly Hardy, or Not Hardy?
- How big can they get?
- And how aggressive??





-- ALL SIZES AND AGES ARE ABSOLUTE MAXIMUMS AND NOT NECCESSARILY PROBABLE--
#Color Coded Difficulties. Green for EASY fish to keep, Blue for INTERMIDIATE fish, Red for ADVANCED fish
This means that the advanced fish are harder to keep as they need specific foods, water quality, care, and environments, and can also mean that they need very specific tankmates.

#The Ph stated is a guide and not a rule. it is what they prefer best, and next to the Ph, it says "adaptable" etc. This is a hint to whether or not the fish can survive easily outside of this range!

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Angelfish- Ph 6.2-7.6 (Adaptable). Can grow to around 6 in or 15 cm tall and 6 in or 15 cm wide. Are semi-aggressive towards small fish and each other. Flake food with occasional blood worms, beef heart, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp. Can live for over 10 years. INTERMIDIATE difficulty (Somewhat Hardy)

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Apistogramma- Ph 5.5-7.2 (Adaptable). Can grow to 4.5 in or 12 cm long. Peaceful but slightly territorial. Some flake foods with Live foods such as Brine Shrimp, cyclops, daphnia, bloodworms, mosquito larvae. Can live for up to 5 years. EASY difficulty (Hardy)

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Archer Fish- Ph 7.4-8.2 (Slightly Adaptable). Can grow to around 4 in or 10 cm . Semi-aggressive, but brackish water fish, needs other brackish tank mates. Frozen and Live foods preferred. Can live up to 5 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Fairly Hardy)

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Arowana- Ph 6.0-7.2 (Slightly Adaptable). Some species can grow to nearly 4 feet. Eats some frozen and many live foods. Can live for up to 50+ years. ADVANCED difficulty (jumpers). (Hardy)

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Bala Shark- Ph 6.0 to 7.6 (Adaptable). Will grow to around 10 in or 25 cm. Semi-aggressive. Eats flake and frozen foods in addition to live brine shrimp. Can live for nearly 10 years. EASY difficulty. (Hardy)
Black Neon- Ph 5.5-7.5 (Slightly Adaptable) Can grow to 2 in or 6 cm. Peaceful shoaling fish. Eats flake, brine shrimp, daphnia, Cyclops, white worms. Can live for nearly 5 years. EASY difficulty. (Fairly Hardy)
Black Phantom Tetra- See Black Neon
Black Tetra- See Black Neon
Black Shark- Ph 7.0-8.0 (Adaptable) Can grow to be nearly 24 in or 60 cm. Semi-Aggressive. Will eat flake food, live brine and frozen foods. Can also eat small fish when large enough. Can live for upwards of 7 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Hardy)
Bleeding Heart Tetra- See Black Neon
Bloodfin Tetra- See Black Neon (Can live for up to 10 years)
Blue/Sunset Gourami- Ph 6.4-7.6 (Adaptable) Can grow up to 6 in or 15 cm. Semi-Aggressive. Will eat flake, beef heart, bloodworms, brine shrimp. Can live for 4 years or more. EASY difficulty. (Hardy)
Rainbow Fish Ph 7.2- 8.0. (Adaptable) Many species grow to nearly 6 in or 15 cm in length and 2.5 in or 5 cm tall, like Red Rainbows and Parkinson's Rainbows, but many will grow no more than 2 in or 5 cm as well, like many Boesmani Rainbows. Peaceful fish. Will eat flake food, frozen, and brine shrimp. Can live for up to 5 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Hardy)
Bumble Bee Catfish (Fairly Adaptable) Ph 6.0- 7.4. Can grow to 6 in or 15 cm long. Semi-Aggressive and can eat fish up to half it's size. Can live up to 8 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Fairly Hardy)
Cardinal Tetra- See Black Neon
Cherry Barb- Ph 6.4-7.4. (Adaptable) Can grow to 1.5 in or 4 cm. Peaceful, will nip on occasion. Eats flake, frozen daphnia and Cyclops. Can live up to 7 years. EASY difficulty. (Hardy)
Chocolate Gourami- Ph 5.0-6.8. (Non-Adaptable) Can grow up to 2.5 in or 7 cm. Peaceful, likes other chocolates as company. Eats flakes, Brine shrimp, daphnia, and white worms. Can live up to around 4 years if well kept. ADVANCED difficulty. (Not Hardy)
Clown Loach- Ph 6.8-7.8. (Fairly Adaptable)Can grow up to 14 in or 35 cm. Peaceful but can chase larger slow moving fish and will kill and eat many invertebrates. Will eat flake, frozen food, brine shrimp, young snails etc. Can live in excess of 15 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Fairly Hardy, but scaleless and prone to infections)
Columbian Tetra- See black Neon
Congo Tetra- See Black Neon (up to 3 inches or 8 cm)
Convict- Ph 6.4-7.4. (Very Adaptable) Can grow up to 4 inches or 10 cm. Very Aggressive, especially during breeding seasons. Will eat flake, frozen foods, and brine shrimp. Can live upwards of 15 years. EASY difficulty (Hardy)
Corydoras Catfish- Ph 6.0-8.0. (Very Adaptable) Many species can grow upwards of 3.5 in or 10 cm. Peaceful Shoaling fish. Will eat flake food and any leftov-ers that float to the bottom as they are bottom feeders. Can live upwards of 5 years. EASY difficulty. (Hardy)
Diamond Tetra- See Black Neon
Discus - Ph 5.8-7.2 (Somewhat Adaptable). Can grow to nearly 5 in or 12 cm tall and 5 in or 12 cm long. Very Peaceful shoaling fish, don't keep with any remotely aggressive fish. Feed flake with supplemental beef heart, brine shrimp, large shrimp, white worms, and daphnia. Can live for almost 20 years. ADVANCED difficulty. (Not Hardy)



