Which Aquarium Fish is Best and Fun to Keep?

You have the set up and now all you need is some aquarium fish to go in it, but what to choose?

Do you want to start of small? Or do you want to dive right into the deep end, pardon the pun?

The best thing to do it is to talk it over with your local fish shop. But they will advise you exactly the same as what I am going to advise you now. If you see this as becoming a really good hobby then don’t bother will small fish as this is just a waste of time and money, but if this is just a fad or is for your kid’s or whatever, then small aquarium fish is the way to go.

Small Aquarium Fish

Small aquarium fish can be anything from tetras to angel fish; they are usually brightly colored and tend to eat fish flakes rather than fish “meat”. The smaller aquarium fish tend to be for decorative purposes as they are very shiny and create a lot of bright silvers under the right aquarium lights. They are simple aquarium fish with no personality and they are no fun at all! These kinds of fish are for simple decorative aquarium set ups and suit people who want a low maintenance tank.

Large Aquarium Fish

Larger aquarium fish however, such as cichlids and African fish are a lot harder to keep. They are the harder fish in general though, so your fish mortality rate is pretty low, unlike smaller and weaker aquarium fish. The problem or should I say fascination with cichlids is that they are cannibals. If there is a smaller fish in the tank then say good bye to it as it won’t stay there much longer! They eat fish meat and don’t try to feed them any less, they will not be happy.

Different types of cichlids are available. They do not all look the same, there are Oscars (my personal favorite) which you can have tiger, red or albino. There are black belts, there are jaguar cichlids and the list does go on. The types of aquarium fish require a lot of filters and gravel cleaning as they have high amounts of waste. A breeding pair of cichlids is worth a lot of money! Cichlids in general are more expensive as they tend to be larger (we have a tank of 5-6 one and a half foot Oscars). Just remember that these fish do require a bigger tank for them to move around. Set up the tank how you like but it may not stay that way for long. I could go on forever about cichlids but Ill leave it there for now.

So depending on what the reasons for your aquarium are, depends on the type of aquarium fish for the different aquarium that you should get. Smaller more decorative tanks need smaller more decorative aquarium fish. But the bigger the tank the bigger the aquarium fish! Put in some big boys and let them do the talking!

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