What are some pretty colorful Freshwater fish?

Question

I set up and am cycling a 55 gallon freshwater aquarium and am looking for some beautiful freshwater fish that I can stock my tank with. I know freshwater is not as colorful or bright as saltwater but I choose to stick with the freshwater. Any suggestions? I am also looking for slightly larger fish. Even though they are bright, I'm not interested in having guppies in my tank. I have been suggested cichlids but I have only owned platties and cory cats and am worried about the aggressiveness of the cichlids. I'm not worried about the price of the fish just as long as they are not super super expensive fish. So please, any suggestions to make my tank beautiful would help!

Answer 1

I would recommend discus, but, seeing as how you're a beginner they're probably not the best fish to keep.



Some great, hardy, colorful freshwater fish include, rainbowfish (boesemani, red irian, blue eyed, featherfin, ect), angelfish (not really colorful, but they are very beautiful), sumo loaches, killifish, dwarf gourami, pearl gourami, gold gourami, rosy barbs, gold barbs, odessa barbs and of course, African cichlids.



African cichlids aren't as difficult to care for as you may think. in a properly stocked aquarium with lots of hiding places they can make great additions to aquariums. To start, you would need to do a fishless cycle, fishless cycles were designed mainly for African cichlid keepers. The point of a fishless cycle is after the aquarium is done cycling, all the fish can be added at once to avoid aggression issues over territory. African cichlids prefer hard water, being so, I would recommend using a combination of crushed coral and sand or gravel. Since they also like to dig you should have around 3" of substrate, or 1.5-2 pounds per gallon. It would also be ideal to have a lot of hiding places, you can make rock formations using flat rocks and siliconing them together. Or you can also buy stackable rock houses. When keeping African cichlids it is recommended that you overstock the tank to avoid aggression. In closing, I wouldn't be so quick to rule out African cichlids, they can make an excellent beginner fish providing the hobbyist does proper research.

Answer 2

If you are cycling a 55 with a fish-less cycle, kudos! Maybe it is time to consider killifish. And if you are not interested in breeding them, a bunch of less expensive male killies (at least at club auctions) are better behaved around other fish if there are no female killies to impress. Just make sure that companion medium-small tetras, livebearers or Corys aren't mouth-sized. :)



Killifish come from "fish of the kill." A kill is a Dutch - American name on the east coast for a small or medium sized stream. So killifish means fish of the stream, not some killer predator (unless you are a mosquito larvae).. ;)



With over 1,000 described killie species, local strains (collecting locations) and a few color sports what the most beautiful species is will vary among killie nuts. That is a little bit like asking who is/was the world's greatest soccer player, basketball player, left handed pitcher, home run hitter and so on.



If you don't wish to Google these fish listed below, scroll down to the URLs way below. More suggestions on keeping killies are in the sources.



Easier killifish, more or less plant spawners:

Aphyosemion ahli

A, bivittatum Funge

A. campomaanense

A. edeanum

A. gabonense

A. ogoense

A. primogenium

A. pyrophore

A. schoetzi

A. striatum



Aplocheilus lineatus



Epiplatys dageti

Ep. or pseudepiplatys annulatus



Procatopus aberrans



Fundulopanchax gardneri group Misaje, Innidere, P82, Makurdi

Fp gardneri gardneri Nsukka, Lafia

Fp. walkeri

Fp. spoorenbergi

Fp. mirabelis group



Scriptaphyosemion cauvetti

Script geryi

Script liberiense

Script schmitti



Easier annual killifish (who lay eggs in mud or peat moss that dries for a few months)

Austrolebias nigripinnis

Nematolebias whitei

Nothobranchius guentheri

N. foerchi

N. kortausae

N. eggersi

N. kilomberoensis

Simpsonichthys fulminantis



More challenging plant spawners:



A, australe gold or Chocolate (need less mineral in water to spawn)

A. batsei

A. cyanostictum

A. elberti

A. kekemense

A. jorgenscheeli

A. occelatum

A. wachtersi



Epiplatys ansorgei Masana



Lamprichthys tanganicanus



Rivulus agilae

Riv mahdiaensis

Riv rectocaudatus

Riv scalaris

Riv xiphidius

Riv sp. paryagi



semi-annuals: Callopanchax occidentalis

Fp. sjoestedti (blue gularis)



More challenging annuals:

Aphyolebias peruensis

Micromoema xiphophora

N. rachovii

N. furzeri

Gnatholebias zonatus

Renova oscari

Simpsonichthys boitonei

Simpsonichthys magnificus

Simpsonichthys picturatus

Simpsonichthys santanae

Simpsonichthys zonatus

Terranatos dolichopterus



http://theaquariumwiki.com/File:Aphyosemion_striatum3957.jpg

http://www.killiclubdefrance.org/squelettes/fichiers/Chauche_old/Aphyosemion%20bivittatum%20Funge.jpg

http://www.aka.org/aka/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?start=20&topic_id=463&viewmode=compact&order=ASC&type=&mode=0

http://www.aquanet.de/AquaLex/Detail.aspx?guid=3c3d985e-b529-4082-82e1-9b93a9f2c1e7&t=1

http://www.aka.org/aka/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=733&forum=1&post_id=3428#forumpost3428

http://www.aka.org/wak/index.htm

http://www.alfanita.se/

http://www.itrainsfishes.net/content/



Hope some here catch your eye!



All the best!

Answer 3

Do you still have the platies and cories? Are they going in this 55-gallon as well? If not, then chiclids would be a fun choice; they come in all sorts of colours and there are big ones and little ones.... Angelfish are beautiful, as someone else mentioned, but you should know that they are actually chiclids, and can get fairly aggressive. Angels are territorial. You might like rainbowfish, discus, hatchets, platies and mollies (but mollies prefer brackish water)....



Good luck with your new tank!

Answer 4

As far as color goes my 2 favorites are female betta and all the different color variations sunset bumblebee coral blue tuxedo

Answer 5

german rams, angel fish, kill fish, gouramis, odessa barbs, tiger barbs, barbs, rummy nose tetra neon tetra bleeding heart tetra, cardinal tetra, oscars, heres some good sites...http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=830



http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/fishindx.htm



http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-species/freshwater_all_landing.aspx



http://www.petco.com/N_10872/Freshwater-Fish.aspx



help me with mine?...https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20130707135119AA45F1o thanks