Introduction

This is a quiz for all you Aquarists out there who think you know something about freshwater fish. Lets see how smart you are.

Question

This is the question – “How are freshwater aquarium fish classified?”

Below are four potential correct answers. Only one is correct, can you get the right answers?

1. Colonial, Aggressive, Weird
2. Community, Neighborly, Anti-Social
3. Community, Semi-aggressive, Aggressive
4. Community, Semi-Aggressive, Mean

Answer #1

Wrong! Only one of these is correct. If you picked this as an answer you need to go back to the drawing board. Colonial would be a different way to classify fish, but I know of none that would want to move to another tank. You may think some fish are weird but none are classified in this category.

Answer #2

Wrong! Though some fish are neighborly and anti-social they are not terms used to classify freshwater aquarium fish. If you selected this as your answer then you need to give your aquarium away to protect your fish from you. If you do not have an aquarium yet, there is hope if you do some more research.

Answer #3

Correct! Yes, freshwater aquarium fish are classified as:

• Community – These fish pretty much get along with all fish that are also classified as community.
• Semi-Aggressive – These fish usually get along with each other, but some do not. You need to do some research to see which semi-aggressive fish get along with others in this classification.
• Aggressive – The fish classified as aggressive just barely get along with themselves. Usually you need to have only one aggressive or the same species of fish in the same tank.

Answer #4

Wrong! Two out of three isn’t bad, but since you already have the answer you already know that “mean” is not used to classify aquarium fish. Yes, some fish are mean but we classify mean fish as semi-aggressive and aggressive. Mean is just to big an umbrella to use as a classification.

You might even think that some community fish are mean.

Conclusion

The reason we classify fish as community, semi-aggressive and aggressive is to identify those fish that are generally compatible with each other and not others.

Community fish usually get along with other fish classified as community. But they are vulnerable if put in an aquarium with semi-aggressive or aggressive fish.

Semi-Aggressive fish generally get along with other semi-aggressive fish but not community or aggressive fish.

Aggressive fish can tolerate themselves or other fish of the same species.