What are some good types of fish for a thirty gallon tropical community tank?

Question

I don't want the boring mollies and platies... well, not that they're boring... I want something different. It must be tropical, peaceful or semi-aggressive, and not too hard to take care of. And not too expensive. And that you can get a Petco.

Thanks.

Answer 1

The first thing you should look at is a group of schooling fish. The danios are excellent fish for this, and will spawn easily if you decide to try breeding them in the future. If you want smaller fish, any of the smaller danios (like the ever-popular zebrafish, Danio rerio) are excellent, but a 25-30 gallon or larger tank gives you room for one of the larger danios instead, and these are in my mind much more impressive fish. Now, here's a piece of advice. These are schooling fish, so buy a school of fish. That means at least six fish, and ten is better. Do not buy just two or three (or one) danios. Two danios alone in a tank will never feel comfortable or behave naturally. Having a large numbers of one fish species does however require that you have fewer species of fish. But believe me, a tank with twenty fish of three species looks much more natural than a tank with twenty fish of ten species.

In a 30 gal or larger tank you can have a second fish school as well. How about six rosy barbs (Puntius conchonius), or any of their medium size relatives? I would however avoid tiger barbs (Capoeta tetrazona) because they are more aggressive and may nip fins. Another possibility is any of the rainbow fishes. The Boeseman's rainbows (Melanotaenia boesemani) and the red rainbows (Glossolepis incisus) are both very good choices because they are very colourful and not too expensive. Get at least six fish for the second school too.

You now have chosen twelve or so medium-sized schooling fish in your tank. All of the fish offered as choices so far stay near the middle level of the tank, but you would like to make use of the upper and lower levels too. Filling the lower levels is relatively easy, since there are lots of good beginners' bottom feeders, but suitable top feeders are harder to find. No top feeder fits our criteria of being colourful, cheap, and hardy. The hatchet fishes (Carnegiella spp.) might suffice but I would not consider them hardy. The African butterfly fish (Pantodon buchholzi) is hardy, but relatively expensive. However the popular live-bearing swordtails and platies (Xiphophorus spp.) will spend a lot of time near the surface, and can be used to make better use of the upper level. Personally, I have a bias against unnaturally coloured fish strains (red swordtails and their ilk), but you can still find wild-type "green" swordtails in most good aquarium stores (and various club members breed them as well) so if you share this bias you can still have your swordtails. Get one male and a couple of females. I would not recommend mollies for this tank because these fishes are really quite delicate and are not in my opinion suitable.

For bottom feeders, get a school of six Corydoras catfish (Corydoras aeneus is a good choice since it's commonly available and inexpensive) and also add a bristle-nose catfish (Ancistrus spp.) to eat algae. And since no tank is complete without cichlids, a pair of kribs (Pelvicachromis pulcher) completes the population. Make sure the kribs have a cave to hide in. Once together, this selection of fishes will make a colourful, active (but not frenetic) display.

You may have noticed that I have only suggested getting six species of fish for this tank. Many community tanks have much more that that, and that's fine, but I am sticking to my suggestion to have a relatively small number of species. I think that the hardest thing to learn about setting up an attractive display tank is restraint. A modest choice of fish species invariably results in a more elegant aquarium than does a hodge-podge of species.

You may have also noticed that the collection of fish presented here is a bit eclectic in that the fish come from many different parts of the world. This was done on purpose, because if you restrict yourself to fishes from only one locality you will have troubles finding enough species to populate your tank with hardy, colourful, inexpensive, and peaceful fish. But after you advance in the hobby, you may decide to become a purist and only select fish from one location for your next display tank.

Answer 2

You can get choose from schools of cories, tetras, danios, guppies, swordtails, mollies, platys... all these are all nice community fish that get along well with others. The only plecos that stay small enough for a 29 gallon tank are otos. They will be under 1-1/2" at adulthood. All others grow to 6" and over - 18" in most cases.

Answer 3

Stocking Schemes for 30 Gallon tanks
#1 - 3 platies, 8 danios, 6 lemon tetras, 4 corydora catfish
#2 - 3 swordtails, 6 cory cats, 2 angelfish
#3 - 6 white cloud minnows, 6 gold barbs, 8 rasboras, 2 dwarf gourami
#4 - 6 cherry barbs, 6 black ruby barbs, 6 tiger barbs
#5 - 6 spotted danios, 6 botia sidhtmunk, 8 dwarf pencilfish, 5 pygmy corydoras, 6 pristellas.