(some of the foods you will see mentioned)
Daphnia- a small invertebrate normally frozen. Good treat for smaller fish.
Cyclops- much like daphnia
Blood Worms- very high in protein, nutritious treat that should be nothing more than a treat for fish. Can cause constipation and other issues if fed too much.
Beef Heart- very nutritious food for many larger fish, helps them grow healthy fast, but can foul the water if left uneaten.
White Worms- Mosquito Larvae, very nutritious for many livebearers and almost all other fish.
Tubifex Worms- Be very careful feeding these as they contain many parasites that can survive even freezing. Never feed live tubifex unless you know the source they come from.
Mysis Shrimp- A very small shrimp, slightly smaller than ghost shrimp, and much smaller than krill, but very high in protiens and beta-carotenes.
BrineShrimp- A very nutritous snack, for medium sized and smaller fish. Great for color enhancement and quick growth, and can often be found in LFS as live food instead of frozen.

 

[Neo8223]

i like it! Could help a lot of people too! Maybe you could come up with an online dictionary of some sort. I would happily make a java applet using this stuff ...(once i learn how to)

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Yeah I am currently going to add all within a list I have, and some more off the top of my head, and then I will ask people to post other fish that they know of to expand it.

 

[severum boy]

Congos get to 8cm; most angels will get to 10cm cos of inbreeding; Apistos mainly get from 4-8cm, only a couple of rare sp. get to 12cm.; Apistos in the main wont get to 5 years, 3 is more likey; Archers get to 15cm minimum depending on sp.; Some archer sp. are not brackish but freshwater and these are becoming more common in shops; Balas can get to 35cm., but are more likely to get to 20cm, same for Cloan loaches (actually, 12cm. is better fr them); Blue goramis get to about 8 years; Dont generalise with the rainbows, some get to 5cm, others 15; Convicts are closer to 10 years rather than 15; Not many Corrys get to over 10cm, some get to 2cm. Most get to about 7cm.

Other than those ive noticed, a good list.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

I was going with absolute maximum sizes guys. SHould I use some of my instincts and your adivce and make it probable sizes?

 

[severum boy]

I was going with absolute maximum sizes guys. SHould I use some of my instincts and your adivce and make it probable sizes?

Yes, that will be more realistic.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

I fixed some of them, I'll work on fixing the others, and make them slightly less than what their absolute maxiums are.

 

[Ferris]

It's a nice idea but the fish profile part has already been done here:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showforum=36

 

[ArauraDiscus]

I know, but this is an alphabetical quick reference profile. It's mainly for noobies or people that want a quick reference. Many noobies won't know what kind of fish theirs is. So if they know the name, but not the species, they will find it infinately faster using this guide.

