fish to steer clear of!?

Question

this isnt a question. but rather a guide for fish for people to genreally steer clear of. just thought that the lives of hundreds of fish were worth 5 points

"sucker fish" aka plecos (uless you have a 50g tank)

oscars (ok if you have a 55 gallon tank)

pacu (dont even bother unless you have about 500 gallons)

red tailed catfish (1500 gallons minimum)

arowana: omg, i love this fish. i have one. but unless you have a tank that is 200 gallons, please dont buy one

dragon gobies (brackish)

any species of puffer really isnt a begginner fish

ANY SALTWTER (lose the nemo, saltwater is hard work)

no bowls for fish

goldfish

any fish is a no-no if you havent cycled your tank!

jaguar cichlids (150 gallon tank)

dyed fish

piranhas (they are catualy not that exciting anyway)

stingrays

generally any brackish water fish

discus

if you do want to keep any of the monsters listed above, contact FishRfine on monsterfishkeepers.com (thats me) id be glad t

to answer ur questions (oops type-0)

also, anyone whod like to add fish, please do!

ghapy, you are right again. good additions by the way! you are really really good with fish man!

ztm, and ghapy. all we need now is magicman! u guys own!

Answer 1

Thanks for clarifying this up! Of course, this list doesn't apply to very advanced fishkeepers. And there are some small types of plecos such as Clown Pleco and Zebra Plecos that can be kept in 10+ gallon tanks.

But again, thanks for clearing this up for new fishkeepers!

EDIT: I'd also like to add a couple more fish to the list:
Gars: Grows too big and is a picky eater.
Bala Shark: Unless you have a 75+ gallon aquarium (that's for 1; 300 for a school of 4), don't get these. They grow to a foot and need to be in schools.
Electric Catfish: These just speak for themselves:)

MORE EDITS: No one mentioned Giant Gouramis yet! They grow up to 2 feet and need a HUGE tank (preferably 200+ gallons)

ZTM

Answer 2

So you must mean a) avoid these fish if you are a beginner, and b) avoid these fish unless you are sure you can provide a big enough home. Some of the fish you mentioned are easy to keep IF you can provide the space and care and would fall under 'caution' rather then 'avoid at any cost'.

Edit Jaguar cichlid to include Dovii, Red Devil, Oscar and any other cichlid giant. (at over 12" long, the narrow depth of the standard 55 gallon is actually pretty confining to an Oscar and I would say 75 gallons as the smallest)

Clown loaches and Bala sharks - schooling fish which get to a foot long.

Tinfoil barbs - a super-active schooling fish also growing to a foot long.

Channel, or any large sized catfish, which can easily get to a foot long, and many types much bigger then this.

I.D. sharks - over two feet long and active swimmers.

African Rift lake cichlids: Not necessarily stay clear of, but approach with caution and lots of research.

Kissing Gourami: Foot long fish and territorial

And note the exeptions of course, like 'sucker fish' of which there are some varieties that stay small, like golden nugget plecs and Oto catfish, that are fine for smaller (but not tiny) tanks.

Answer 3

I'm a beginner but my dad had fish all his childhood.

Anyway I have a 25g tank. I had four Baby African Cichlids from Millawi (sp?) an inch at the most. and a baby Pleco. When he got to big for the tank we were going to put him into the koi pond.

Well i'm not sure of the kind they are they are just from that specific lake. i have had them 4 months and they have grown a little, but out of no where my zebra started bumping into rocks, wont eat, and stays at the top. It has been 5 days now and i am scared he is suffering. WHAT DO I DO??? there is no way to put down a fish.

Thankyou for your help!

Answer 4

Depends on the source - it it was fish I would expect it to say on the packaging - as lots of people are allergic to fish. You could contact the manufacturer. There are other sources (the thoughts are the body has to go through an extra process to convert these and so most people prefer the fish source) but if you want to supplement your diet you could swallow down dessert spoon of linseed oil (the edible variety - not the stuff for cricket bats) each day (or thereabouts - the health food shop would be able to advise you. As for your worsening allergies - it is a fact that if a person has one allergy they are more likely to develop others. Milk and eggs are both common allergens, you could try forgoing these (one at a time for a couple of weeks) and see if your symptoms clear. Sometimes its just an intolerance and goes away after a time of abstinence.

Answer 5

unfortunately we haven't heard for magic in almost 4 months now, but we hope he is well, we all miss him

well, now to your list
I would like to add as follows:

1 male betta:
keep him only if you can provide him with the right habitat, which means at LEAST a 2.5 gallon tank which is filtered and heated

African cichlids:
only keep them if you can provide them the proper size of tank and research them before purchasing them, a lot of them don't go together well at all, because of their aggression

1inch fish per 1 gallon:
Forget this rule, it's BS and can't be applied to any of your fish, especially not to goldfish


Thanks for clarifying this here

EB

Answer 6

Clown knifefish- gets 4 feet
Tiger shovelnose-gets 5 feet +
Elephant nose - too delicate for beginners
Peacock bass - gets 2-3ft +
Paroon shark- gets 7 ft +
Arapaima (ive been seeing these latley) gets 18ft + pretty easily.

to the above comment, gars arn't picky eaters. My 30'' ones eat ANYTHING. They'll eat anything once you convert them off of live foods.