Not all freshwater fish can live in the same tank together. The best fish to start a freshwater tank are resilient, long-lived fish thriving in a stress-free environment. You want fish that are fun to watch, colorful, with interesting personalities and behaviors and of most importance, non-aggressive to each other. See our recommended freshwater starter fish below to start creating your perfect home aquarium.
The best fish to start a freshwater tank are low maintenance, hardy, beautiful and thrive amongst other fish species. That makes Tetras, Cyprinids (White Cloud Mountain Minnow, Zebra Danios, Rasboras, and Cherry Barbs), Bolivian Cichlids, Kuhli Loaches, Swordtails, Platies, Guppies, Dwarf Gourami, Anabantids (Bettas and Gouramis) and Cory Catfish (Corydoras) the best aquarium starter fish.
Hardy fish are more forgiving of beginner mistakes and will teach you a lot about advancing your fish expertise. However, when evaluating which hardy fish to start your freshwater tank with you should also consider:
- The size it grows to as an adult should be accommodating to your sized tank
- The species of community fish should be compatible with the other fish in your tank without any aggression
- Waste production can be high among some species of fish like the goldfish, pleco, etc. Excessive waste production will increase your maintenance burden and can potentially be dangerous to other fish if you don’t keep up with the bio-load.
Take a closer look at the freshwater fish we recommend for your starter tank be.
1. Tetras
Tetras are a very popular, small very active schooling fish that come in tons of varieties – like neon tetras, cardinal tetras, black neon tetras, black skirt tetras and Congo tetras. They’re pretty easy to care for and prefer neutral pH waters from 7.0 to 7.8 (higher Ph for African tetras and lower for wild-caught South American tetras).
Tetras are hardy fish, and some species can live up to 10 years in aquariums. Schooling fish enjoy safety in numbers so keep them in groups of six or more. Tetras cohabitate well other community fish on this list.
2. Cyprinids (White Cloud Mountain Minnow, Zebra Danios, Rasboras, and Cherry Barbs) These little guys are hardy and very entertaining to watch as they dart around the tank. You will find tons of color and pattern variations in these species as well. You will also enjoy watching their schooling behavior. If you had to pick one fish to start with, you could not go wrong with a White Cloud Mountain Minnow. Price range is $1.29 to $7.99.
a. White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Often recommended to beginners the white cloud mountain minnow is a small colorful fish, very hardy when it comes to water temperature and quality and can live up to 5 years. White Cloud Minnows are shoaling fish and feel comfortable in a group of at least 6 and grow to about 1.5 inches. Keeping one alone could cause it to become timid and lose its bright color. Not picky eaters, they’ll eat all types of food, including live, frozen, and flake food.
b. Zebra Danios
Zebra Danios are attractive hardy fish living up to 5 years. Easily recognizable with their striped zebra pattern, they are fun to watch, have lots of energy and personality. This peaceful schooling fish is most comfortable in a group of six or more and grow to about 2 inches. Zebra Danios like to stay near the top of your fish tank. These fish are omnivorous and will accept most foods. However, they do enjoy small live or frozen inverts and fresh vegetable matter.
c. Rasboras
There are many types of rasboras like the miniscule neon green rasbora and larger scissortail rasbora, but our favorite ones are the harlequin rasbora and lambchop rasbora. Known for their bright orange color and distinctive black triangular patch, these peaceful nano fish only grow to about two inches long and are readily available in most pet stores. Get a school or six or more of the same rasbora species, and they’ll make a striking display in your community tank.
d. Cherry Barbs
Cherry Barbs are the perfect freshwater fish for a home aquarium. They have vibrant eye-catching colors and are entertaining to watch. They can tolerate big changes in water parameters, they are friendly and easy fish to take care of. They grow to around 2 inches long and are best kept in schools, so anything above 6 is preferred.
They are a very active fish but can take a little while to come out and play. In order to make your Cherry Barb feel as comfortable and secure as possible, we recommend that you keep some live plants. This will give them natural places to hide whenever they feel the need. They In terms of dietary needs, they will eat just about any type of fish food, although they may not take to it at first if it’s a new tank. Give them a couple of weeks to settle in and they will be eating routinely.
3. Bolivian Cichlids
The Bolivian ram is a cichlid from South America that’s very similar to their colorful but less hardy cousins, the German ram. Running at three inches long, they make a great centerpiece fish for a medium-sized 30-to-55-gallon community aquarium because of their unique cichlid behavior, yellow and black coloration, and ease of breeding. Bolivian rams appreciate pH of 7.0 to 8.0 and temperatures around 72 to 79°F, and they can be kept with nearly any community fish that matches these same requirements. Although the Bolivian ram cichlid is a hardy fish and is a good starter fish for the more experienced beginner aquarist.
