To Recommend a Fish to A Newcomer, Which One?

OK.
Here is a slightly contentious topic.

Question………To Recommend a Fish to A Newcomer, Which One?

Often we hear people ask shops, forums, other fishkeepers….”what’s the best fish to start with”?

Personally, it is quite a difficult question to answer (and saying which fish are NOT good starter fish is much easier) unless one simply plucks the same olde mushy peas off the shelf.

There are loads of great starter fish.

The criteria that I would use would depend upon:
· What takes the newcomers fancy?
(that may also give an idea of what someone maybe aiming for eventually even if it is a 3 foot monster fish, and makes a good starting point to sway towards types within what might be good starter fish).
· Is the fish a reasonable price?
· Is it quite widely available?
· Does the fish pose any feeding problems? (whoops….there goes Mollies off my list)
· Does it need specialist water? (whoops….there goes Mollies off the my again)
· Does it have a low maximum temperature requirement? (it’s easy nowadays to keep a fish warm, much more difficult to keep a fish cool)
· What tank space is reasonably expected? (personally, a fish that requires a massive tank or a very small tank is maybe not the ideal starter fish)
· Prone to disease? And is it an easy fish to treat?
· Is it simply one our own favourite fish?
· Activity? (is the fish somewhat active? Is recommending a banjo catfish or a stone-fish a good ‘starter fish’?)
· Mixability? (if someone wants a single fish in a single tank, full stop…then fine, but many people want the option to expand their community).

I often think that the last question may well be the clincher…..the first fish may restrict a newcomers future buys.

SO….if you were to recommend a starter fish….which one and, briefly, why?
(bearing in mind we all have our own opinions that may differ considerably).

ian

Well, I started out with the ever reliable Zebra Danio which I unwittingly used to cycle my first tank. The said fish lived for nearly 3 years. I think they easily meet most of the criteria mentioned and therefore I'd recommend it.

Dave

White Cloud Mountain Minnow, exotic enough to be interesting, will breed and requires the basics to get a newbie started and requires a modicum of research and care.

Kev.

Good question!!! obviously depends on what the newcomer wants to eventually keep.. also i would encourage the newcomer to keep fish that suits their tank water.. no point in trying to keep high PH fish in acidic water as above cant go wrong with danios... bullet proof and mix well with small to med size fish!!! marines id go for firefish or damsels.. but not the loonys like dominos or humbugs etc... kupangs are a good damsel, or even some of the smaller wrasse, gobys or blennys.....

And it is potentially a very difficult question when asked of someone in the trade.
The trade will see a mix of people from ones just wanting a tank (and maybe just being yet another addition to a house) to people potentially wanting to go much further, or to people who have maybe started on a wrong foot but want to go further etc.

I wonder if the old WCMM gets a raw deal sometimes.......seeing a group of them is an established tank brings surprising results. I got a few for Justine (my OHs) sem-tropical goldfish tank......what a superb addition they turned out to be.

My OH is a relative newcomer (only about 4 years of fish keeping.......my influence...she didn't know what she let herself in for), so I asked her what she thought should be the first fish.
Her answer to this question was 'buy a tank and put some water and let it mature' (not that she actually followed that rule nor my advice nor the advise or anyone else....she wanted the tank and the fish the first day to take home !!).
In the end, she said 'Platys'.

My first tropical was an opaline gourami....and maybe one of the mid-sized gourami species might be a good starter fish:
colourful, cheap, not too difficult to keep (bar the obvious problem gouramis, viz chocolates and giants), quite intelligent and maybe have some character, they have them silly pointy things underneath to add an extra bit of character, have a bit of go about them yet can be mixed with quite a large variety of other fish (there is some aggressive tendencies, but it is such that there is still quite a large choice to mix with them). And, I've started buying gouramis again (it is nice to go back to the days of starting out to see why one got bitten by the bug)

ian

it's a doozie ian..my personal thing is that it entirely depends on the person in question and how much effort they are willing to put in.I've had people who get hooked on a particular fish that in no way would be regarded as a starter fish..but are determined to keep them.If they put the research in before hand and get all the requirements right I believe people can keep pretty much anything really.Having said that I'd allways plump for any species of danio.bomb proof,active,cheap,attractive,peacefull.ticks all the boxes really.

the list of good fish for beginners is vast. i wouldn't say here's a great fish, very hardy and as mentioned bullet proof as this can lead to complacency, i'd say here's a tank full of water understand this then decide on your purchase. on danios yeah they are tough little nuts but they require the same basics as most tropicals, well cycled tank, good aclimatisation, regular testing and changes of water and food.

personally i'd advise against the usual suspects for notorious breeding that will take over the tank and pollute the water, they can become a handful, then neon tetras etc as a starter as they have a tendency to drop off in a new set up.

if you want a good fish i'l throw oddessa barbs, entertaining, stunningly beautiful and go well wit smaller and bigger fish to an extent (albeit mine are being terrorised by boesemani's)

Buenos Aires Tetras, small clean great to watch and can be kept in almost all tank sizes and not fin nippers ime, great for the community tank and not as colliky? as some other tetras like Neons or need the extremely good water quality like Rummy Nose Tetras


Mark

@Gavin...exactly. If you ask someone what takes their fancy and they start pointing at wolffish, snakeheads, polypterus, moray eels, etc then there may be little point in persuading towards a few endlers guppies or even a tortoise.
But there is more to it than that.

There are some good starter fish for all tastes, but it can also be a delicate business.

Guppies were often considered a good starter fish however the standard of guppies on the market nowadays will have a so called starter fish dead rather soon.
I think Gavin makes a good point,but the odds are that the majority of people wont know how to keep fish and hence will ask for advise on what to buy.Many people fell for the clown fish after finding Nemo took over living room tv's around the country and parents gave in so little johnny could try keeping a nemo of his own.

Personally I think Cherry barbs are a good starter fish,stunning reds in the males.

I dont know if there is a definitive starter fish for people but I think people should be prepared to research whatever fish they decide to buy.Thats includes goldfish etc..

Its down to research,red tail catfish's look sweet in the shops but get massive. I always tell people who are looking to get into fishkeeping to look up the net on how to start a fish tank (Im also in favour of a fishless cycle), and then see if they want to go to the hassle of doing that,if they are genuinely interested in the hobby they will be prepared to sit out the cycle before purchasing their first fish. It also gives them plenty of time to get their ideas ready.

Gavin

Are there too many Gavins here. That is going to confuse me no end.

@JohnH.....Kribs, of course. How could they be forgotten?