I think I'm going to only continue working on this if it's pinned, that way I dont waste too much time and then have it slowly fade away page after page.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Mods when you see this can you respond. If you want it pinned? That way I can get it done fast. If not I'll just stop right here. Thanks

 

[PRW1988]

Nice and informative, but in regards to the food, you forgot to mention Brine shrimp, also beef heart may not only foul up the water, but if used to often it can cause fatty liver disease.

Personally, I'd stop refering to the black neons so much and would write the same thing (or similar thing) out for every fish that you wrote "See black neon"...

Aslo, not to sound cruel but some more research needs to be done on some of these fish, Anglefish for example, you've listed them as not hardy, when they are fairly hardy species so long as they have clean water and a proper diet. Another thing, Arowanas, they don't only except live and frozen food... There are many commercially avaliable foods out there for things like Arowanas and other BIG, more agressive fish, things such as Carnivore pellets. Aswell, some of the sizes you list are incorrect, Anglefish for instance can grow to be 6" long (with tail) and 8" tall (with fins), Arowanas can grow up to 38"-42" in an aquarium, it's very rarely seen for them to be 48" (4ft).


EDIT---> None the less, very nice, I like it hope it gets pinned


Ryan

 

[The-Wolf]

Fresh Water
Brackish Water
Coldwater

I'm sorry that bit is nonsensical
water is broken into 3 main groups, fresh, brackish and marine.
this is further broken down into temperate zones, cold, subtropical and tropical.

your statement of brackish, for example, has three temperate zones
cold brackish, subtropical brackish and tropical brackish.
as do the others.

other than that a good post and a great idea

 

[Ferris]

I think it's worth pursuing

It won't get pinned until finished/near finished as the information will need to be checked for accuracy first but other than that i don't see a problem and i'm quite happy to do this. I would suggest dropping the extra's such as food and tank stocking as this info is very subjective and open to opinion etc. I would keep it to a nice simple alphabetical list like below:

