which fresh water aquarium fish?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Once the tank has been cycled properly, I’d recommend freshwater pufferfish (Figure 8’s) , or if you’re up for more of a challenge, a brackish tank with Green Spotted pufferfish

Puffers are basically puppies with fins, they are extremely intelligent fish (highest brain/body ratio in the industry), recognize their owners, will beg for food, and have their own unique personalities.

just to give you an example, i had a Green Spotted pufferfish, i named him Zaphod, his favorite food was crawfish, and he’d literally hunt them, he had a plan for attack, and would literally stalk the crawfish…

first step, he’d hover around it, just out of claw range, sizing up his prey, figuring out the best plan for attack, the first strikes were always to remove the claws, rendering the craw defenseless, then… (spoilers for the queasy)

depending on how hungry he was, he’d either bite it’s eyes off first, to make hunting easier, then go for the killing bite at the base of the carapace, or just go for the killing bite, then feed at his leisure

crawfish were a rare treat, his normal food was Ramshorn snails, freeze dried krill (which i would hand feed him), and the occasional ghost shrimp.

to give you an example of his personality;

first thing in the morning, he’d wake me up by splashing at the surface of the water, so i’d feed him his morning krill, then he’d follow my motions around the room from his tank, his colors vivid fluorescent green, brown spots and a pure white belly, then i’d go to work…

when i got home, i’d se him resting on the gravel bottom of the tank, his colors were muted, his belly a dark gray, his expression almost…sad, he looked bored and sad (and he did have some tankmates, he just preferred his pet human)….

The veryINSTANT he saw me, his colors brightened up instantly, his belly pure white, his back iridescent green, and he’d swim around the tank happily, and start begging for dinner…

22

Another good puffer video;

23

Discus are beautiful, and although they have a reputation for being challenging, I found that the ones I had were actually quite hardy. They eventually passed due to old age. Guppies, on the other hand, seem to be quite fragile. I’ve tried my hand at them a few times in the past and I never had any live for longer than a week or so. I’m not sure why they would die, as the other fish in the tank (discus and various tetras) were all doing well. IME at least guppies should be the fish to stay away from.

24

I never heard of cycling a fresh water tank until marine tanks became popular.
Put a guppy in a tank, let him poop for a while and the tank will grow bacteria.

25

A couple of local stores only sell saltwater fish so I won’t be buying from them. they did mention only about 25% of people have saltwater tanks but I guess that’s enough for them to stay in business. I would like to do saltwater but it’s a lot more work.

26

I have a 45 with 4 small fantail goldfish, 5 white cloud minnows, a cory catfish, and a couple of snails. I love it. The goldies are really quite personable as they are greedy-guts and beg for food. I know they’ll outgrow my setup eventually and I’ll either get a bigger tank or a second tank, but for now it’s great. I really like the little white clouds too, they remind me of rainbow trout in miniature.

27

We have a half acre pond. Thirty years ago my gf dumped some feeder goldfish in the water and they/their offspring are still around. Each year we add a few fancy goldfish and it’s surprising how many have survived, given that we see kingfishers and herons “hunting”.

We keep a bag of goldfish pellets on hand to impress visitors. Toss a handful in and watch the feeding frenzy.

28

half acre? that sounds huge! I’ll bet you have tons of all kinds of birds and other wildlife visiting; very nice!

29

It’s great. And this year, thanks to climate change, it has not frozen over. In the past we’ve used a floating electric heater to keep a small area open for thirsty wildlife. Mallards come every spring and lay eggs. We get to watch mama duck walk around with her dozen ducklings trailing. Unfortunately, they aren’t the most careful parents so usually a dozen is pared down to two or three by the time they grow up a bit.

30

I used to have several planted tanks. Now I’m down to a single 3g on my desk here at work.

I never had any luck w/ loaches. Not sure why. I used to really enjoy angels, and in other tanks, I liked the look of schooling tetras. Each tank would have a couple of bristlenose plecos, and a school of one species of cory. Probably a few otos as well.

Above all else (to MY tastes, at least) avoid the “Oooh - THAT looks pretty!”/one of each approach to stocking a tank. And research the compatability of different fish. I remember one time someone gave me a cat (I forget which) which proceeded to eat EVERYTHING else in the tank. And one time I dropped some neons into an Angel tank. Talk about feeding frenzy!

