3,895 answers about fish & aquatics
A healthy aquarium is a balanced one — water chemistry, filtration, stocking and feeding all work together, and most fish problems start with the water. This page gathers the fish and aquatics library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic for freshwater and saltwater keepers alike. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
562 answers in Choosing & Adopting — page 14 of 24
Dwarf gouramis are omnivores that feed at the surface and among floating plants, taking insects, larvae and algae in the wild, and at home they do well on flake or slow-sinking micro pellets with frozen bloodworms, daphnia and brine shrimp in rotation. Their meals should be small — once or twice a day, cleared within…
Corydoras are bottom-feeding omnivores that sift the substrate for insect larvae, worms and crustaceans, and in an aquarium they need that food delivered to the floor: sinking pellets or wafers, plus frozen or live bloodworms and daphnia that reach the bottom. They cannot live on the flakes that drift down from other…
Cherry shrimp eat what grows in the tank: biofilm, soft algae and decaying plant matter coat every surface, and a colony in a mature planted aquarium grazes it all day. Supplement that grazing a few times a week with a piece of shrimp pellet, blanched courgette or spinach, and dried leaves, which feed both the shrimp…
Cherry barbs are omnivores that feed in the middle of the tank, taking insect larvae, tiny crustaceans and algae in the wild, and at home they thrive on a base of small flake or micro pellets sized for little mouths. Frozen or live daphnia, baby brine shrimp and chopped bloodworm a few times a week deepen the males'…
Bristlenose plecos are herbivores that graze almost constantly: algae and biofilm off glass, wood and leaves form the background of the diet, but no tank grows enough to sustain one, so they need algae wafers and fresh vegetables — courgette, cucumber and blanched greens — offered regularly. A piece of driftwood is…
Bettas are carnivores built for the surface: their upturned mouths take insects and larvae from the top of the water, so they do best on protein-rich betta pellets as the staple, with frozen or live daphnia, bloodworms and brine shrimp for variety. Feed small meals twice a day — a betta's stomach is roughly the size…
Angelfish are omnivores with a hunter's streak: in the wild they pick off insect larvae, small crustaceans and fry among flooded plants, and in a tank they need a quality flake or small pellet as the base, backed by frozen or live bloodworms, brine shrimp and daphnia several times a week. Feed adults once or twice a…
In a 20-gallon community tank, the centrepiece spot suits a honey gourami or one male dwarf gourami: both stay under three inches, cruise the middle and top layers where they can be watched, and leave schooling fish alone. A pair of Bolivian rams works too if you prefer the bottom layer and can keep the water warm and…
The bottom layer of a peaceful community tank is usually built from one schooling catfish group — corydoras are the classic choice — plus either a small group of kuhli loaches for a planted tank or a single bristlenose pleco where algae grazing is wanted. Otocinclus suit small, mature tanks but need algae growth and…
Walk away from any fish showing clamped fins held tight to the body, white spots or a dusty coating on the skin, rapid gill movement or gasping at the surface, or a sunken belly and listless hanging in a corner. Check the whole tank, not just your fish: one dead or sick tankmate means everything in that water shares…
New goldfish owners most often underestimate three things: how big the fish grows, how much waste it makes, and how eagerly it eats when food is always offered. A bowl or small starter tank stunts a fish built to grow long and heavy, and even fancy goldfish need real swimming room and strong filtration. Feed measured…
The classic new corydoras mistakes are keeping a single fish, sitting it on sharp gravel, and expecting it to live on leftovers. Corydoras are schooling catfish that rest and forage together, so one alone hides and stresses; rough gravel wears down the delicate barbels they taste the bottom with, and a cory fed only…
New cherry shrimp colonies usually fail for three reasons: shrimp go into a tank that has not finished cycling, a plant fertilizer or medication containing copper slips in unnoticed, or a huge water change shifts the water faster than the shrimp can adjust to. Cherry shrimp graze biofilm all day, so a mature tank with…
New angelfish mistakes often flow from one misunderstanding: the coin-sized juvenile in the shop becomes a tall, deep-bodied and quietly territorial adult. Owners buy babies without planning for that adult, house them in tanks that are long enough but far too shallow for their finnage, and mix them with fin-nipping…
The honest small-tank algae crew is short: otocinclus catfish kept in a small group, nerite snails, and amano shrimp are the choices that stay small and keep working. Otocinclus graze soft algae from leaves and glass but are delicate and need a mature tank, nerites scrape hard surfaces and cannot breed in fresh water…
Add them gradually. A new filter's bacteria colony only grows as large as the waste it processes, so stocking a whole community at once produces far more ammonia than the young colony can handle, and the fish pay for the gap with burned gills. A steadier rhythm works far better: cycle the tank first, add a few hardy…
Zebra danios are about the cheapest community fish there are to run each month: they tolerate cooler water than most tropical species, so many tanks need no heater at all, and a pinch of flake or micro-pellets from one pot stretches across months. Filtration is a small, simple unit, water changes are modest, and their…
Siamese algae eaters cost a modest amount monthly, more than their 'free clean-up crew' reputation suggests, because a fish that grazes algae all day still needs feeding with wafers, pellets and vegetables once the easy algae is gone. They are active, social fish best kept in a group, growing to around six inches, so…
Pearl gouramis sit in the modest middle of monthly fish costs: a single fish or a small group in a mid-sized planted tank, eating floating pellets and flake in small amounts, plus the usual heater, filter and conditioner expenses around them. Nothing they eat or use is expensive, and food is a minor line, since these…
Kuhli loaches are inexpensive to keep each month, on a budget like any small tropical tank's: heater and filter electricity, conditioner for partial changes, and slow-going sinking pellets or wafers for the group. A few small extras appear now and then, such as leaf litter for the tank floor or frozen foods, but none…
Harlequin rasboras themselves cost almost nothing to run each month: a school eats so little that one small tin of micro-pellets or crushed flake lasts indefinitely, and their waste load on a filter is feather-light. The monthly bill really belongs to the planted tank they live in, since harlequins look their best…
Guppies cost very little to keep each month: they are tiny fish with tiny appetites, so a small pot of fine flake or micro-pellets lasts for ages, and their share of a small tank's heater, filter and light electricity is modest. Water changes are small and partial, so the whole running bill sits near the bottom of the…
Goldfish reverse the pattern most fish keepers expect: their food is among the hobby's cheapest, but their water is not, because a goldfish produces heavy waste for its size and needs strong filtration plus large, frequent partial water changes to stay healthy. There is no heater to run in a typical indoor setup,…
Corydoras are among the cheapest tropical fish to keep month to month, because nearly everything they cost is shared with the tank around them: a little electricity for the heater, filter and light, conditioner for weekly partial water changes, and a slowly shrinking tub of sinking wafers for the school. Budget for…
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