4. Kuhli Loaches
Kuhli loaches will either mesmerize you or freak you out because they look like little 4-inch snakes or eels. They tend to be a little shy and hide behind decor, so keep them groups of at least three to six so that they feel safe enough to come out and explore. These nocturnal fish are bottom dwellers scavenging for leftovers on the ground and between rocks, but you must specifically feed them to make sure they don’t go hungry.
5. Swordtails
These brightly colored beginner fish tank additions like the marigold swordtail, get their name from their long bottom fin that looks like a sword. They’re a community fish thriving best in schools of at five or more growing to as long as 5 inches (including the tail). Swordtails are entertaining to watch the male-on-male posturing for dominance with erected fins, circular swimming and mouth-to-mouth wrestling.
Swordtails are omnivores, so you should feed them flake food supplemented with blanched vegetables and live or frozen food, mostly found in small streams, swordtails typically prefer a plant-based diet, so a tank full of naturally occurring algae supplemented with a vegetable-based flake would be perfect for them, however, they also do well with live foods from time to time. The optimal water temperature would be between 72-82 °. In your tank as in the wild, swordtails enjoy fast-flowing water.
6. Platies
A great hardy fish to start your freshwater tank, this community fish lives peacefully with any other non-aggressive fish. With a lifespan of 2 to 3 years platies have been selectively bred to create new color combinations giving you a large variety to choose from and grow to 2 inches in length. Platies eat algae, flake or freeze-dried food as well as most frozen live foods.
7. Guppies
Guppies are hardy, colorful freshwater aquarium fish perfect for beginners. Although the behavior and characteristics tend to be the same from fish to fish, Guppies come in a wide range of colors. Guppies eat flake food, frozen (or live) brine shrimp, blood worms, and Daphnia. These resilient fish can go over a week without food and breed like crazy, so be careful of the sexes you add to your tank ore you may end up with a lot of Guppy babies.
9. Anabantids (Gouramis and Bettas)
The Dwarf Gourami
This peaceful and beautifully colorful fish is perfect for beginner fish tanks. These good-natured fish easily co-exist with the other species and grow to as long as 3.5 inches. The dwarf gourami natural habitation is often oxygen-deficient, so they have learning to breathing the air above the surface of the water. These surface dwellers feed upon floating food.
The males have diagonal stripes of alternating blue and red colors and their abdominal fins turned due to long outgrowths. Females have a silvery color. Honey, sparkling, croaking and dwarf gouramis grow to about 3 inches and can be kept in tanks as small as 10 gallons, while a 30-gallon fish tanks or larger is recommended for pearl, blue, gold, opaline, paradise fish and moonlight gouramis. Kissing gouramis grow to about 6 inches and need a 55-gallon tank or larger when full size.
Bettas
There are over 70 recognized species of Betta with hundreds of different color combinations available. They are most active in water temperature between 76° and 85° F.f Bettas are beautiful fish, but you can only keep one Betta male in a tank at a time to keep these territorial fish from fighting each other (you may be able to keep other fish but no other male Bettas).
In unfiltered containers, feed sparingly, once daily. In filtered aquariums, feed once or twice a day. All food should be consumed in two minutes or less and any remaining food should be removed. You can place a single Betta fish in a “community” aquarium containing other non-aggressive species of fish. Consider these fish and animals to put with Bettas: Cory catfish, Neon and ember tetras, Ghost shrimp, African dwarf frogs, Guppies and Kuhli loaches.
10. Cory Catfish (Corydoras)
The Cory Catfish is a peaceful bottom dwelling fish that will live harmoniously with most other fish. Thanks to their love for vegetative matter and algae these freshwater fish help to keep your tank clean. Compared to other tank cleaning fish the Cory Catfish has a relatively low waste bio-load, making it one of the best options for the job.
With over 160 species to choose from the Cory is the perfect addition to start your freshwater fish tank. The Cory Catfish is a communal fish, best kept in groups of at least 3 and can live up to 20 years. Growing to one to three inches in length, they love scavenging around the tank floor and looking for crumbs, but you must specifically feed them a variety of sinking foods to make sure they get enough nutrition.
Setting up your tank can be a fairly simple step-by-step process. Choosing the best fish to start your freshwater tank will bring lots of enjoyment for years to come without a lot of maintenance or trouble. For more helpful information on the easiest aquariums to maintain please see our article, Which Fish Tank is Easiest to Maintain.