What Fish Would You Never Recommend To A Beginner?

[TallTree01]

I used to have a 28 gallon bowl. 2 foot diameter. Quite cool really. I took it down and got a slightly smaller conventional aquarium. It was easier, looked better and the fish seemed ' happier ' to me.

As to fish not for beginners, pretty much anything that is not a tetra ( or similar size and shape fish ) ,a smaller species gourami( including bettas ) , corydoras catfish or smaller loaches ( ie kuhlis ).
They are all fish that are quite resilient, fun, active and suitable for almost all aquariums. They can all usually tolerate many beginner mistakes.

 

[Akasha72]

agreed with all of the above but I'd also add Cichlids to the list as not suitable for anyone new to the hobby. I wouldn't like to see them on special order though. My reasoning for adding them to the list is the fact that when breeding ensues they turn into aggressive monsters! Watching an adult cichlid aggressively attack it's tank mates whilst it protects it's brood isn't for the faint hearted! 
 
I've seen a few fish keepers take an adult angelfish back to the store just cos they couldn't cope with the breeding aggression

 

[nic1]

Koi/goldfish.
I had a koi hybrid, I bought him years and years ago when he was about 4cm long, he was in a 90L tank with WCM and his tank was constantly upgraded as he grew.
 
12inchs later, white clouds eaten, and thousands of pounds later I took the heart breaking decision to let him live in a friends pond.
He has a nice life now, the pond is 12ft deep so it wont freeze over completly in the winter and absolutely massive, it would take 10 minutes to run round it. God knows how big he is now, wish I knew back then that they would grow so big, some fish  need to come with a warning.... maybe thats not a bad idea, a care sheet leaflet describing each individual fish with every purchase.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Any sharks, CAE, Mollies, Plecs, Goldies...

 

[Ch4rlie]

Giant Gourami and Flagtail (Prochilodus) are huge fish, I recently saw these in an LFS and was quite surprised at just how big they actually are fully grown.
 
I knew they were big but when you see them for real, kinda went

 

[Dreamer03]

Puffers, plecos, oscar fish, discus or any saltwater fish

 

[TallTree01]

Definitely no aquatic reptiles or amphibians, to many turtles, axolotls and frogs are kept with the wrong sortta fish in the wrong sortta tank. Unless you want the fish to be eaten, it's best to not mix and match legs and fins in most occasions.

 

[attibones]

Definitely no aquatic reptiles or amphibians, to many turtles, axolotls and frogs are kept with the wrong sortta fish in the wrong sortta tank. Unless you want the fish to be eaten, it's best to not mix and match legs and fins in most occasions.

 
Or claws and pinchers!
 
African Clawed Frogs (although Dwarf frogs are a little easier) or crayfish don't need to go in a beginner's tank, I should think, unless they are species tanks. Fins rip too easily.

 

[Paradise3]

Definitely no aquatic reptiles or amphibians, to many turtles, axolotls and frogs are kept with the wrong sortta fish in the wrong sortta tank. Unless you want the fish to be eaten, it's best to not mix and match legs and fins in most occasions.

 
Definitely agree! That was one of the things that annoyed me most when I had my Axie.
 
Them: "Oh why don't you get some fish for that empty tank, it looks boring!" 
 
Me: "It's not empty... It has my Axolotl in it."
 
Them: "Oh... Well it looks empty so get some fish for company."
 
So I just used to go...
Me: "Correction - Lunch."

 

[Gruntle]

Goldfish (so easy to look after says the LFS, but unsuited unless you have a big tank. And they're messy).
Chinese Algae Eaters (will eat algae off the walls for a month or two, and then destroy your fish).
Clown Loaches (but they look so cute! And they're so tiny!).
Anything else that grows bigger than you expected or were told by your LFS would be "fine" but ultimately turns into an expensive problem - bigger tank, more food, aggression issues.
Anything unsuited to your local water parameters. I'd love a discus colony but don't have the room, or expertise, or suitable water.

 

[Blobfish]

Oscars are a fish I would like to see on special order only.  Few people will care for them properly for their entire lives and those people (myself included) will not mind ordering them.  I rarely go in a fish shop that doesn't have oscars for sale, where do they all go?

 

[Wildbetta]

Oscars are a fish I would like to see on special order only.  Few people will care for them properly for their entire lives and those people (myself included) will not mind ordering them.  I rarely go in a fish shop that doesn't have oscars for sale, where do they all go?

To uniformed people who keep them in 10 gallon tanks unfortunately.  

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Hmm.. I'd say for beginners; NO to discus, mudskippers, chocolate gouramis and almost all of the oddball fishes which seem to attract more buyers

 

[Noahsfish]

Goldfish - And i mean both fancies and standards. Both are generally kept inappropriately, in too small tanks the main thing that irks me. And many dont realise that many of the fancy goldies actually require a heater!

I know this is pretty obvious for members but if any guests are currently reading, do NOT put your fish in a bowl. They are death traps.

This statement is simply NOT true. Perfectly acceptable to put suitable sized fish in bowl. Bowls can be filtered and heated the same as any other fish safe container. I currently have a bowl that is not running a filter or a heater at this stage and the fish are doing beautifully.

I disagree with beginners using bowls to house their fish as a good idea. It's extremely limiting to the types of fish you can house comfortably in a bowl, and I doubt most people have bowls bigger than 1-3 gallons.. If you're going to get a tank, get a tank. I wouldn't go out specifically looking for a large bowl, although you could if that's your thing. If you already have a large bowl laying around for whatever reason and you've done your research then by all means go for it. But for 90+% of fish a traditional rectangular sized tank is better.

Anyways, as far as a fish that should only be avaliable as special order id say arowanas. I see them fairly often at fish stores sold small (3-4") and I doubt most people who buy them have a proper setup... Also sparkling gouramis IME are extremely sensitive to less than perfect water parameters, so I'd stay away from those as a beginner as well

 

[Alasse]

If you actually read what i wrote....................."Perfectly acceptable to put suitable sized fish in bowl"
 
Even 1-3gal bowls can be kept successfully providing suitable fish/aquatic life is kept in it.
 
Beginners, and even not so beginners can buy a tank and still put the wrong fish in it , and often do