Tropical Fish & Aquarium 'Insider' Secrets Revealed

Tropical Fish - Choosing Tropical Fish. Some Things To Think About

Choosing tropical fish for an aquarium isn’t as simple as you might think.

You can’t just go into a pet store and select arbitrary numbers of the fish that you find the most appealing – you need to invest some forethought into your tank to ensure that your fish lead happy, healthy lives.

Makes sense doesn’t it?

Some things to think about:

• Fish size. When you buy tropical fish, they’re usually babies. Some will stay about the same size, but other will grow much, much larger – so you’ll need to bear the size of your tank in mind! As a standard rule of thumb, always buy for the adult size. If there’s no guide on the tank or if you’re unsure, ask the assistant.


• Recommended diet. Not all tropical fish dine equally – some fish eat live food, some eat frozen food, some eat flakes, and some will eat anything (but don’t rely on that last one when it’s tank-stocking time!) Because different fish eat different things, unless you’re prepared to invest time each day in measuring out the accurate quantities of various fish foods, it’s best to get fish that eat the same thing.


• Compatibility. Contrary to popular belief, fish do actually have personalities – and some of them can get pretty aggressive. Many tropical fish have well-deserved reputations as bullies: they can nip the fins of other, more peace-loving fish, they can ‘barge’ smaller fish, and they can get into fights (which are frequently pretty vicious).
  To eliminate the likelihood of your tropical fish getting into scraps, you should aim to buy fish that have mutually compatible personalities – which means, no territorial fighting fish in with a school of peace-loving roamers!


• Water temperature. Just because the dozen or so species of tropical fish in that wall of tanks in the pet store are all labeled ‘tropical fish’, doesn’t mean that they’re all tropical fish from the same region. Different fish thrive in different temperatures – and because you can only have one temperature at a time in your tank, it’s best if you choose fish that are comfortable in the same temperature range.

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So what types of tropical fish can I buy then?

That’s a great question!

Some common breeds that you’ll likely encounter:

• Elephant Nose. These are really amazing fish to look at – they have a long, protuberant ‘trunk’ for a nose (hence the name) which they use to hunt small live food - although they will also eat frozen and flaked food too, if it’s all that’s available. They grow to be about 8 inches long and need a sandy, gravelly bottom on the tank. These are fairly territorial fish, but will do fine as long as the tank isn’t overcrowded.


• Tiger Barb. These fish derive their names from the characteristic black barring (‘tiger stripes’) on their flanks. They’re very striking fish, but they can be quite aggressive toward other species (they’re known as fin nippers).
  They’re omnivores, so they eat all types of food: the one feeding rule is to do it regularly, to avoid aggression!
  
  
• Clown Loach. Clown loaches are colorful, lively, and humorous fish with plenty of quirky personality traits (like lying on their side when resting, and making loud clicking noises when they eat!) Clown loaches do best in schools, so if you like them, get at least three or four. These fish grow between 6 and 12 inches – they’re pretty sizeable! – and prefer to eat meaty food.


Further Reading & Help For more information on the technicalities of keeping a tropical fish tank, check out our recommended Tropical Fish Guide.

It’s packed from start to finish with valuable gems of relevant, detailed, and easy-read tropical information.

Tropical Fish Book