How To Select The Fish For Your Aquarium

So you’re ready to go with your fish tank set up. Or you’ve got your tank and you’re ready to populate it with a multitude of happy healthy aquarium freshwater fish, right? Well you need to take time out now to decide exactly the sort of fish you want in there.

Possibly you are looking for fast moving, shoaling fish that will constantly entertain you by darting around the tank. Or perhaps your interest is for brightly coloured varieties.   Or maybe you have other completely different requirements. Any way you look at it, you’re going to fish for a fish tank.

If you intend to have a few breeds together then you should take time to select the right fish. Before you buy anything do your research otherwise you risk fish loss!

Research: Nothing Complicated

You may be pleasantly surprised at how helpful your local fish store is in answering your questions about your potential fish population.

There are many different questions to consider, including::

• Does this fish like open areas, or plenty of plants?
• Does this fish thrive in acid or alkaline water?
• Is this fish aggressive?
• What does this fish prefer to eat?
• Is this fish a top or bottom feeder?
• Will this fish need much space now or in the future?
• What is this fish’s temperature requirement ?

If you want lots of species in your tank, match these requrements as closely as possible. Get this as close as possible and your aquarium will have an excellent future.

While we could give you the breeds of fish, you’re just going to get confused – and you won’t really be able to fall in love with the fish this way. We recommend a much better option.   Go to your local fish store and have a good look around. You may as well go to them all in your area! Use a notepad to write down the names of the fish you like, talk to the fish man about their requrements and write that down too.
Take it all home and see which species match the best, then cross reference the information the staff gave you to information on that species.   This is the best way to find out which fish species is for you.

We All Need Food

It is important to take account of the feeding requirements of each species when selecting fish for a community tank. Different fish eat at different levels – some prefer the top some the bottom.
Pellets intended for bottom feeders might be cut off by aggresive top feeders so it is best to avoid such top feeders in a community tank!
Try to choose fish with similar dietary needs, and a group that doesn’t steal together will live happily together, and happy fish tend to live longer and be brighter. Fish are cannibals so you need to make certain that they are not going to eat each other. There is a risk, this is completely serious.

Other serious risks include aggressive fish biting other, smaller fish who simply can’t fend for themselves. Fish with long extended fins are almost always targets. Match aggression levels and you’ll get a good match. Bullies know when to back off, so serious issues are mostly avoided.

About Aggression

Many fish – especially males – are going to be aggressive in general, so you really do need to try and avoid pairing more then one male in the tank, with the exception of less aggressive species. Even fish with similar colors can sometimes set it off, so be careful who you pair with whom. Several females to one male usually works best, but it does really depend.

The Worst Thing You Can Do

You must never ever just leave to chance your choice of fish for a multi-species aquarium. This is unfortunately a thing that many aquarists do. Don’t leave it to chance – the road to disaster, do your research and your fish will live happily for a very long time.

John A Thomson is a freshwater fish expert. For more great tips on freshwater aquarium fish visit freshwateraquariumsecretsonline.com