Angelfish- Ph 6.2-7.6 (Adaptable). Can grow to around 5 in or 12 cm tall and 5 in or 12 cm wide. Are semi-aggressive towards small fish and each other. Flake food with occasional blood worms, beef heart, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp. Can live for over 10 years. INTERMIDIATE difficulty (Not Hardy)
Apistogramma- Ph 5.5-7.2 (Adaptable). Can grow to 4.5 in or 12 cm long. Peaceful but slightly territorial. Some flake foods with Live foods such as Brine Shrimp, cyclops, daphnia, bloodworms, mosquito larvae. Can live for up to 5 years. EASY difficulty (Hardy)
Archer Fish- Ph 7.4-8.2 (Slightly Adaptable). Can grow to around 4 in or 10 cm . Semi-aggressive, but brackish water fish, needs other brackish tank mates. Frozen and Live foods preferred. Can live up to 5 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Fairly Hardy)
Arowana- Ph 6.0-7.2 (Slightly Adaptable). Some species can grow to nearly 4 feet. Eats some frozen and many live foods. Can live for up to 50+ years. ADVANCED difficulty (jumpers). (Hardy)
Bala Shark- Ph 6.0 to 7.6 (Adaptable). Will grow to around 10 in or 25 cm. Semi-aggressive. Eats flake and frozen foods in addition to live brine shrimp. Can live for nearly 10 years. EASY difficulty. (Hardy)
Black Neon- Ph 5.5-7.5 (Slightly Adaptable) Can grow to 2 in or 6 cm. Peaceful shoaling fish. Eats flake, brine shrimp, daphnia, Cyclops, white worms. Can live for nearly 5 years. EASY difficulty. (Fairly Hardy)
Black Phantom Tetra- See Black Neon
Black Tetra- See Black Neon
Black Shark- Ph 7.0-8.0 (Adaptable) Can grow to be nearly 24 in or 60 cm. Semi-Aggressive. Will eat flake food, live brine and frozen foods. Can also eat small fish when large enough. Can live for upwards of 7 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Hardy)
Bleeding Heart Tetra- See Black Neon
Bloodfin Tetra- See Black Neon (Can live for up to 10 years)
Blue/Sunset Gourami- Ph 6.4-7.6 (Adaptable) Can grow up to 6 in or 15 cm. Semi-Aggressive. Will eat flake, beef heart, bloodworms, brine shrimp. Can live for 4 years or more. EASY difficulty. (Hardy)
Rainbow Fish Ph 7.2- 8.0. (Adaptable) Many species grow to nearly 6 in or 15 cm in length and 2.5 in or 5 cm tall, like Red Rainbows and Parkinson's Rainbows, but many will grow no more than 2 in or 5 cm as well, like many Boesmani Rainbows. Peaceful fish. Will eat flake food, frozen, and brine shrimp. Can live for up to 5 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Hardy)
Bumble Bee Catfish (Fairly Adaptable) Ph 6.0- 7.4. Can grow to 6 in or 15 cm long. Semi-Aggressive and can eat fish up to half it's size. Can live up to 8 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Fairly Hardy)
Cardinal Tetra- See Black Neon
Cherry Barb- Ph 6.4-7.4. (Adaptable) Can grow to 1.5 in or 4 cm. Peaceful, will nip on occasion. Eats flake, frozen daphnia and Cyclops. Can live up to 7 years. EASY difficulty. (Hardy)
Chocolate Gourami- Ph 5.0-6.8. (Non-Adaptable) Can grow up to 2.5 in or 7 cm. Peaceful, likes other chocolates as company. Eats flakes, Brine shrimp, daphnia, and white worms. Can live up to around 4 years if well kept. ADVANCED difficulty. (Not Hardy)
Clown Loach- Ph 6.8-7.8. (Fairly Adaptable)Can grow up to 14 in or 35 cm. Peaceful but can chase larger slow moving fish and will kill and eat many invertebrates. Will eat flake, frozen food, brine shrimp, young snails etc. Can live in excess of 15 years. INTERMEDIATE difficulty. (Fairly Hardy, but scaleless and prone to infections)
Columbian Tetra- See black Neon
Congo Tetra- See Black Neon (up to 3 inches or 8 cm)
Convict- Ph 6.4-7.4. (Very Adaptable) Can grow up to 4 inches or 10 cm. Very Aggressive, especially during breeding seasons. Will eat flake, frozen foods, and brine shrimp. Can live upwards of 15 years. EASY difficulty (Hardy)
Corydoras Catfish- Ph 6.0-8.0. (Very Adaptable) Many species can grow upwards of 3.5 in or 10 cm. Peaceful Shoaling fish. Will eat flake food and any leftov-ers that float to the bottom as they are bottom feeders. Can live upwards of 5 years. EASY difficulty. (Hardy)
Diamond Tetra- See Black Neon
Discus - Ph 5.8-7.2 (Somewhat Adaptable). Can grow to nearly 5 in or 12 cm tall and 5 in or 12 cm long. Very Peaceful shoaling fish, don't keep with any remotely aggressive fish. Feed flake with supplemental beef heart, brine shrimp, large shrimp, white worms, and daphnia. Can live for almost 20 years. ADVANCED difficulty. (Not Hardy)

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Anglefish for example, you've listed them as not hardy, when they are fairly hardy species so long as they have clean water and a proper diet. Another thing, Arowanas, they don't only except live and frozen food... There are many commercially avaliable foods out there for things like Arowanas and other BIG, more agressive fish, things such as Carnivore pellets. Aswell, some of the sizes you list are incorrect, Anglefish for instance can grow to be 6" long (with tail) and 8" tall (with fins), Arowanas can grow up to 38"-42" in an aquarium, it's very rarely seen for them to be 48" (4ft).

==============================

Personally, I'd stop refering to the black neons so much and would write the same thing (or similar thing) out for every fish that you wrote "See black neon"...

Will do

And thanks for the info Wolf, EVerything in those regards changed, I might just leave that out, or do you think I should just go with fresh and brackishwater and leave the cold out as to keep things correct?


Thanks guys, I'll finish it later then. I have bred and kept angelfish, I'm not the ultimate expert on them however. I oringinally put 6 inches tall, but someone told me not to. Some of you guys are giving me mixed information based on your opinions. I had them at 6 inches originally and was told to change them. And I will change them to slightly hardy, but I have kept many for about 16 years. I guess I will go with just what I wanted originally since I am bound to get many conflicting opinions, and if a mod tells me to change something, then I will, other than that I guess I will keep the info the way I originally put it.
(Ferris I'll take the extras out when I'm done, just in case someone tells me it's good to keep it lol)


ps but that doesn't mean I don't want your opinions!!!!! I love hearing them and they help a lot so feel free to post them regular members!

 

[PRW1988]

Ahh I see so outsourcing we are Good to hear, I've been keeping Angles myself for the past 3 years, but I've been researching them for about 4 years lol... lots of information you can find if you dig deep