More than 12.5 million people in US keep freshwater fish as pet. Also many offices, hospital lobbies and visiting halls have aquarium fishes and plants. It brings color and beauty to the area. They have many healthy effects that are even proven medically. It is very relaxing to see these beautiful fishes moving and playing. There are many types of aquarium fishes in the world but some more important and common types are discussed in this article.
Guppy (Poecilia Reticulata):
White Cloud Fish (Tanichyths):
Also known as working man’s Neon because of their beautiful shining color pattern. Males are more beautiful and colorful than females. It is very easy to raise these simple fishes as they don’t need extensive care. Fish’s body length is roughly 4cm and they need a planted tank of 60*30cm dimensions. They require room temperature and are omnivorous in diet. Tanichyths are peaceful in nature and can live in similar community. They have compatibility with betta fish, glow-light tetra, and dwarf gourami. Plants and mosses are recommended when keeping these fishes.
Gold Fish (Carassius auratus):
It is most common, easily available, less costly and friendly fresh water aquarium fish. Fancy goldfishes are more beautiful and smaller than common gold fish. These fishes vary in size and color (orange scales mostly). The size reaches up to 18inches and needs a tank of almost 20 gallons size. In wild gold fish are omnivorous but as pet they grow well on fish food. Some of these fishes may eat certain aquarium plants and mosses. Gold fish have many interesting facts like strong memory, spending whole life with open eyes, lack of eyelashes. These are trained to do small tricks like hoops to catch food. Gold fish good tank mates are rosy barbs, white cloud and mostly other gold fish types.
Platies Fish (Poecilia):
Also known as spike tail platy because of its fins shape. Platies are small, coloring (brown and yellow mostly), mesmerizing beauty and are easy to breed. They enjoy a tank filled with live aquarium plants. These are best for beginners and also for professionals. Their size ranges 4-6cm and need more than 10gallons of tank size. Females are larger than male. These are fresh water fishes and are omnivorous. Platies are compatible with other peaceful fishes like swordtail fish, molly fish and guppy. Platy is a common name that further carries three other species; the Swordtail platy, the Southern platy and the Variable platy.
Betta fish (Betta Splendens):
Also known as Japanese fighting fish or Siamese. In past betta mostly used as fighting fish because of their aggressive nature. These have very beautiful iridescent scales, long fins and flashy colors. These are warm water fishes (75 degree Fahrenheit or more). These are very small fishes and you can put them even in a bowl but only one fish in one bowl. If you want to put fishes in tank then its size depend on number of fishes mainly but it should be minimum of 3-5 gallons. Aquarium needs proper heat and light source to maintain temperature. Betta fish needs special pellet food. One interesting feature of betta is that they can taught different tricks and these are so intelligent to recognize their owner. Betta mostly don’t live with other tank mates because of their aggressive nature, even two females in a small tank can’t live together. They can be kept with or without aquarium plants.
