Are danio fish tropical, or coldwater fish? What about tetras? Gouramis?

Question

I am trying to decide what type of aquarium to have and what type of fish to get. I am thinking of having gouramis and tetras, but not sure. Can someone give me a list of 1) good beginner coldwater fish, and 2) good beginner tropical fish ? I'm trying to decide, and it's difficult. How many and what kind of fish could I put in a 12 gallon tank? Or smaller (my mom is being stubborn, and also I have to have this aquarium in a dorm room; I was thinking of getting an Eclipse System 12 aquarium).

Advice?? Suggestions? Experienced fishkeepers, please help.

Answer 1

Tetras and gouramis are both tropicals. Danios can live in water that's cooler than tropicals would care for as well as tropical temperatures.

I would also suggest staying away from goldfish in a 12 gallon tank (they may be small when you buy them, but they don't stay that way!). There are other choices for a coldwater tank, though. White clouds are a good choice for a fish that stays small and don't need a heater. Also guppies, and platys can be kept without a heater as long as the water temperature doesn't get far below 70o. Some of the barbs and corydoras species prefer water at room temperature, and there are the danios, as well.

For tropical fish, tetras, gourami, mollies, betta, swordtails, rasboras and kuhlii loaches all do well for beginners.

Since the tetras, barbs, white clouds, rasboras, and danios all are schooling fish and should be kept in groups of 5-6+ and the corys and kuhliis should be in groups of 3+, I would suggest getting one species of any of the schooling fish, and either a larger single fish (a male betta or a dwarf gourami) or a small group of a non-schooling type (platy, swords, cory, kuhlii). This would still leave your tank somewhat understocked.

You can find more info (and photos) on these fish below, as well as information that can help you with setting up your tank. I'd also suggest reading about tank cycling and have included a link for that as well:

Answer 2

The most commonly found Coldwater fish are goldfish....and they take up quite a bit of room, so in a 12 gal, I wouldn't recomend them.

Danios, Gouramis and Tetras are all three tropical fish, Mollies may also be an option for a beginner fish. As far as the number you can put in a 12 gallon, it depends on how big the fish are/get (look at adult sizes. You don't want to get a fish that's 2 inches, but will grow to be 13 and not have enough room later on)

Danios and Tetras are both schooling fish, so if you wanted to put a school of them in your tank (5+) in a 12 that should be fine for most of them (There may be some large ones that I don't know about...but try to stick with the smaller guys. 12 gal isn't so big)

Also, if you do get Gouramis, I'd recomend avoiding the Blue Gouramis....they can be a little bullyish. Pearl Gouramis are supposed to have a good temperment, and I haven't had any complaints about Opaline ones and only one or two about Rogue Gold Gouramis.

Mollies and/or gouramis can be nice because you don't have to have 5 of the same kind/color of fish. You could have one or two of several different colors.

If they are moderate sized fish (1.5-3 inches) and you don't over feed, or neglect your maintainance, you could probably get 5-7 fish in there if you add them a few at a time (adding them all at once knocks your tank out of whack and can cause massive fish die off)

Hope this helps. Good luck with your aquarium endeavors. Don't be afraid to ask tons of questions when you get your fish either. I'd rather people ask me questions and know what they're getting and how to take really good care of it than just get it and stick it in a glass box of water.

Also, just to warn you, the first few fish you put in there before the tank has gone through it's nitogen cycle will probably not make it. You might try getting an aquatic snail or two for a month or so before you get fish to get the cycle going (some places offer free water testing too.)

Answer 3

Tropical Fish Zebra Danio

Answer 4

12 gallons is pretty small. I would go with tropical in that case. You could house 1 fancy goldfish breed in a 12 (they require 10 gallons per fish minimum as they grow between 8 - 12 inches depending on the type).
In a 12 gallon tank, you could house a gourami or a couple of dwarf gouramis as your centerpiece fish, add about 4 corydoras as your bottom fish and a small schooling fish to patrol the mid-level waters. You would have to be cautious about water changes though.
In my room, I have a small 10 gallon tank that has black and red gravel, red fake plants, a red background and 4 red and black platies and a red and black betta. I only have to do a 10 percent water change every 2 weeks as the tank is not overstocked.

