Aquatics: Choosing (Un)Popular Beginner Fish

The kids have begged and begged and you've finally relented. You say a dog is too much work, why not start small with a fish tank? You pack everyone into the car and drive to the nearest Petco or Petsmart.

Wandering down the massive wall of fish at your local retailer, you might be overwhelmed. Your eyes follow the cute, little, begging yellow cichlids and you think they would look really nice in your new ten gallon with your two neon tetras. What you do not know, and what the tag and employee may or may not tell you, is that those cute little balls of sunshine are African cichlids (pronounced sick-lids, not chicklets, which are pieces of gum), not good community fish, and your tetras are going to be expensive fish sticks.

Just like every hobby, there is a learning curve involved in fish keeping. Most beginning fish keepers want a bright, colorful, peaceful tank. This kind of tank is usually called a "community" tank where all the residents cruise around and play nice. Unfortunately, beginners tend to buy "bread and butter" fish that are popular and bred excessively to the point of health problems, such as neon tetra, mollies, and dwarf gouramis. But, luckily, there are tons of other colorful, peaceful fish that look just as nice!

These fish are colorful, hardy, and very easy to care for. They accept all prepared foods and are very forgiving of beginner mistakes (just remember your dechlorinator!). They are also fairly inexpensive running anywhere from $1USD-$5USD a piece depending on the species. All of these fish, with the exception of the cichlids, will be successful in as little as a ten gallon tank. Some of these will even breed for the new fish keeper, adding more fun to your tank as you try to spot the babies.

Please remember, fish in the store are very stressed, very crowded, and young. You don’t look fantastic after taking a 24 hour flight across the world, being dumped in a car for another 10-24 hours, and then being plopped in some strange motel with a bunch of other people either. With time and security, all of this fish will show beautiful colors (just not right away). Patience is key for successful fish keeping.

· Harlequin Rasboras (Trigonostigma heteromorpha) are beautiful little fish that have a copper base with striking black triangles on their flanks (which gives them the other common name of Porkchop Rasboras). "Harlies" stay 1.5" and school in the upper parts of the tank. They are relatively inexpensive but remember they are schooling fish, so they need buddies to be comfortable (and the more fish you get the cooler they look swimming in-sync!).

Brilliant Rasboras (Rasbora borapetensis) are a little less common than Harlequins but are quite pretty with a thick black stripe highlighted with reflective yellow on top and bright red tails on maturity. Brilliant Rasboras reach approximately 2" and school in the center of the tank. Like the "harlies," Brilliant rasboras like to hang out in groups and are fairly inexpensive.

· Paradise fish or Paradise Gouramis (Macropodus opercularis) have been in the hobby a long, long time and are as hardy as they come. Paradise fish are related to Siamese Fight Fish or Bettas (Betta splendens) and have similar habits. Males are powder blue with dark orange stripes and tails. Females are silver with faded stripes and shorter fins. If you want to keep multiple Paradise fish, it is advisable to have lots of hiding places and several females to one male. Warning: there have been reports of aggressive Paradise fish. I, personally, have never had this problem and I have bred them for several years, but like betta fish, Paradise fish have individual personalities and some (males especially) may cause problems in a community tank.

· White Cloud Minnows (Tanichthys albonubes) often look drab in stores when they are stressed and crowded, but once happy, they light up into a rainbow of yellow, purple, and red. These guys actually do better without a heater and tend to swim around the top of the aquarium. Like Zebra Danios (Danio rerio), White clouds aren't shy and are probably the cheapest fish on this list, but unlike danios they won't wear you out watching their incessant antics or chase your other fish.

Cichlids are "known" for their "aggression." There are actually several types of cichlids that do great in community tanks. I've chosen two that are peaceful AND hardy.

· Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher ) or "kribs" are dwarf cichlids from African rivers that reach about 2-3". Unlike lake cichlids, kribs are fairly peaceful and content to mind their own business on the bottom of the tank searching for food. Like all cichlids, kribs have fun personalities and "beg" for food by wiggling madly to get your attention. Sexing kribs is very easy: females have purple bellies, which get brighter the more "in the mood" they are. Males may have a little pink but they tend to be more elongated and have long, pointy fins. Breeding kribs is very, very easy provided you have a male and female and it's really fun to watch them care for their eggs/young. What is not fun is watching them chase and stress your other fish out while trying to protect their babies. Make sure if you breed them there is enough space for everyone to get away and hide.

· Rainbow cichlids (Herotilapia multispinosa) are neat little cichlids from Central America. They aren't quite dwarfs at 3-4" but they are very mild and easily kept with larger tetras, barbs and livebearers. Males are bright orange with black stripes and blue fins. Females are gold with black stripes. Both sexes have bright gold eyes. Like kribs, they are easy to breed, and like kribs, they are very protective of their babies! Also, these guys are vegetarians in the wild and will eat aquarium plants. They appreciate de-shelled peas and slices of zucchini as a treat.

· Barbs have a bad rap because of Tiger Barbs (Puntius tetrazona) which are not good community fish and have a bad habit of fin-nipping. However, Gold Barbs (Puntius semifasciolatus) and Cherry Barbs (Puntius titteya) are very good beginner community fish. Gold Barbs are, as the name implies, bright yellow with flecks of iridescent green and black along their sides and red fins that reach about 3". Gold barbs are little piggies, so be careful putting them with live plants, as they like to nibble on leaves. However, de-shelled peas are a good treat for them! Cherry barbs stay smaller than Gold Barbs, reaching 2". The cool thing about cherry barbs is that the males are bright, Christmas red! Females are an attractive, striped brown but the males are the show-stoppers. A nice group of six barbs (4 females and 2 males) will make these guys secure in your tank and give you a fun show as the males flick their fins and try to impress the ladies.

· Neon tetras are the most common tetra because they are colorful and common. But there are lots of other tetras that are colorful and better suited to beginners because they are not as sensitive. Black neon (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) is not actually a black version of the neon tetra but is very similar. Black neons get a little bigger at 2" and instead of being red, white, and blue they are black, gold, and silver. Black neons hang in the middle of the tank in groups. Another tetra that is similar to the neon is the glowlight tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus). As the name suggests, glowlight tetras are an amber color with a bright orange-red horizontal stripe down their bodies. They stay smaller than the black neons at 1.5" and also hang out in the middle. They look especially stunning with a black background and black gravel because the orange really pops.

· Dwarf plecos are perfect additions to a community tank. Rubberlip/Bulldog plecos (Chaetostoma cf. thomsoni), clown plecos (Panaque maccus), and bristlenose plecos (Ancistrus temminckii) only get 4" (in comparision to common plecos that can get two feet long!) and clean up excess food and algae. They tend to come out when the lights are off to scoot along and hang out, so you may not see them much during the day. Male bristlenoses get a funky "beard" of bristles on their faces, which some people find endearing. Unlike most plecos, bristlenoses are easy to breed in the aquarium. While plecos will clean up your tank, they need special food too. Supplement your plecos with algae wafers or fresh veggies a few times a week to keep them happy and well fed.

· Ghost/glass shrimp (Paleomonetes sp. ) are not fish but they are inexpensive and fun little critters to add to your tank without taking up too much space. Like little clowns, they clean while hanging from impossible positions or dance across the bottom. Another non-fishy critter you might consider are mystery snails (Pomacea Bridgessii). Mystery snails come in a lot of different colors (gold, white, blue and black to name a few) and add a point of interest. Unlike other "pest" snails, mystery snails are NOT hermaphroditic, meaning you have to have a boy and a girl to have babies.