Choosing the right fish is crucial when starting your aquarium hobby. If you start with a sick fish, it may cause you to lose interest quickly.
Although buying a live animal always carries some risk because hidden health issues might show up later, you can increase your chances of success by choosing the healthiest fish.
The below tips will help you in picking fish that are easy to take care of. This will help you succeed in the aquarium hobby from the very beginning.
Select Hardy Fish Species
If you’re a beginner in the fish keeping hobby, it’s important to start slow and learn as much as you can about fish.
It’s recommended to start with easier-to-maintain fish like guppies, platys, and swordfish. Avoid buying fish that you know nothing about, even if they look interesting or cool in the store.
If you have an interest in a more challenging species, ensure that you do thorough research before purchasing them.
You can do this by visiting websites dedicated to that species, talking to experienced fish keepers, and consulting with pet store staff who are familiar with that type of fish.
This will help you understand what specific care and conditions the fish needs to thrive.
In the beginning, try to avoid species that are difficult to care for and feed, such as pacus or oscars. These fish often have specific dietary needs that can be challenging for a beginner.
It’s best to wait until you’re fully comfortable with your fish keeping setup and equipment before trying to keep more difficult fish species.
Check the Health of The Fish
When choosing a fish to buy, it’s crucial to check for signs of good health. Here’s what to look for:
- Color: The fish’s color should be vibrant and full, not faded or dull. The color should cover the entire body, with no patches missing, unless that’s normal for the species.
- Skin and Scales: Check for any visible skin issues like sores, ulcers, boils, or peeling scales. The fish’s skin should be smooth and clear of any such problems. The scales should lie flat and smooth against the body, not sticking out.
- Fins: The fish’s fins should be in good condition, whether long and flowing or short and stiff. Look out for any ragged, torn, or missing fins. All the fins should be open and not clamped shut.
- Stomach: The stomach should be rounded, not caved in or sunken.
- Eyes: The eyes should be clear, not cloudy or bulging.
- Body Size: The entire body should be of normal size, neither bloated nor skinny.
- Behavior: The fish should comfortably swim around the tank, not hide excessively behind decorations or stay in the corners.
- Swimming Pattern: The fish should swim in a horizontal line, not with its head or tail up or down, unless that’s typical for the species. It should swim with ease, not struggle to stay afloat.
- Breathing: It should breathe normally, not gasp for air or hang near the top of the tank with its mouth open.
- Parasites: There should be no visible parasites like ich or velvet.
- Waste: Fish waste should be dark in color, not pale.
By keeping these points in mind, you will increase your odds of buying a healthy fish.
Take Into Account the Final Size of The Fish
When you’re setting up an aquarium, it’s important to know the potential size of the fish you’re considering. Fish dealers often sell young fish that grow much larger over time.
If you don’t take this into account, your tank could become over-crowded as the fish mature, leading to unhealthy conditions.
If you’re unsure about the potential size of a particular fish, it’s a good idea to ask your local dealer for advice.
Larger fish can be a great choice for some hobbyists, but they do take up more space in your aquarium and can limit the other types of fish you can keep.
Here’s a list of average sizes for some common aquarium fish when they’re fully grown:
- Neon tetras stay quite small, at just .05 inches.
- Red serape tetras are between .05 and 1 inch.
- Platies typically grow to around 1.25 inches.
- Swordtails typically reach 2 inches.
- Cories can range from 1 to 2 inches.
- Tiger barbs usually reach about 1 inch.
- Dwarf gouramis usually grow to about 1.5 inches.
- Plecos can vary greatly in size, from 2 inches to a foot long.
Basically, when you’re choosing fish for your aquarium, make sure you’re considering how much space they’ll need when they’re fully grown.
Avoid Newly Arrived Fish at The Dealer
When you go to buy fish from a dealer, avoid purchasing the new arrivals they recently received.
You can easily detect these new arrivals if they’re still in a packing crate or if you notice many bags of fish floating in aquariums.
Dealers usually get new fish on specific days each week, so it’s a good idea to ask when these days are.
A responsible dealer will quarantine new fish before they’re sold to customers. Quarantine is a period where the fish are kept separately to reduce their stress from shipping and to allow any diseases to be treated that may appear in the first few days after arrival.
This process usually happens in the back of the shop, so if you see bags of fish in the front purchase tanks, it’s better to avoid buying them.
If you see any fish that you really like while they’re still in the quarantine bags at the back, you can ask the dealer to reserve them for you until after the quarantine period. Most dealers are happy to do this either for free or for a small deposit.
Don’t Buy Sick Fish
Don’t let anyone convince you to buy a fish that appears sick or unhealthy, even if you think you can help it get better. This is a common mistake for beginners.
You should only try to care for a sick fish if you really know what you’re doing and have the right tools for the job. A sick fish can cause issues with the water and even spread disease to your other fish.
Stay away from buying fish from tanks that the seller is treating with medicine, because the diseases could potentially infect your other fish.
If you see dead fish in a tank that otherwise looks okay, don’t buy any fish from that same tank.
Avoid buying a fish with an unusually humped back, unless it’s normal for that kind of fish because it usually means the fish is old.
A good seller will not let you buy old, dying, or sick fish. They should tell you if any fish are being treated for illness and aren’t for sale until they get better.
Just because a fish has been treated doesn’t mean it’s fully healthy again.
Use your best judgement when looking at the fish; carefully check for any signs of illness like damaged or clamped fins, white spots or growths, strange swimming patterns, or oddly shaped bodies.
Check Compatibility of The Fish
It’s not just about finding healthy fish for your aquarium, but also about making sure the fish you choose can peacefully coexist in the same aquarium.
If you don’t, your aquarium might become a battleground. So, before buying any fish, do some research on their size, behavior, and compatibility with other species to avoid any problems.
When you go to a fish store, make a list of the fish that catch your eye, but you haven’t studied yet. Writing down the names helps you remember them, especially when some have complex scientific names.
This method is especially helpful in large stores with hundreds of fish tanks.
After making your list, do some research or ask a dealer to ensure all the fish you’ve chosen can live together without issues, have similar dietary needs, and don’t require any special tank conditions.
Also, be mindful of other compatibility matters. For example, if you buy a convict cichlid and a guppy, the cichlid might eat the guppy. So, it’s crucial to understand how different species interact.
