I recently purchased a 38 gallon fish tank. What is a good community of fish to add to the tank.?

Question

I wanted sharks, however, I realize that this tank is far too small to contain any real number of them so I am looking for a different assortment. At this time I have no room to expand the tank at least in the near future.

Wow! I just wanted to say thanks to all who took the time to provide some valuable information. I did not think I would get such huge response. I have decided to go with freshwater to eliminate some of the headache. I went to the Big Al's store near us and took a look around and saw many fish I would like many of which you have suggested. Today is the final day..I am going tonight to buy something, though i still have not totally decided. Again thanks for the input from all. (Well at least those that provided some..haha)

Answer 1

http://www.elmersaquarium.com/h701elmers_freshwater_handbook.htm
#4, 5 or 6.

Answer 2

We did mollies, guppies, angelfish and swordfish. They are all inexpensive and comfortable with each other. Goldfish go to the bathroom too much and make the tank dirty.

Whatever you do make sure the fish are compatible. My daughter's art teacher worked at a fish store and they tossed the new sea urchins into an already occupied tank. Later on in the day, there were a bunch of scattered spines all over the bottom of the tank.

Answer 3

I had a 50 gal. fresh water tank. All I can tell you is ask the person about any fish you plan on putting in your tank.

I found out fast that there are nice little, don't bother anybody kinda fish, there are very aggressive fish that just bother everyone in the tank.

I found out there are fish that just love to eat all your other fish. I bought a small puffer about 1-1/2"lg. he was no problem until he started to grow.
Each time he grew a little bigger, more fish would disappear, he even ate some little red crabs I had in there. I sold him back to the store where I bought him, about 5" long and very well feed, for $50.00 and some new fish.

So get a book and/or ask questions, before you buy any fish, or before you put other creature, or anything in your tank.

Do it the smart way, or you will be spending a lot of money, on fish, fighting algae, and fish diseases of all kinds. It can be a lot of work if you don't do things properly, and then keep them that way. If you do they are very enjoyable and relaxing to watch.

I sold everything, and bought a Labrador Retriever. A pet I can relate to.

One final note...If its a used tank, make sure it doesn't leak, BEFORE you fill it INSIDE THE HOUSE!

Good Luck!

Answer 4

Alawys take the consideration- that every tropical fish - the size of a goppy- needs 5 gallon water to survive. Allways for you size you need 2 small scavanger fishes- to help eat the algy -dirt that goeas in the bottom- and help the water pump to keep the water clean this kind of scavangers- always live in the bottom and avoid the other fish. Your Tank can hold 2 scavanger fish a 4 - small size tropical fish. Do not over crowd your tank- Check what kind of water you have where you live- pet store can supply you with medications and instruction what you will need to make your water acceptable for your fish . The pet store can advise you what kind of fish you can buy ...and mix.. this way you will not have fear that you r fish will eat each other...Change the water totally every 15 days...and change the filters every week- It is wise to buy a bigger Air pump than the one is described for your tank, this way the water will go in and out through the filters more times and that will keep your fish healthier.

Answer 5

Cichlids are very interesting fish to keep and I highly recommend them, but two warnings:

1) Some grow very large needing 100+ gallon tanks. You will be limited by the size of your tank as to which species of Cichlids you can humanely keep.
2) Most are aggressive and some are better kept by themselves.

That being said, there are smaller more community tolerant Cichlids that you could consider. If you want a fish that reacts to you when you're in the room and is fun to watch, Cichlids may be worth your research time.

If you want to throw some fish in the tank and be done with it, buy the standard Mollies, Guppies, and/or other non-Cichlid community fish.

I've linked a few informative sites:

Answer 6

I've attached a link below to take you to Aqua Hobby's freshwater gallery page. It will give you the common name and specific name for most fish found in LPS. Once you click on a name it takes you to a photo page with each fish's specifications, maximum size and owners comments on that fish. Be sure to search around the rest of the site, there are many articles that I have found to be quite helpful, no matter how experienced or new to the hobby you are.
The 38 gallon is actually a decent sized tank and you should be able to get a good number of fish in there without over crowding it. Use your judgement re: overstocking.
Most importantly, get the fish you like and that you will be able to best take of.

Answer 7

We have a 55 gallon with this assortment...Angel Fish, Silver Dollars, Tiger Barbs, small silver catfish things and 2 female betas. Don't do the gold fish thing..they are so dirty!!! The thing I like about the tiger barbs is that they school together and are always moving. There are many barbs out there, and they all get along. Oh yeah, we have 2 sucker fishes too.

Answer 8

You can get a pretty good color assortment, using either guppies or tetras. Neither breed is very expensive. I have two tanks full of guppies and I have reds, oranges, yellows, navy blue solids as well as a great mix of stripped ones from all the breeding they've done. Just beware, if you get females, I started with 6 fish, now I have well over a 100, and I didn't even buy any breeding grass..

Answer 9

You really do not want a school of sharks any way . They dont really play nice wih one another.

Tetras are great they school together they are many kinds and are hardy.

you might want some coories for the bottom of the tank as they are just ooddles of fun t watch.

also depends on what llive plants you want.

then they are the live bears they tend to come in nice colors especially guppies but the way they breed it would make a rabbit worn out

Answer 10

I wasn't going to respond to this one beings you had so many answers already.

But when I had a 38 gallon fish tank I did a couple of different things. At one point I had just 1 big african cichlid in the tank. He was a crack up. He would take rocks from the bottom and pile them up against the glass to make a wall so you couldn't see him. And he would let you pet him. If you put your finger in the tank he would rub up against it.

Then at one point I had everything from a bala shark to a placostimous to keep my tank clean so I wasn't cleaning it all the time.

I would just suggest going to your local pet store and going to the fish section and looking at what they have. And ask a sales person what they would recommend to get to start a tank out with.
Because like somebody else had said already you need to find a fish that can stand being in a brand new tank.

Answer 11

If you want a big assortment of many fish, how about an assortment of dwarf gouramis and tetras?
Dwarf gouramis come in blue, blue and red, orangey red, and honey. They're all fairly placid and you could get a handful of them, and compliment that with some cardinal tetras or glowlight tetras.
Or you could get some pearl gouramis, which are IMO the nicest gouramis, but they're bigger, so a pair of them and a school of , say, rummy-nosed tetras would be nice.

If you want to go with small active fish, you could go with a school of dwarf neon rainbows and a school of furcata rainbows.

For colour assortment, how about a tank of female bettas? They come in the same beautiful colours as the males do.

Orrr a pair of bolivian or german blue rams and some black neon tetras?

Add to that a bushy-nose pleco or some otocinclus, a handful of cory cats, and a mystery snail, and you're set!

Or you could African, and get a pair of yellow neolamprologus Leleupi.