What's your favorite freshwater fish?

[WaMiss]

What is your favorite freshwater fish? Why is it your favorite? It's coloring? It's attitude?
We are looking for ideas for our 135gallon tank.


:fish: :fish: :fish:

[WaMiss]

I am new to fish, but so far my favorite is the ACEI cichlid. They are really active and I love the bright blue off set with the yellow tail!

[Lab_Rat]

I have a couple. Hypselecara temporalis for temperament, personality, and coloring. Parachromis managuense for attitude/personality. Hoplarchus psittacus for looks.

[Strider199]

Most small to medium tetras. Cardinals are my favourite. I like their colour, their temperament and the way they cruise the tank together from time to time. They remind me of trout which I love to catch.
A pair of German Blue Rams with my Cardinals just tops it off. Can you guess what I have in my 55 gallon?

[Critterstruck]

Blind Cave Tetras. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Astyanax&species=mexicanus&id=559 We had them when I was a kid, and I always thought they were quite a marvel, having no eyes and all. :) They're said to be rather intelligent, but I don't remember. I would imagine so, though.

[frefal13]

My favorite freshwater fish is probably firemouth cichlids. I love their coloring and the way they flair their red throats. I don't actually have any, don't have a big enough tank, but I can't wait til I can have them!

[zolton13]

Mamfensis Panchax Killifish (Fundulopanchax mamfensis ossing) are my favorite. They are weird and their behavior is different. They are kind of an oddball when it comes to fish but very fun to watch. Not to mention their color can also vary greatly.

[ekfishlover2011]

Mollies are great little fish, especially Dalmatian Lyretails. They have beautiful tails with longer top and bottom pieces that stick out about 1mm for females 2mm or farther for males. The males have long flowing dorsal fins that can stretch the whole way to tip of tail! Ive never had one with that long of a tail, but my friend did. The best thing about these mollies is the color pattern. Its as their name states, dalmatian! They are born a brownish color, and then they will turn a solid white color after a few days. Then they will get varying amounts of randomly placed black spots and splotches. You can find peppered ones with millions of tiny black dots, splotched ones that look splashed with black paint, patchy ones that have large clumpy patches of black, saddled ones, all sorts. If you love dalmatian dogs and the uniqueness of every pups spots, you will love dalmatian lyretail mollies. And unlike real dalmatians, you dont have to walk and brush and pet and play with them. :D Thats always a plus. Get more females than males, because if you have that backwards the females will be stressed from too many males trying to mate with them and the males will fight for females. They are a great addition to any freshwater aquarium, and can be kept alone or in groups like the one i just described. Good luck finding the perfect tank stock! Make sure to post pictures when its all stocked and ready!

EDIT: Also, Dalmatian Lyretails are only $2.99 a piece.

[Cliff]

Below are my favorites:

Congo tetras
Blue Acara
Most all Severums

[Pele]

Bettas by like, one million points or whatever

German Blue Rams are a close second

[ekfishlover2011]

i would have said bettas, but then i read that its for a 125 gallon and i wouldnt want to take up whole thing with one aggressive betta.

[sheamurai]

Of the fish I currently own, my favourites are my sailfin pleco and my yoyo loaches. Not that I'm partial to bottom dwellers at all, but these fish are the most active, entertaining fish that I have and as a bonus are also an asset to the maintenance of the tank.

Plus, purely subjectively, they always look happy.

[Pele]

i would have said bettas, but then i read that its for a 125 gallon and i wouldnt want to take up whole thing with one aggressive betta.

Do that
Do that, and make it the best tank ever, make it like a gosh darn rice paddy, with all live plants and some ghost shrimp all swimming around in there, make it a betta paradise.

Actually, I would think that with that big a tank you maight be abble to keep to males together, since I would assume they would set up their own nice 60 gallon territory.

[Kaz]

For solitary fish I like Gouramis and Bettas. I also like GBR but those can be delicate especially if they were shipped from Asia.

I generally prefer large schools of fish. I think a big school of tetras is very cool.

My personal favourites have always been Cories. They have so much personality.

[mermaidwannabe]

Dojo loaches! Active, playful and full of personality. Plus, they're cute with their little whiskered mouths and the way they sometimes "yawn" while laying around like lazy little bums.LOL!

-- mermaidwannabe

[MCHRKiller]

My Astronotus orbicularis....looks and personality. They are a very close relative to domestic oscars but are a very different fish in behavior. Personality wise they remind me more of a Vieja.

[angel_love]

Biotodoma Wavrini! I have one (yea, I know they should be in groups but I special ordered some and only 1 survived at the lfs) and he is by far my favorite. He is peaceful and begs like a dog, not shy at all and his colors are starting to come in on his cheeks, I <3 him.:fish:

[Dave66]

I've long loved large schools of tetras, so I'd say they are my favorite, though I do like the atlantic blue tangs in a reef tank a whole lot.

Dave

[Trillianne]

For a large tank like that you could have a good size giant danio school. They are quick movers and splashers, eager to feed, and yet they get along with their tank mates pretty well.

I think they get overlooked a lot because they always look so dull at the fish stores.

[Aeonflame]

Vieja synspilum

Clown and yoyo loaches.

[enzof9]

ghost knife

[Surfdog]

Oscars! Personality plus on these guys. If I had a FW setup, no doubt I would build it around an Oscar setup...

[dscott14450]

i would have to go with the redtailed catfish. i know that they get huge but the are just so cool.

[boang3000]

i would have to go with the redtailed catfish. i know that they get huge but the are just so cool.

+1 to redtail catfish :]

i love cats and aros :))

[dscott14450]

+1 to redtail catfish :]

i love cats and aros :))

the only problem i have with mine is that he seems to eat rocks, get fat and not be able to move for a couple of days :scry:

[openbook]

Clown loaches are fun friendly fish. There are some really cool plecos out there, but they are very expensive. A royal pleco is one I saw on a website, it cost 60 dollars for a 1.5 inch fish, they would max out at 6".

[dizzydezzy]

I've recently fallen completely in love with emerald eye rasboras (aka eyespot rasboras). They are the tightest schooling fish I have ever seen in a tank, they seem to really stick together unlike most "schooling" fish you get. And they have pretty shiny eyes :D

[skullduggery1]

With it's bulldog-ish good looks and it's who or what do you think you are personality,the polypterus.

[billycourty]

Long finned danios and neons are just wonderful.

[dscott14450]

Long finned danios and neons are just wonderful.
I would have to agree with you there. I would love to have a huge tank and just fill it with the different types of neons.

[Mitch p]

Mine is without a doubt Yellow Labids or Red Zebra cichlids :O

[Countrylovin4evr]

Bettas if not in that big of a tank.. but I love the personallity and colors. I had a female that (first fish) wanted to be petted through tank.. and would pout if you bumped her tank! I loved her. She murdered other fish though lol.
Neons, and glofish. Again I love color and the fast movement. Though I'm getting attached to my cories too now. And my chinese algae eater is sooo funny to watch. I gave one to my mom and now both of ours like to tease the cats.

[sheamurai]

You'll want to keep an eye on that CAE. They are cute and do a good job when young, but as they age they get aggressive and become problems.