Selecting fish for your first freshwater aquarium can be an exciting but also daunting task. Before you go out to the pet store and pick a random type of fish, it’s worth knowing which species are more beginner-friendly than others so as not to burden yourself with too much responsibility too early. Let’s first discuss why some fish are easier to take care of than others.
What makes a fish beginner-friendly?
Not all fish are alike, so at first, you’ll want an easy-going fish that will be able to withstand any mistakes that you might make. A low maintenance fish can handle a little overfeeding, or perhaps a little underfeeding. It’ll also tolerate less-than-frequent water changes.
Hardy
Hardy fish have a higher chance of surviving less than optimal conditions and aren’t severely affected by incorrect water parameters. This gives you some leeway and makes room for mistakes.
Easy to care for
As a beginner, it would be wiser to choose a fish that doesn’t need constant care and attention. For example, you don’t want a fish that creates an excess amount of waste for its size.
Peaceful
Some types of fish live in harmony with other species, while others may express aggression towards fish of their own species. It’s important that you choose a combination of fish that will live together peacefully so you don’t have to worry about them fighting.
What to consider
Before picking the type of fish that you’d like to add to your aquarium, you will first need to decide whether you want a cold water tank or a heated tank.
Generally, heated tanks provide a greater variety of fish to choose from, while coldwater fish tend to be less colorful.
It’s also important to note that the more common types of coldwater fish require bigger tanks because they grow larger than people expect.
You will also need to learn how to set up your aquarium, which you can read about here.
Easiest Fish to Take Care of
1. Zebra Danios
Danios are some of the most peaceful and beginner-friendly fish. They’re well known for their unique striped pattern and high energy.
Zebra danios are happy to be around other fish and are most energetic when kept in groups of 7-8 fish. Due to their liveliness, we recommend a tank of at least 20 gallons. Danios are quite hardy, so they’re perfect for beginners who aren’t experienced in setting up and maintaining a tank.
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Tank Size: 20 gallons for a group of 5
Type of Food: flake fish food
Lifespan: 3.5 years
Tank Temperature: 21-25°С
Filter: required
Size: up to 4cm
2. Guppies
Guppies have large colored dorsal fins that brighten up any tank. The male fish have brighter and bigger fins, which makes it easier to tell them apart from the female fish. Since they’re prolific breeders, you should choose guppies of the same gender if you want to avoid having a huge family of fish.
Guppies can eat flake food as well as frozen or live brine shrimp, blood worms and Daphnia. They can even go over a week without food, which shows how hardy they are!
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful, but avoid housing them with large fish that enjoy nipping fins
Tank Size: 1 gallon per guppy
Type of Food: flake fish food
Lifespan: 2 years
Tank Temperature: 23-29°С
Filter: not compulsory
Size: up to 3.5 cm
3. Platies
When it comes to getting creative with fish combinations, Platies are a wonderful choice. They’re selectively bred to produce a great variety of bright color combinations, so you’ll easily find something that satisfies your taste. Despite their small size, Platies are very active fish and thrive when they’re in groups. A group of 5 fish could survive in a 10-gallon tank.
Platies are well known for getting along with other non-aggressive fish species. They reproduce at a very high rate, so you need to be careful because some other species tend to eat their offspring.
Platies themselves aren’t picky eaters. They’ll eat frozen fish food or dry flakes. Sometimes, they’ll even eat algae in the fish tank, which helps maintain a clean ecosystem.
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful, best kept with other highly active fish
Tank Size: 2 gallons per Platy
Type of Food: flake fish food, frozen fish food, algae
Lifespan: 3 years
Tank Temperature: 20-28°С (65-78F)
Filter: required
Size: up to 6 cm
4. Kuhli Loach
If you’re looking for something slightly different than your average fish, then a Kuhli loach might be the addition you need to your fish tank. Despite their resemblance to eels, loaches don’t belong to the eel family at all.
Kuhli Loaches are unique in that they’re usually most active at night, which is why we recommend that you provide hiding places that they can utilize in the daytime. However, when kept in groups of 3-4, you’re much more likely to see them during the day.
Kuhli Loaches are very useful in a community. They help keep the fish tank clean by eating food that has sunk to the bottom, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still offer additional food!
As to their temperament, Kuhli loaches will live peacefully with other fish that aren’t too big, so that they don’t mistake the loaches for food.
Care Level: Easy/Moderate
Temperament: Peaceful
Tank Size: 20 gallons
Type of Food: spare food that has sunk to the bottom, live foods, fish pellets
Lifespan: 10 years
Tank Temperature: 24-30°С
Filter: required
Size: up to 8 cm
5. Goldfish
Even if you’ve never owned any fish before, you most probably know what goldfish are. There’s a reason that parents don’t hesitate when buying their children goldfish – it’s because they’re one of the hardiest fish species.
Unlike most tropical fish, they don’t require heated fish tanks, which makes them easy to maintain. However, you must be careful not to mix them with other tropical fish like guppies, which require an aquarium heater.
Goldfish are very messy eaters, which means that you’ll have to change their water weekly.
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Tank Size: 20 gallons
Type of Food: flake food
Lifespan: 5-10 years
Tank Temperature: 23°С
Filter: required
Size: 10 cm
The Final Word
The 5 freshwater fish that we just introduced to you would make a beautiful freshwater aquarium. Starting with these low maintenance fish can help build your fishkeeping skills and knowledge so you can later move on to more delicate fish.