Now I just have some Endler’s and cherry shrimp, along w/ some java moss and crypts.

I haven’t shopped for one, but Eclipse used to make a series of “all inclusive” small tanks. I believe the hood had a light, heater, and filter. I had a buddy who kept a couple of those for several years, with bettas and anubias. I always thought they looked like little jewel cases. EXTREMELY low maintenance.

31

I third fishless cycling. If you do it right you don’t end up with early loses. At the moment I have a few zebra danios, pearl danios and glowlight tetras. I wanted neons and a couple of corycats too but they need to wait until I get a bigger tank.

32

[quote=“MacTech, post:22, topic:642008”]

Another good puffer video;

[/QUOTE] I had pea puffers back in the day, and they were AWESOME little fish. Very personable.

They eat snails, so I occasionally asked at the fish store for some of those cone shaped little snails that occasionally infest fish tanks. The looks I got were great. It’s like asking some rando if they would mind giving you some of their garbage, and if it’s radioactive that would be even better.

I also had glass catfish, which are utterly transparent … but at the right angle, they also flash rainbow irridescence along their entire body.

Finally, a vote for upside down catfish. Provide a “table” or other ledge, so they can hide under it. They really do prefer to flip upside down to rest. Their bellies are dark and their backs are light colored.

33

Fishless cycling, or just use snails. I generally grab some plants from a pet store that have pond snails on them. But then, I always have starter gravel and filters I can use to get it going. It really helps to add a plant or something that’s been in a cycled tank. The average home may not necessarily have the right bacteria just floating around. But it only takes a tiny bit to get started.

Looking around the net, they seem to have stopped making them. It’s a crying shame, because they were great little workhorses, with a lovely bow front and dead easy to care for. If you search “Eclipse 6 aquarium kit” I see one or two still on the market. I recommend grabbing one.

I also found this https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/fish/fish-aquariums-kits/aquarium-kits-up-to-10-gallons/glofish-5-gallon-aquarium-kit-with-blue-and-white-leds which I have not used myself, but it looks like a good kit. The Whisper filters will never die, and the LED lights are an upgrade from the Eclipse systems. So with the caveat that I’ve never used it myself, this is the substitute I would recommend.

I always think this sort of “luck” has more to do with your local water supply vis a vis the needs of a species than anything else. There are ways and ways to affect the water parameters, but in the end it’s always tough to maintain the changes with any stability.

That’s why my first advice to anyone stocking a tank is to get a water test kit, and find out what their local water parameters are. Then shop around for fish that will thrive in it. The one exception is removing particulate matter. You can always do water changes with a mixture of local and distilled water, but be absolutely certain you are willing to go the distance on that level of maintenance.

I think of puffers like water bulldogs. Due to their body shape, they are much larger animals, and produce a LOT more waste than you would think to look at them. When calculating bioload, all of the general rules of thumb should be tripled as regards a puffer. And don’t believe the petshop when they tell you he’ll be happy with some tetra friends. He’ll be happy with some tetra meals, and he will nip and torture them until he’s ready to eat them. Most puffer fish are like oscars - the tank is his, and only food should be added.

Honestly though, it’s just not a good choice for a first-time aquarium. I always say choose a few brightly colored schools of fish with 1-2 year life span. Guppies - all male, or tetras. Learn to keep the water clean and make sure you like this before you buy something with a longer life span. My clown loach, Angel, is 14 years old. That’s about 700 water changes, and at least $300 spent on ich treatments. Are you ready for that commitment?

34

I agree with the BN Plecos. Make sure you get bristlenose plecos though. BN Plecos will be about the same size as most other fish in a freshwater tank. A few inches or so. A Common Pleco can easily end up being a a foot long and can require a 100+ gallon tank.

35

When I was about nine or ten, I filled a big jar with pond water plus some soil from the pond bottom, and put it on my sunlit desk. I swear I got as much enjoyment watching the snails and other small life doing their things as I did as an adult with a 75, 55, 30’s and 20’s all with their specialized substrates, aquascaping, filters, plant-friendly lighting, filtration, and exotic fish.

Might do that again next spring when the pond thaws out.