Freshwater aquarium fish are easy to care and very enjoyable pets. They can easily live in a small 5 gallon tank and love swimming in a 100 gallon tank. You can house your pet in a glass or acrylic tank. Use different substrates and decorative ornamental pieces, like rocks, live plants, plastic plants, and even some fancy plastic aquarium toys. The tank can be lit up with a bulb and you can place a filter to keep the water clean. You can even place a heater to provide some warmth to them. You can use normal tap water as the medium for your pet to live in.
As an aquarium enthusiast, you can choose from a variety of fish. You should keep in mind that the fish should be similar in size to avoid larger ones from picking on the smaller ones or the tiny ones eating up the fins of the larger fish. Also, they should not compete with each other for food, as it will result in starvation and death of the weaker lot. You need to choose the right pet for your aquarium so that they can peacefully exist alongside each other.
Basics of Their Compatibility
Fish are very sensitive and delicate creatures. Any amount of stress can lead to their untimely death. The freshwater fish are divided into 3 categories according to their behavior:
- Community Fish: They are peace-loving and happy-go-lucky. They do not get into fights and are compatible with all the others. You can safely mix and match different community species in your tank.
- Semi-aggressive Fish: These are a bit high-strung and will not shy away and would occasionally nip and bite other fish. They tend to be peaceful when small, but as they increase in size they turn into fin-nipping rogues. They will chase and tire the others. They are good for community tanks, but make sure you keep an eye on them as they grow bigger in size.
- Aggressive Fish: Just as the name suggests, these fish can be called the fighters. They love to pick on little ones and are not compatible with any other species. They can live around with other aggressive ones of their own kind or size. However, they have a habit of bullying weaker ones by pushing them around.
The Compatibility Chart
| Category | Community | Semi-aggressive | Aggressive |
| Anabantids | Dwarf Gourami
Flame Gourami Opaline Gourami Pearl Gourami Siamese Fighting Fish/Betta Fish Spike-tailed Paradise fish |
Honey Gourami
Kissing Gourami |
Black Paradise fish |
| Aquarium Catfish | Banjo Catfish
Bristlenose Chinese Algae Eater Corydoras Green Catfish Leopard Catfish Plecostomus Spotted Catfish Upside Down Catfish |
Bumble Bee Catfish | |
| Charachins | Black Neon Tetra
Black Phantom Tetra Cardinal Tetra Congo Tetra Emperor Tetra Flame Tetra Glowlight Tetra Head and Tail Light Tetra Neon Tetra Fish Rummy-nosed Tetra Serpae Tetra Hatchetfish Pencilfish Bloodfin Penguin Fish X-Ray Fish |
Bleeding Heart Tetra
Black Widow Buenos Aires Tetra Silver Dollar |
Red Belly Piranha |
| Cichlids | Freshwater Angelfish
Blue Acara Discus Festivum Ram |
Firemouth
Severum |
Convict
Green Terror Jack Dempsey Red Oscar |
| Cyprinids | Cherry Barb
Bala (Tri-Color) Shark Black Shark Blue Danio Giant Danio White Cloud Zebra Danio Harlequin Rasbora |
Flying Fox
Green Tiger Barb Red-tailed Shark Rosy Barb Tiger Barb Tinfoil Barb |
|
| Killifish | Lyretail | ||
| Livebearers | Guppy fish
Molly Platy |
Swordtail | Knife Livebearer |
| Loaches | Clown Loach
Dwarf Loach Horseface Loach |
||
| Unclassified | Australian Rainbowfish
Boesmani Rainbow fish Boesman's Rainbow fish Bumble Bee Goby Elephant Nose Rainbow fish |
Archer Butterfly Fish |
This chart will help you know which ones are compatible. You can try keeping some of the community fish with the semi-aggressive species, but make sure you always have an eye on them. Do not introduce the aggressive ones to the tank, else most of your peace-loving fish will end up dead.
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