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6 Low-maintenance Fish That You Can Easily Have At Home

Whether you’re looking to get started in the aquarium hobby or simply looking to add more fish to your tank, finding low-maintenance fish is an important consideration. Starting or maintaining an aquarium certainly requires some work, but some fish are much easier to have than others.

Here are 6 low-maintenance fish you can easily have at home:

The Angelfish

Hailing from the Amazon Basin, Tropical South America, and Orinoco Basin, these graceful fish grow up to 7 inches into a delightful varied range of shades and patterns; black, gold, silver, marble, etc.

Angelfish are easy to maintain because of their generally peaceful nature and their resilience. Typically, freshwater angelfish care is simple. Take feeding for instance. They’re very good eaters, with nutrition requirements comparable to omnivores, consuming: worms, small crustaceans, shrimp pellets, marine algae, frozen live foods, fresh vegetables, etc.

The Standard Goldfish

There are many varieties of goldfish, but if you want low maintenance you should stick with the standard long-body goldfish like the comet, Sarasa, and shubunkin varieties.

There’s a reason goldfish are one of the most mainstream popular fish. As long as you feed them and keep their aquarium clean and free of ammonia, you’re good to go.

Note the distinction between aquariums instead of bowls. Goldfish can grow anywhere from 8 to 24 inches long, so the smallest breeds will still outgrow a glass bowl, or worse, die as their waste products accumulate. They’re omnivores and they will eat next to anything you provide for them. They do prefer plants like Cabomba and Anacharis.

Betta

Scientific name betta splendens, originating from Thailand, bettas are beautiful, hardy, low maintenance fish whose only real downside is their occasionally poor social skills.

Betta males have a reputation of being aggressive, typically seen swimming solo. This reputation is unearned and only partially untrue. Admittedly, betta males will fight each other to death, but they are gentle towards female bettas, and they tend to ignore most of their tank mates when you keep them with other fish. They are rewarding pets who can live up to 5 years when well cared for. Many aquarists report on how personable they are.

Bettas tanks should have a temperature ranging from 75 – 84 Fahrenheit.

Zebra Danio

Goldfish aren’t the only tropical fish that do just as well in cold water aquariums, many smaller, more colorful fish are options. Such as the Zebra Danio which is closely related to Goldfish. They come in several morphs; golden zebras, albinos, leopard, longfin zebra danios, etc.

These fish are from South Asia. They are small, handsomely patterned, very hardy, and easy to spawn, making them excellent beginner fish.

Feeding them both plant and animal matter like flakes and pellets, frozen foods like brine shrimp, and spirulina flakes will contribute to the fish being in good color and eventually spawning if that’s what you want.

Neon Tetras

Bright streaks of blue and red make these fish a lively addition to a community freshwater tank. Neon tetras are definitely low maintenance. They tend to be very easygoing, plus their small size means they have a minimal impact on water quality. They start at only a centimeter or so, they can grow up to one and a half inches long.

Neon tetras like to school together, so it’s best to start with three to five of them. However, note that Neon tetras are easily bred in captivity, so be on the lookout for signs of inbreeding such as the fish missing an operculum (gill cover), asymmetrical mouths, or misshapen fins.

There are pelleted diets available that are small enough for Neon tetras, but flakes are also a good substitute for very small fish.

They are the perfect fish for a mellow, zen-planted tank.

Platy

Platies are livebearers like the Swordtail, Guppy and Molly. Livebearers are famous for being easy to care for and stress-free. All the livebearers have their charms but reportedly platies are said to be tied with guppies for being the most low-maintenance fish around.

Platies are known to eat absolutely anything! They pick at hair algae and blanched vegetables, snap up flakes, frozen food, and pretty much anything else you offer them.

Another great thing is that platies come in a stunning array of colors. Two parents that look alike may have a fry that grows up into a rainbow thanks to their well-mixed genetics.

Platoids are model community residents that will ignore the majority of their tank mates, generally minding their own business and causing no trouble at all.

Fish can make delightful pets to keep at home. However, because there are so many of them, each with different characteristics, it’s tricky to decide which ones make the best pets. Platy, goldfish, neon tetras, zebra danios, angelfish, and betta are all examples of low-maintenance fish.

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