Introduction

When choosing fish for your freshwater aquarium you need to take your time and choose the right type for you and your aquarium. Do your homework because you need to keep your aquarium peaceful. If you choose the wrong ones, you will not have a peaceful aquarium.

If your new to keeping freshwater fish, then you may not know this but you need to select the ones that are compatible with each other and occupy different parts of your aquarium. Plus you need to ensure they do not outgrow your aquarium.

Personalities

For freshwater fish there are three distinct personality types. When selecting fish for your aquarium, you should select fish that have the same personalities or you will have social issues in your tank.

The different personalities are:

• Community- These fish are rather peaceful fish and are not aggressive toward other fish. Their diet is not special and is good for people just starting out with establishing their first aquarium.

• Semi-Aggressive - These fish are more aggressive than community fish and will tend to nip at the fins of smaller fish. My 75-gallon freshwater aquarium is made up of semi-aggressive fish such as Kissing Gourami, Blue Gourami and schooling Tiger Barb. Semi-aggressive fish are compatible with each other.

• Aggressive or Non-Community - These fish should not be mixed with other fish of different species and should either be kept alone or with fish of their own size and species. These fish are very territorial.

If you have questions about the personality of a particular fish, ask your local pet store. Your pet store should have the freshwater fish separated by personality type.

Separation

If you have a large tank like mine, 75-gallons, you will want to select fish that tend to stay at different levels of the aquarium. For example, I have two Plecostomus that spend most of their time at the bottom of the tank eating algae and fish flakes that fall to the bottom.

I also have seven Tiger Barb that school around the middle of the tank. The Gourami I have will spend their time in the middle and will go to the top of the tank periodically to grab a breath of air.

Size

Keep in mind too that you need to factor in fish size for your aquarium. As a rule of thumb consider one inch of adult fish for every gallon of water in your aquarium.