Best Beginner Fish

[Terraphyte Tank Guy]

I am new to fish keeping and have never owned an aquarium before. I've been doing a lot of research on the topic but I would like some guidance on what fish I should be choosing. I don't want a fish that will be extremely easy to take care but I also don't want it to be extremely hard. I'm thinking of getting a 75 gallon - 90 gallon tank.

Criteria
- Easy - intermediate to take care of
- Looks good
- Active

ras...

The best beginner fish ever, would be Comet goldfish. These guys are cheap, less than $.25 at most fish stores. They won't get too big, about 3 to 4 inches. They don't require a heater, just set the house temperature to 68 degrees and they're good. You can put several in a 38 to 60 gallon tank with just a couple of dual sponge filters to move the water around and provide oxygen. Most important though, you have to change at least half the tank water every week, no slacking. They eat flakes, pellets and wafers. They're just good looking, hardy fish. I keep a lot of them.

TTG

 

[Terraphyte Tank Guy]

I am new to fish keeping and have never owned an aquarium before. I've been doing a lot of research on the topic but I would like some guidance on what fish I should be choosing. I don't want a fish that will be extremely easy to take care but I also don't want it to be extremely hard. I'm thinking of getting a 75 gallon - 90 gallon tank.

Criteria
- Easy - intermediate to take care of
- Looks good
- Active

ras...

The best beginner fish ever, would be Comet goldfish. These guys are cheap, less than $.25 at most fish stores. They won't get too big, about 4 inches or a bit larger, depending on the size of the tank. They don't require a heater, just set the house temperature to 68 degrees and they're happy. You can put several in a 38 to 60 gallon tank with just a couple of dual sponge filters to move the water around and provide oxygen. Most important though, you have to change at least half the tank water every week, no slacking. They eat flakes, pellets and wafers. They're just good looking, hardy fish. I keep a lot of them.

TTG

 

[krull]

Firemouths or their relatives, elliotii or helleri are a great option, could do a nice breeding group maybe add a gold nugget pleco and some sword tails. Would make a nice tank.
Check through some of stanzz threads.

only thing with Firemouths is they can be aggressive to each other if not paired,
i bought 3 hoping for a pair and ended up with 3 mails that just sit in different decor on opposite sides of the tank.

 

[rascalbo]

Lets start with the basics, what would you most want to get out of the tank?

1: a solo wet pet?

2: community type setup of peaceful colorful fish with lots of decor

3: an aggressive predatory setup with fish that would devour pellets like no tmr...

4: something more unique and odd thats not often seen?

Maybe if we have an idea of the direction you would like to go, we can give you some more suitable answers...

I would probably go for something unique and predatory.

 

[rascalbo]

I agree with looking around and giving us more of a list of fish that appeal to you. "Looks good" is very subjective - I love bichirs but some people think they're gross. So give us a few fish that you like and then we can make better suggestions.

Also, what are you thinking for decor? Live plants? Fake? More bare bones?

What is the pH of your tap water?

I can try to head to my LFS this weekend and for my tap PH I will keep you guys updated as soon as possible

 

[davemal]

Goldfish are one of the most mistreated pets on earth. They do get big and are very tough, but why go for a fish that cant reach its full potential? Lots of us started keeping fish before the internet was available, now with plenty of reading and research more advanced filtration it should be easy to keep most fish happy. Birchirs are great fish and very interesting to keep, some get big.
Are you after a pet fish or a tank full of pretty fish?

 

[rascalbo]

Goldfish are one of the most mistreated pets on earth. They do get big and are very tough, but why go for a fish that cant reach its full potential? Lots of us started keeping fish before the internet was available, now with plenty of reading and research more advanced filtration it should be easy to keep most fish happy. Birchirs are great fish and very interesting to keep, some get big.
Are you after a pet fish or a tank full of pretty fish?

I'm looking for a group of three or four fish with maybe a pleco I've been looking at my LFS's website and they have Red Tail Barracudas at the store. Do you think that red tailed barracudas are to hard to keep for beginners.

 

[Fat Homer]

At around 11" full grown might be a little big for a 75G, also if im not mistaken they can be quite jumpy in small tanks meaning they may easily hurt themselves if you decide to keep 3-4...

I think try and keep something stays under 6"-8" when fully matute so they dont outgrow your tank and have some space to stretch out so to speak...

Maybe you could try a group of smaller chiclids (some of the african species are very colorful and agressive)

If you were up for a challenge you could do a freshwater puffer tank although options are slightly limited to smaller species for activeness and would require a bit of decor to keep them stimulated...

Some of the smaller spiny eels might even be a good choice, but getting them feeding maybe a bit of a challenge...

 

[J. H.]

Why not get Belonosox?

ras...

The best beginner fish ever, would be Comet goldfish. These guys are cheap, less than $.25 at most fish stores. They won't get too big, about 4 inches or a bit larger, depending on the size of the tank. They don't require a heater, just set the house temperature to 68 degrees and they're happy. You can put several in a 38 to 60 gallon tank with just a couple of dual sponge filters to move the water around and provide oxygen. Most important though, you have to change at least half the tank water every week, no slacking. They eat flakes, pellets and wafers. They're just good looking, hardy fish. I keep a lot of them.

TTG

They only stop at 3-4" if you get bad ones, or don't take care of their water. They will grow to almost two feet, measuring from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail.

 

[Terraphyte Tank Guy]

Why not get Belonosox?


They only stop at 3-4" if you get bad ones, or don't take care of their water. They will grow to almost two feet, measuring from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail.

Hello JH...

I've had these Comets for some time and they appeared very healthy at the pet store. I feed them a healthy diet and they get large regular water changes. I was told these would be fine in an aquarium setup. I know some varieties of Goldfish can get quite large in large, outdoor ponds, but was told the Comets are a smaller species and would stay smaller in an indoor aquarium. We'll see. I may need to move them to larger quarters.

TTG