Setting up a home aquarium requires a lot of decisions. Do you want to set up a freshwater or saltwater tank? Heated or unheated? How large of a tank do you have room for? Artificial plants or real plants? How many fish should you put in the tank? Once you have decided what type of tank you want to set up and have started the process of getting the tank ready for fish you will need to decide what type of fish are going to work out the best in your tank. There are a lot of choices when it comes to deciding what the best fish for a home aquarium are and the type of fish that you choose will depend on the answers to these questions:

How big is the fish going to get?

Sure the fish is adorable now when it’s tiny and swimming in a big tank with a lot of other fish. But when that fish grows how big it will grow up to be? Goldfish, which are one of the most popular fish for home aquariums, can grow to be very large. Mollys, another popular type of fish, are usually medium to large sized when they are older. Tetras, which are the most popular type of fish for a home aquarium, tend to stay pretty small. Factor into your decision how many fish your tank can comfortably support so you don’t end up putting too many fish in the tank. Plan to have one or two large fish, two or three medium fish, and several smaller fish in the tank if you want to have a balanced tank.

Is the fish aggressive?

Most species of tropical fish eat other fish, so the risk of one fish eating another is one that you will always face when you set up a fish tank. But some species of tropical fish are more aggressive than others. You need to be sure that you don’t put a super aggressive fish in with less dominant fish or your tank will be chaos and eventually empty because the aggressive fish will kill all the others. There are many different types of Tetras and they are not aggressive. Tetras are great fish to add to a tank if you want to have a lot of different colors of fish that can live harmoniously together.

What temperature water does the fish need?

Some fish require water that is a high Ph and some fish require water that has a lower Ph. Mixing the two types of fish will result in an unbalanced tank and unhealthy fish. You will need to be sure that the types of fish you choose will be able to live in the same conditions.

Choosing the best fish for a home aquarium requires a little forethought and planning. There are some aforementioned fish types which are very common for home aquariums, but you should also consider other factors such as whether you have kids or how often you want to perform aquarium maintenance. But if you spend some time thinking about what fish will be able to live together happily in your home aquarium you can create a beautiful tank that is peaceful and full of healthy fish.