Easy beginner aquarium fish

A community tank is a wonderful way to explore the world of aquariums, but it can be tricky to get started. A saltwater tank for example, often has to be hundreds of gallons to appropriately house the fish and make dealing with water quality easier. To make things worse, if you get the saline wrong or don’t clean the tank well, the price is often lots of dead fish---very expensive ones.

Before you try your hand at keeping the more advanced fish, it’s better to start out with beginner fish that are easy to keep. These forgiving animals are less likely to die if you forget a water change or bump the thermometer.

Best of all, these easy to keep fish are freshwater fish, which means you won’t have to sweat over salinity on top of pH and ammonia levels.

Neon tetras

These tiny fish are quick swimmers, and feature bold bright colors. They like to gather together in schools. These fish are active and fun to watch, and also get along well with other fish. They need a tank size of at least 10 gallons.

When choosing fish to go with the neon tetra, it’s important to take size into consideration. Neon tetras are small enough to be a good snack for many other types of fish, and a larger fish may view their tankmates as snacks instead of friends.

Guppies

A guppy is another colorful fish, well known for the many different variations it has. Guppies are prolific breeders that are considered pests in their native habitat due to how quickly they breed. New aquarists should choose some of the simpler colored guppies over the fanciest ones, because this type is the easiest to keep.

Mollies

A common sight in most pet stores, mollies grow to about 4” and can come in a variety of colors. Mollies are very undemanding, and can even be housed in a relatively small tank (10 gallons) due to how peaceful and laidback they are.

They do prefer larger tanks if possible so they have more room to swim, but in general are very hardy animals that can forgive most basic beginner mistakes.

Platies

Another colorful fish, platies are very hardy and can survive most tank conditions. They are peaceful fish that get along well with most other community fish, and can handle a smaller tank size. Platies give birth to live young, and can be prolific breeders in even moderately good conditions.

Platies can adapt to a wide range of different aquarium conditions, so they’re a sensible choice if you’re sweating over pH.

If you want to start a community tank, these tropical fish are all good options for your tank. You can get different fish in the tank and school them together, as long as they are similar in size and relatively peaceful.

Community tanks are a fun way to begin fish keeping, and can really give life to your tank. If you’re interested in starting a tank, these fish are a wonderful place to start.