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Best tropical fish for beginners?

3K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  thekoimaiden 
#1 · (Edited)
#2 ·
Guppies are good starting with males only is good. Cory catfish are nice. I keep three just remember albinos are practicaly blind. An emperor tetra would look nice but PH affects everything. Do you want top dwellers middle region bottom region. A female Betta on average will work nice.
 
#5 ·
Hardy tetra are a good first tropical fish. Some like the x-ray tetra and the von rio fire tetra are good for most water types (pH and hardness). If you know you have very hard water, then livebearers will be the way to go. Avoid guppies unless you can find them from another hobbyist. Due to tons of inbreeding ones from the petstore are very fragile.

If you can give us your tap water hardness and pH we can make some more suggestions for you. There are fish that are easy to care for if you have the right water for them.
 
#7 ·
rasborsas, cherry barbs, hatchet fish, neon tetras, otos, black neons, black skirted tetra, and bleeding heart tetras are all very manageable community fish.
 
#9 ·
I meant the hatchet tetra* and why not the cherry barbs? They aren't like tiger barbs and mean, they are more shy and like to hide in plants.
 
#11 ·
I beg to differ. Cherry barbs are not known to be aggressive. http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/barbs/cherrybarb.php

Not all barbs are like Tiger barbs... I would highly recommend these little guys for a peaceful community tank any day of the week (as long as its at least 20 gallons). The male's red color is very captivating to watch.
 
#12 ·
I never said they were aggressive. If not in a large enough school they are fin nippers but not always I guess it is a hit and miss. I think they might work.
 
#13 ·
mollies and platies do really well in tropical communities, and are bred in almost as many color and fin types as bettas.
 
#15 ·
Cherry barbs do fine as long as they are kept in sufficient numbers. The difference between them and tiger barbs is these numbers are much smaller. Tiger barbs need like 12-15 but the cute little cherries only need 6-8.

Really any of the small fish we are suggesting here can be labeled "fin-nippers." This is simply because people have kept them improperly and blamed the problem on the fish and not their husbandry.
 
#18 ·
Mollies live much longer in brackish, and are bullies, Chocolate is right about the mollies.
 
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