Top Two Mistakes Beginner Fish Keepers Make

February 4, 2018

I remember my first freshwater aquarium. It was a 10-gallon tank with black trim and a black pebble bottom, landscaped in natural water plants, rocks, and a fluorescent orange skull where the fish could hide out and sleep. It was beautiful. I named all the fish and took great care to stick to a cleaning and feeding schedule. But like every other beginner fish keeper before me, I made some huge blunders that cost me dearly.  

Because of my naivety and impatience and a failure to ask questions, those mistakes resulted in the loss of many good fish that I had grown to love. I just went to the aquarium store and said, I’ll have one of those and one of those, and oh, what are those pretty, orange, striped ones?

I followed the basic rules of water temperature, community size, and building a family of fish that were social dwellers. By all accounts, I had a beautiful selection of fish and they were all community fish that should’ve got along together and survived. 

Good Starter Fish For A Freshwater Aquarium

- A Swordtail named Spike. He had a beautiful way of swimming lengths of the tank and darting out of other fish’s way, using the extra length in his tail for leverage. 

- A Black Molly called...Molly! I know, not very original.

- A couple of Tri-Coloured Sharks – my absolute favourite. Would love to have a tank full of these beauties one day. I just love how they swim together in unison. When they turn, their beautiful skin catches the light like a flash bulb going off. Beautiful!

- A Red Tail Shark – gotta love those sharks!

- Neon Tetras – these little guys are like Christmas Tree lights the way they twinkle.

- Tiger Barbs – these fish gave me trouble. Couldn’t keep them happy.

- A gorgeous Spotted Raphael Catfish – this adorable fish not only keeps your tank clean, but will chirp lovingly when lifted out of the water. 

- A Clown Loach – every tank needs a bottom feeder to keep their tank clean, and this one is particularly colourful.

Social Fish vs. Aggressive Fish

My aquarium flourished for a while, but I kept wanting to add more fish. Too quickly I threw together a bunch of fish, expecting them all to get along. In the end, I lost a few fish to stress and others to aggressiveness, like when I made the mistake of introducing an Oscar with a vengeance to the tank. He went after Spike first, chomping off that beautiful, bright orange swordtail of his. Two more bites finished him off, before the Oscar wiped out a third of my tank, gobbling up whoever got in his way. It was nothing less than a small scale massacre and I made sure I didn’t make that same mistake again.

But one day I thought it would be fun to add a freshwater shrimp to the mix and this nasty character, with his mechanical legs, steamed around that tank taking chunks out of passersby like some kind of evil aquatic Pac-Man. He was a menace and I hated that specimen with such a passion, I can’t look at a shrimp, let alone a shrimp cocktail, without feeling angry!

Those were my beginner fish-keeping blunders that I hope you guys don’t repeat. Home aquariums are so beautiful and it’s a fascinating hobby too, learning about all the different fish and how they interact with the rest of the community. It’s almost like a study in nature. So have fun putting together your tanks, but take my advice and start off slow. It will pay off in the long run.

by Natalie Secretan
PuppyDogCapers.com