Fishblr, my brother is getting a 60 gal fish tank (with dims of 12.75 in L x 48.5 in W x 25 in H) for christmas. What freshwater fish could we stock it with that would be good for beginners? I will be helping him with research before we stock it, and care afterwards. Thanks! <3
60 gal? Awesome! I recommended some nano fish because with that size, you can get more of them, which will look fantastic (and make them very happy). Small fish like guppies tend to be very unfussy feeders and quite hardy fish so they’re great for beginners, too. Here’s some recs:
White cloud mountain minnow
Cardinal tetra
Ember tetra
Neon tetra
Dwarf spotted danio
Harlequin rasbora
Mosquito rasbora
Endler’s livebearer
Guppy
Cherry barb
Dwarf barb
If he’s not happy with anything I recommended, tell him to take a look around seriouslyfish as it’s an amazing resource. I’d also rec he look around aquariadise for some ideas. Make sure you tell him to post pics of his tank once it’s stocked because I’d love to see it.
@ddwfr the gif is of my bros cherry barbs in their new home. He’s planning on getting some ember tetra, von rio (?) tetra and some freshwater angels (thank you lfs employees 😐). Bonus pic of my surprise christmas betta™️, who is now in a 10 gal planted tank. Babe is courtesy of my brother for helping him with his own fish 🙃
Oh they’re so cute. I LOVE cherry barbs and I’m glad he picked them!! I would advise against the others as I’m a firm believer that more of one species is better than lots of different ones but it sounds like he’s been convinced, lmao. He’ll be overstocked if he gets all of those, so warn him of that at least (especially the angelfish, that’ll send him over with the barbs alone). Some LFS employees are super good but he has to remember that they’ve been trained to sell fish so they’re always going to recommend more. I’m also pretty sure that the angelfish will eat anything they can fit in their mouth once they’re fully grown, so uh… I might be wrong there, but that’s worth googling, too.
Thank you so much for showing me these pics, I rarely get to see the results of my advice so this is awesome. And a betta!! You sound pissed that he got you a surprise fish (I get that, I would be too) but it could be worse. You’ve got everything you need for him, and he’ll thrive in that 10 gal. If you ever need any help with him let me know!
I am still a bit pissed, but I love my betta. They at least got him a 5gal since that has been a huge argument since my bro started wanting fish. They weren't reall happy I upgraded because of that🤷♀️... My bro wants a community tank, and unfortunately he won't listen to me. I told him no on the angels, but he's deadset. At least the LFS employee talked him out of getting a tiger oscar cichlid like he wanted. So we'll see how things go.


















