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Today we're talking about the best fish if you're a beginner. I got 10 of them for you. Not in any specific order but we're gonna give some basic care and hopefully give you some ideas for your new tank.

Rasboras

The first idea I've got for you is rasboras. In general, you can get them in any pet store. Rasbora hets are very, very common and super sturdy. You get that orange color on 'em and there are some other variants as well. They get about 2.5-3 inches and some stay a little bit smaller, and some get a little bit bigger.

Like a scissor tail rasbora, something like that. They handle a wide range of PH and they like to be in schools of six or more and, in general, pretty peaceful. So they can go with most of the other suggestions on this list.

The common goldfish

Next up I've got the common goldfish. That's not necessarily a beginner fish. The common goldfish, I do believe, is a beginner fish. With a little bit of research, they're very easy to take care of.

In general, giving them at least 30 gallons of water per fish. So, in a 55 you could have, kind of, a couple of them, They get to about a foot, maybe 14 inches and one of the good things is you can usually put them into a pond later. Maybe a family member or something like that. But, in general, feed 'em a diet with a lot of spirulina and veggies in it and they're pretty easy to take care of.

Change a bunch of water and they're really forgiving in terms of PH, hardness, and all that and so, you don't want to mix them with other community fish but a tank of just them is super cool and that's why they're one of the most popular fish in the world.

Tetras

Next up I've got tetras for you. Now, seems common, it is common, but there are hundreds of types of tetras and it's probably the most well-represented species at your local fish store.

There's neon tetras, cardinal tetras, Congo tetras, black neon tetras, you know, there's gonna be tons and, so, they're all pretty easy to take care of.

They like a neutral PH. Kind of 7-7.8 you can go a little bit higher on some of the African tetras. You can go a little bit lower, maybe, on wild-caught cardinal tetras. So, do a little bit of research before you're buying them but keep them in groups of six or more. They like to school around. Safety in numbers.

Could go with the rasboras we mentioned earlier and a bunch of others in this list.

Corydoras

Next up, we've got corydoras. Now, think of them like the rasbora or the neon tetra of the bottom dwellers. They like to be in groups. Ideally six or more, but, I say a bare minimum of three and they usually are in every pet store if not, at least albino and bronzes, some of the more, you know, common ones. All the way up to very expensive laser or Delphi or some that just have numbers. 

Sometimes you go corydoras cw056, what's that?

In general, they're all catfish that get, about, 2.5-3 inches, school around the bottom and they eat off the bottom. Now, that doesn't mean they only eat leftovers or they clean your tank. You still have to dedicated feed them, but, they swim down low, kinda, you can inhabit that area without having to put them up in the middle with tetras and rasboras and all that kind of stuff. So, they're a great little addition to your community tank.

Platies

Next up we've got platies. Now, if you know me you know that I love live bearers and I couldn't leave live bearers off this list so I had to find one that I thought was really hardy for a beginner and that is the platy.

Guppies, a lot of people would suggest that, but they're so bred now that they're pretty weak. Platies, on the other hand, tend to be nice and robust, can handle a wide range of PH all the way from 6.8 to probably 8.5, they give birth to live young, and they like the water to be a little bit hard but they don't care that much if it's not super hard.

They'll eat almost anything. They get about 3.5-4 inches and they come in any color you can imagine. My personal favorites are a slight variant of platy known as the variatus platy. I personally keep them in my fish room and they're one of my favorite fish of all time. Out of everything I own at the store and home, they're still probably in my top five favorite fish ever.

Bettas

Next up I've got bettas. I know, there's a lot of controversy on that but, in general, I do think they are good beginner fish for people if they keep them appropriately. So, get yourself like, a ten-gallon aquarium, get a filter with slow flow, maybe a sponge filter or a small hang-on back, plant it up and then mix it with, probably, some of those tetras and things we've been talking about earlier and you're finally like, wait, I can keep them in a community.

All of our bettas in our store here are kept in community tanks and I would say 85% or more of our customers do the same thing.

It doesn't always work out but it is one of the easiest fish to keep because they breathe from the surface.

They eat lots of meat so you can feed them high-quality pellets, frozen blood worms, and things like that and they typically do get along with other stuff. You actually worry more about other stuff picking on them in a large aquarium. In smaller tanks, they get very, very territorial and sometimes will lash out at other things but in a big tank not so much and, you know, just don't forget don't keep more than one betta by itself. They're very territorial against each other.

Barbs

Next up we've got barbs. So, they can be semi-aggressive. I would say things like tiger barbs, Odessa barbs, and cherry barbs, there are lots of barbs.

Tinfoil barbs, they get huge. In general, most of them get about 3ish inches, it depends, but the ones that I would sell and we would keep, or you see most in your store are smaller three versions and they school around so groups of six or more and, usually, the more you have the more active they are but the less they nip and chase other things.

So, if you have a group of 15 tiger barbs, they usually are, kind of, laid back. I wouldn't mix barbs with long-finned things like a nice, big, long-finned angel or something like that but you could mix them with rasboras, corydoras, neon tetras, and a couple other things on the list. Sometimes you just gotta have a cichlid and what's a good beginner cichlid?

Bolivian ram

I like the Bolivian ram. So, not the German ram which is, kind of, delicate but the Bolivian ram gets about 3.5 inches, doesn't have quite as much color but has that cichlid behavior. It's gonna be that showpiece in your tank and it will handle a wide variety all the way from seven to eight PH, you can breed 'em, you can keep them with, you know, the neons, the rasboras, the barbs, all that kind of stuff and their temps are in the same range, that 78 with all that other stuff, so it's really easy to mix into your community tank and they're really hearty and they'll eat a wide variety of food, so, it's a great introductory cichlid species if you're a beginner.

Kuhli loaches

Next up we've got a bottom dweller, kuhli loaches. Now, as long as they look okay at the store, typically you do okay with them. You don't get to see them a whole lot. They're very nocturnal and reclusive. They live in plant roots and under pieces of wood and decorations, but, when you do get to see 'em they're super cool. They look like little worms and eels and they're great little scavengers. They eat little leftovers between the rocks and that kind of thing.

You still gotta feed 'em, cause, they eat leftovers but, you know, just because like we eat leftovers, we still have to cook once in a while to make leftovers. Same deal with them. Gotta feed 'em, but, get a group of three or more of them at least and they can go in tanks as small as five, all the way up, as many as you want to keep.

Angelfish

Alright, my last fish, an angelfish. So, yes, they do get large, they get the size of, you know, a small saucer but, keep them in, like, a 55-gallon or larger, they're pretty darn easy to keep. You can keep them with rasboras, and barbs, as long as it's not a long-fin variety of the angelfish. Barbs and neons, er, not neon tetras but tetras in general, all those community fish.

It's your big, big, big showpiece fish. It's also a cichlid and, you know, so you can even keep it with that Bolivian ram. It's kind of, the easiest way, my advice, is to keep just one.

Don't buy wild caught, buy stuff that's been tank raised. Hopefully even locally to your water and, just put one showpiece in that 55 gallons.

It's really easy. When you start adding more, that's when you can get fighting going on. Then you can get breeding going on and all that stuff and they get a lot more territorial but one is very, very easy to keep in a tank that's 55 or larger in your general community tank.

So, hopefully, that gave you 10 ideas of what way could I go, I'm new to fish or I want to just add something and, you know, you can weigh in. Leave a comment down below and let me know what you think is a great beginner fish.

I could have come up with another 20 of them, I'm sure, but leave it down below so that someone that's new reading the comments goes ooo, let me research that one, let me research that one and we'll crowdsource this thing and we'll see you in the next article.