Answer 4

An Angelfish, Kissing Gouramis, Blue Gouramis, Zebra Fish, Emerald Catfish, Neon Tetras, Algae Eater (make sure you feed algae tablets once in a while), Tiger Barbs, Buenos Aires Tetras.

Answer 5

If I had a 30 gallon tank at my bay, and I was looking for something interesting that you didnt have to put your life into, I'd get a kribensis! A smaller cichlid that would fair well in a tank. They're pretty and striped and can get along with most semi-agressive similar sized cichlids.

I swear to you Kribensis are buckets of fun to watch :) Just an idea to throw up

Answer 6

Gouramis are pretty and medium sized they are semi-aggressiv e or teh dwarf ones are peaceful. Also tetras are good, and if you are more experienced Discuses are probably good. Rainbow fish are also good they are retty peaceful and tehy are very pretty, but they need small foos because they have tiny throughts.
Im not sure if petco has these but they might, probably the discus and rainbowfish they might not have. Swordtails are common and they are cool and different, but they can be a wee-bit aggressive. I dont go petco because there arent any near me so i go to petsmart so i dont know if petco will have them, but a local aquarium will be good and they'll probably have them. My local one isn't more expensive then petsmart when it comes to the fish they both have.


have fun they are very rewarding!

Answer 7

When I had a fishtank I enjoyed the tiny fish like zebras and neons. They are very cheap and so you can buy a big school and they swim around altogether.

Red tail sharks are very cool to look at as well...as are anglefish. And don't forget to get some snails, they will help keep it clean and are funny as well!

Answer 8

Well you have many but I love the redline torpedo barb a lovely and a very striking fish it is also called the denisoni I think

Answer 9

I know where you at... those were my guidelines when I had fish myself:

One fish that I always had to have was the red tail shark barb: They are very vital and territorial, so they quarrel a lot if you put two or more. It's best to put them without peers or with a rainbow shark barb.

Aquarium catfish: The ones of the genre pimelodelae are very peaceful but active, a very interesting fish to watch!

Tiger barbs: They are great in groups, but not too good if you plan to introduce long finned fish like angelfish or guppies.

Siamese fighting fish: They are truly splendid residents, and not aggressive towards other species, so if you are going to have one, make sure you don't have fin-eating species, like tiger barbs or cichlids.

Cichlids: They make extremely interesting resides, for they have personalities and develop complex relationships with other residents and among themselves: You have to be careful, because most are very aggresive and destructive, but there are some species who are well suited, like the firemouth cichlid, the jewel cichlid or the cobalt blue cichlid from the african lakes. Angelfish are great, but you have to watch for fin-eaters, and there is also the ramirezi, which is a true little gem, but it's very shy, so if your fish population leans towards peacefulness, you want to get one or two of these.

Tetras: There are gazillions of types... The neon terta is my favourite, but again.... these are good for aquariums with rather peaceful residents, and they need to be in groups of 12 or more. There is also the congo tertra, with long fins and beautiful reflecting scales... the glowlight tetra, the red eyed tetra, which is mirror silver, the serpae tetra. The serrasalmus family of tetras includes piranha related types of fish, and in my personal experience they work well in a rugged community tank with guys who can stand up for themselves.

Other good schoolfish are the zebra fish, and the chinese neon fish (albonubes). The giant danio is a great specimen, but they grow large (about 4.5 inch) and are very active, but otherwise peaceful.

The pearl gourami and the dwarf gourami are must-haves!! they have beautiful colours and they are very peaceful, yet compatible with almost anyone.

I personally like the wild version of the swordtail... it's a green fish with horizontal yellow and burgundy stripes, very unique, but I don't know if it can be found here in the US at all... I also like very much the sailfin mollies.

See if you can get an inverted catfish... they permanently swim upside-down, near the surface; the color scheme is also inverted, being dark in the underside and light in the back!

Ah... one I really REALLY enjoyed having was a freshwater puffer... but they lean towards the aggressive side, though they are totally worth having. And if you have snails in your aquarium even better, for it's extremely interesting to see how they take them in their mouths and crack them like nuts to eat them.

I also always liked introducing one or two freshwater crabs to the community... and they never gave problems, actually being pretty good because they instantly got rid of any dead or severely ill fish.

That should get you started... and if you see any more species at PETCO that catch your fancy, just ask any employee about their compatibility... I used to be able to sit in front of my aquarium and watch for hours... please, try adding natural vegetation, not fake one; it's more of a hassle, but the results in appearance and fish behavour are more than worth it... man, now I want to set up a tank once again!

Good luck!!!

Answer 10

gouramis, angelfish, silver dollars, any tetra