Answer 5

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Hi Rebekah Yes, you need a heater for Tetras. Amanos are compatible with White Cloud Mountain Minnows, Rosy Minnows, Golden Minnows, Peppered Cory catfish (although these are temperate they can tolerate low temps down to 72F), Zebra Danios and Rainbow Shiners (beautiful little fish). Coldwaters to avoid with Amanos are any kind of goldfish and Paradise Gouramis (they'd all eat the shrimp). Good luck with your choices and best wishes

Answer 6

Goldfish, the easiest coldwater fish would not go into a 12g but with tropical there are many options. Danios stand room temperatures to tropical, but these love to sprint around large tanks. You could try a few Guppies, Mollies and Platies (not swordtails, they are to big and often aggresive to those poor little fish)but that brings the problem of no room to house babies, so you need to have only male or female of those species. Once your tank is mature, there are some other options including Bettas (only 1 male or a couple of females per tank) Catfish (my favourite are panda corys), ake sure there is space to hide and space to rummage around in gravel, seen more at night but if fed tablets will come out in day aswell. Some other options are a small shoal of tetras (some nice,easy and colourful ones are black neon, neon or glowlight, but don't keep them alone) or ottocinclus(ottos) small fish that chew algae found in the tank and are nocturnal. Gouramis love to glide around in larger tanks, but you could get a few dwarf or honey ones. You could house apple snails or shrimps aswell as these are nice additions to a tank. All of these would suit that tank.
Good luck ><>

Answer 7

Good Beginner Coldwater Fish:
Goldfish
White Cloud Mountain Minnow

Tropical Fish:
Neon Tetras
Danios
Rasboras
Barbs
THis list could go till the cows come home.

Your tank is perfectly fine. The fish, it depends of what type of fish. You could fit probably 10 fish of rasboras or tetras or danios or barbs.

Answer 8

You can actually combine all of these fish but i dont recommend getting a goldfish for a 12 gallon as a community tank if you do only get a max of 2 they will get up to 6inches to 2feet and their bio-load is high.

The goldfish can live in temperatures from 33degrees Fahrenheit to 90degrees Fahrenheit.

Option 1. For a 12 gallon you can get 1 or 2 dwarf gouramis(up to 5 or 6 inches) and 4 to 6 tetras for a mini easy to take care of tropical community tank.

Option 2. Or you can get instead of gouramis you can get 4danios with 4 to 6neon tetras.

Option 3. and the third option is to get 1 or 2 dwarf gourami and up to 3danios.

I recommend Option2 or the goldfish option

Have fun!
WT

Answer 9

Yes, ALL tropical fish need heaters! Even bettas, though people say they dont The only fish you can keep without a heater is a goldfish, but since they need 40G for the 1st fish + 20G for every additional goldfish, i guess its much cheaper to buy a heater Maybe they'll survive without one, but you'll see the difference, when my heater broke, my fish were swimming really slow and just letting theirselves kinda float through the tank, instead of swimming active etc And a heater doesn't cost that much, you can buy 20$ heaters (but make sure you buy one that is made for your tank size) and the electricity they use also isnt much, I have 2 aquariums (30G and 10G) and the heaters are 125watt together, and i every counted how much of electricity it costs, and with 2 filters filtered 24/7, and lamps on for 12h a day, it costs me less than 450$ a year!

Answer 10

In a 12 gallon tank you could have:

Coldwater~
Danios, Minnows, or Guppies (Goldfish get about a foot long, too big for your tank) http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/fishqa/f/coldwaterfish.htm

Tropical~
Tetras, DWARF Gouramis, Yo-yo Loaches, Killifish, Guppies, Barbs, Rasboras, Mollies, Platties, or Corrys.

Email me at [e-mail] if you have any quesitons, this is a very incomplete list...

Nosoop4u