How to Select Ornamental Fish for Your Aquarium

How to Select Ornamental Fish for Your Aquarium

By: Dr. Greg Lewbart

For most people, freshwater fish are the aquarium fish of choice. Saltwater – or marine – creatures make up less than 10 percent of pet-fish sales and are generally more expensive to keep and less hardy. Here are some tips that will help you put together a basic freshwater aquarium.

Fish for Community Aquarium

Community aquariums house between three and thirty non-aggressive fish in a tankEclipse Curved-Front Aquarium System
Marineland/Aquaria Eclipse Aquarium System has unique combinations of beauty, precision and 3-stage BIO- Wheel filtration efficiency, the Eclipse Aqua...
that ranges from 20 to 50 gallons and up. Most of these fish will eat flakeFormula One Flakes
Ocean Nutrition Formula One Flakes; Extra Algae with fresh seafood's make this a gourmet natural food for herbivorous marine and freshwater fishes...
or pelleted food and thrive in water with "middle-of-the-road" pH, hardness, and temperature values. Good varieties for a community aquarium include:

  • Mollies
  • GuppiesGuppy Flakes .35 oz
    Wardley Premium Guppy Flakes (.35 oz) is a nutritionally balanced diet formulated with natural ingredients. This formula contains the required nu...

  • Swordtails
  • Gouramis
  • Silver dollars
  • Tetras
  • Corydoras catfishTetra Veggie Algae Wafer
    Tetra Veggie Algae Wafer's are ideal for sucker mouth catfish such as Plecostomus. All-vegetable Tetra Veggie Algae Wafers contain a concentrated ...

  • Small plecostomus species
  • Danios
  • Loaches
  • Koi (primarily in ponds)
  • GoldfishTetraFin Goldfish Flakes
    When fed two to three times daily, this special formula, TetraFin Goldfish Flakes meets all nutritional requirements of cold-water fish and will ...
    - there are numerous varieties available
            
    Fish for Aggressive Aquariums


    Aggressive aquariums usually house a small number of larger fish that may attack or even consume more submissive fish. Many "aggressive" species are beautiful to look at – and can liveJumboKrill Freeze Dried Jumbo Shrimp
    These whole, freeze-dried shrimp are an excellent source of protein, fat, vitamin E and roughage for all large, carnivorous tropical and marine fish. ...
    surprisingly long lives. When mixing aggressive species in a single aquarium, choose fish of comparable size and make sure you add some structure (plantsAquarium Plants Mini Encyclopedia
    Barron's Aquarium Plants Mini Encyclopedia includes hundreds of different aquarium plants are illustrated in color with detailed descriptions of e...
    , driftwood, etc.) so the animals can "stake out" territory and hide, if necessary. Aggressive aquarium species include:

  • Oscars
  • Jack Dempseys
  • Red devil cichlidsCichlid Flake
    Wardley Cichlid FlakesIn their natural habitat, Cichlids tend to feed more on animal rather than plant materials. Because of their predatory nature, t...

  • Jewel cichlids
  • Convicts
  • Large plecostomus species
  • Green terrors
  • Piranhas (illegal in some states)
  • Carnivorous catfish

    Single Fish Aquariums

    The easiest kind of aquarium to keep is one that houses a single fish. For the most part, fish aren't social creatures and don't require contact with others, except to reproduce. They don't get lonely when there aren't other fish around; in fact, they're often happier not having to compete with others for food, space, and attention. If you're going to have just one fish, here are some good species to choose from:

  • Goldfish
  • Any of the aggressive species
  • Pacu
  • Large catfish

     
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