You visit an aquarium store for your first fish but you got confused about which fish to buy first. You are probably looking for your first fish species to be a hardy fish, don’t worry we have got you covered.
There are too many species to choose from. Many hardy fish are available in the local market depending on your aquarium setups.
- Common Goldfish:
Common goldfish or Shubunkin grows about 12 inches in the home aquarium. Goldfish produces a lot of waste so you should be having good filtration in your aquarium. One common goldfish per 20-30 gallon tank is enough. They are quite hardy and are adaptive to many water parameters and conditions. Goldfish loves to eat plants and algae so they are not made for your planted aquarium.
- Barbs:
Barbs belong to the Cyprinidae family. Most barbs get aggressive if kept singly or in a pair. They require a minimum school of 6 to keep their aggression at minimal levels. For beginners Tiger barbs, Cherry barbs, Rosy barbs, Odessa barb are preferred as they don’t get large in size and are semi-aggressive. Their diet in wild consists mainly of small crustaceans and insects but they will accept almost anything in captivity. You should offer them good quality flakes and pellet food supplemented with live or frozen worms to keep them in good health and shape.
- Mollies, Platies & Guppies:
Mollies and guppies belong to the livebearer family which means they give birth to live babies. Platies mollies and guppies are also quite hardy and a good choice for beginners. They require some live plantation and they will happily breed in your aquarium. Most of them grow about 1-1.5 inches and are low-maintenance fish. A minimum of 10-gallon tank with few live plants is recommended for these fish. They come in a lot of variety now so you can mix and match them to make your aquarium glow with beautiful colors.
- Bettas or Siamese Fighting fish:
Bettas often die due to negligence. Bettas are not made for fish bowls or small jars. A betta can live up to two years if kept with care. A minimum of 10 gallons of the tank is preferred for a betta fish. They require low water flow with few floating plants. They are tropical fish so the optimum temperature for them is 26-28 degrees Celsius. They accept pellet food and frozen or live worms.
- Zebra danios:
Zebra danios or zebrafish is also an easy fish to keep for beginners. They only grow to an inch and like to form small groups and swim in a school. They now come in a lot of glow color variety which looks cool under blue light. They will accept micro pellets and flakes easily.
- Corydoras:
Corydoras are bottom dwellers mainly looking for any uneaten food n your tank. They are cool fish to watch and observe and they love to school. One thing you should keep in mind is that they require a sandy or soft substrate any sharp edges in the substrate may damage their barbells. They will accept any sinking pellet or sinking wafers. There are around 160 species to choose from among which popular are panda, bronze, and sterbai corydoras.
So these are only a few most the hardy fish to keep in your new aquarium. Only feed your fish 2-3 pellets each twice a day. A rule of thumb to remember is that the stomach of your fish is equaled to the size of their eyeball. Do remember to perform regular water changes and monitor your fish daily to inspect their health.
