does anyone know what the best tropical fish are. i want to buy a mixture.?

Question

and would like some advice on which ones will be ok together.

Answer 1

It depends on what you like; there is no "best" combination :)
Start by answering these questions:
- What size tank do you have? A bigger tank means more fish, of course - and forget about the inch per gallon rule.
- What do you want from your fish tank? Do you have big fish or small fish? Fast fish or slow fish? Colourful fish or interactive fish?
- Are you ready for a challenge, or do you want something easy?

Here are basic fish that are easy to take care of, but there are many many more choices.

When stocking a tank, you have to look at the levels of your tank. You have the bottom, the middle and the top. Let's start at the bottom, shall we? :)
Bottom is usually where your cleanup crew is. That's algae eaters, plecos, cories, etc.
A school of at least 6 corydoras julii or sterbai is great:
http://www.thekrib.comPlants/People/h-Cory-julii.jpg - you should have at least a 20 gallon tank to get a school of these.
or you can get a school of oto cats: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/oto_cat.jpg
Get a school of at least 5 of these (tank minimum: 15 gallons). They eat algae.
I would suggest that you DON'T get a plecostomous. Most of them grow to 18-24" and are poop machines. They will dirty your water very quickly. If you MUST get a pleco, get a bristle-nose, they only get 4-5".
If you get any of these fish, be sure to supplement their diet with zucchini slices, spirulina pellets, and shrimp pellets, as they will not get enough food otherwise.

Next, you want your mid-to-upper range. A school of 8 tetras is great for this level.
Some nice fish are (choose one of the following):
neon tetras http://img225.exs.cx/img225/3290/neontetra6mc.jpg
cardinal tetra http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/Fishpics/cardinals.jpg
lemon tetra http://www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish/034.jpg
harlequin rasbora http://tropicalresources.net/phpBB2/templates/BMan1Blue/images/profile_pics/fish_profiles_heteromorpha1.jpg
glowlight tetra http://www.solodvds.com/images/fish/Hemigrammus_erythrozonus_s.jpg
zebra danio http://www.winternet.com/~mchristi/fish/zebradanio.jpg
... the list goes on and on and on.

You'll want a centrepiece fish, I suggest either a pair of kribensis cichlids:
http://www.cichlids.dk/thumb/28887.jpg

Or a pair of bolivian rams:
http://www.azgardens.com/images/Ram-Bolivian.gif

Or a pair of apistogramma:
http://www.c-u-w.net/jpg/ad_konigs/apistogramma_agassizii_(ad_konigs).jpg

Or ONE dwarf gourami:
http://www.biol.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/users/naibunpi/Image/Gourami-photo-old.jpg

Be sure to keep up with weekly water changes of about 20-40% of the water.

And above all, before you buy anything, go to your local fish store, take a look around and write down the various fish you like. Then come home, research them, ask questions about them, before buying them.

Answer 2

HOw many fish are you buying and how much money are you willing ot put into the tank monthly? What size also?

If you have a big tank 55 gallon or higher I would get two oscars...They are themost friendliest fish...They also live like 10+ years....If you train ur oscars right you can pet them and everything...Though they need a big space and like feeder fish which can cost money they are so friendly...They are more like a dog but a fish...they like interaction and they like people around ther tank....

if your wanting more fish I would reccomend African chiclids...we have about 15 in a 75 gallon tank...they are I believe the most colorful freshwater fish...They are expensive but worth every penny..>I would trade either tank for anything...They LOVE beefheart and chichlid flakes...i hope this helps

Answer 3

It depends on the size of your tank, and what you like! Let's assume you have a 10 gallon tank (a common beginners size). You could have...

platies, guppies, and endler's livebearers (a combination of 6 or 7 fish in all)
or...
6 or 7 small tetras (neons, cardinals, glowlights, etc...buy all the same species so they school together)
or...
a betta and a snail OR a betta and 3 african dwarf frogs...
or...
a dwarf gourami and 3 cory catfish...
or...
some shell-dwelling cichlids (only the shell-dwellers are small enough for a 10 gallon!)
or...
a group of 6 or 7 white clouds...

If your aquarium is bigger than 10 gallons, you have more room for choices. Really, any of the fish I mentioned above (except the shell-dwellers, they need a species tank) can be put together, along with many more...swordtails, rasboras, danios, etc. Just make sure to research what you buy before you get it and don't overstock your tank!

Some fish NOT to buy for a community aquarium...
common plecos (they get way too big)
cichlids other than certain types like shell-dwellers, angelfish or rams (aggressive)
tinfoil barbs (aggressive, get too big)
clown loaches (get way too big, and need to be kept in groups...need like a 125 gallon to support them)
pacus (get too big)
chinese algae eaters (they will become aggressive as they get older)
pirahna (aggressive, too big, need to be kept in groups)
mollies and puffers (these will be OK if you look up their specific requirements. However, they do best in brackish water, so it will be a bit of a challenge for a beginner. However, if you are up for the challenge...go for it!)
any kind of freshwater "shark" (can get rather large, aggressive)
goldfish (don't belong in a tropical fish tank)
artificially dyed (fruit tetras, painted glass fish, etc.), hybridized (parrot cichlids, flowerhorns), genetically modified (glowfish danios) fish ( for ethical reasons)

Hope this helped a little bit...just research what you buy and make sure it will go in your aquarium without overcrowding! Remember to cycle your aquarium before you add too many fish, and do 50% water changes every week!
Good luck!

Answer 4

absolutely the utmost fish you'll have in this tank is about 25 inches, yet a lot less is more desirable sensible. shall we are saying the fish you want to purchase are all about 2 to three inches each and every (at optimal length). this ability at maximum you may placed 12 fish on your tank. each and every aquarium keeper needs a lot of different sorts of fish, yet your fish will be happier in a collection of their personal species. Mollies, barbs, platys, barbs, tetras, etc will ALL be happier in a collection of four, absolute minimum. it might want to be more desirable sensible in case you had six of one species, and six of yet another, and do your learn so that you recognize those fish have compatibility. you may want to do something like this: a million male betta (opposite to prevalent opinion, they're very sturdy community tank contributors) 4 purple (or the different variety) platys 6 golden barbs

Answer 5

Please do not put guppies and Endler's together. They are a separate species, but will interbreed readily. Due to the fact that much of the Endler's native territory has been destroyed and they are now somewhat rare in the wild, it is important to try to keep them as a separate species and to not interbreed them with guppies!

While either would be good for a 10 gallon tank in a community, please choose either one or the other!

Answer 6

there are no hard and fast rules on what goes together. fish lumped in big groups they don't alway belong in. i suggest finding a sight that gives you insight on different fishes personalities and research what you actually like. usually there are things you can keep with just about anything. -- like a tank of dwarf puffers with snails and lots of big plants is a great set up that will keep you entertained for hours. puffers need a fairly dense tank (silk plants are fine) or they will nip eachother. they nip just about anything. the plants break their view so they just go snail hunting on the plants. snails are really the prefered food for puffers -- they wont eat processed foods and the snail shells help keep their little puffer teeth healthy.

see the way it works?

here is a web site with fairly common fish on it --

http://www.aquahobby.com/e_gallery.php

Answer 7

Guppies are lovely, have personality, and mix well with most fish. The only downside is they tend to reproduce very often, but if you have other fish in there they will probably eat the babies anyway.

Answer 8

Tiger Barbs are great. They are very colourful, and create great movement in your tank

Answer 9

Dont get lots of bettas, i heard they can fight to the death, guppies or angelfish are also really nice to have though.

Answer 10

wow zoe what a fantastic answer you are tops in my book.