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.
649 answers in Home & Lifestyle — page 14 of 28
Keep scissortail rasboras in at least a thirty-gallon tank with a long footprint — forty gallons suits a full school even better — because these sleek fish grow to about three inches and swim constantly in open water. Plan a group of eight or more, and fit a tight lid, since a startled scissortail is a committed…
Give a shoal of peppered corydoras a twenty-gallon long tank at minimum, and consider twenty-nine gallons if the group is large or shares with many other fish. Peppered corys grow a little bigger than pandas and tolerate cooler water, but they still need six or more of their own kind and a wide floor of smooth sand or…
A peacock cichlid needs at least a fifty-five-gallon tank, and seventy-five gallons is the better home for a group, because adult males grow to around six inches and each one defends a patch of rockwork. Length matters more than height here: rock caves spread along a long base let several males colour up without…
Plan on a twenty-gallon long tank for panda corydoras, because these little catfish should never be kept singly — a shoal of six or more is the unit the tank must fit. The long, low footprint gives the group the floor area it actually uses, and soft sand protects their delicate barbels as they sift for food. Using…
A single nerite snail can live in five gallons, but ten gallons is safer and more generous, because this tireless algae grazer needs enough filmed-over glass and rock to feed itself. Plan roughly one nerite for every five gallons or so, and fit a tight lid, since nerites climb above the waterline and escape through…
A single honey gourami or a pair does best in at least ten gallons, with twenty gallons the better choice if you want a small group or other community fish alongside. These gentle fish hover near the surface, so floating plants, soft flow, and a longer rather than taller footprint help them feel covered and secure. In…
A small group of ghost shrimp can live in a tank of about five gallons, but ten gallons is the wiser starting point because the extra water stays far more stable for these tiny scavengers. Give them plants, moss, or small hides where they can retreat while a fresh molt hardens, and keep them with gentle tank mates…
A firemouth cichlid needs at least a 30-gallon tank for a single fish, and 40 gallons or more for a pair or a community including one, because firemouths are territorial bottom-oriented cichlids that flare and posture over a chosen patch of substrate. That fiery throat display is mostly bluff, but bluff needs room:…
A dwarf rainbowfish needs at least a 20-gallon tank, ideally a longer one, because although it stays smaller than most rainbowfish, it is still an active schooling fish that belongs in a group of six or more. In a long 20-gallon with planted edges and open water in front, a school settles, the males flush deep blue…
A convict cichlid needs at least a 30-gallon tank for a single fish or a pair, and more room if you keep a pair with other fish, because convicts are compact but intensely territorial — especially when breeding, which they do readily and often. A pair defending fry in a small tank can bully every other fish into one…
A clown pleco needs at least a 20-gallon tank, not because it grows large — it stays small — but because this wood-eating catfish needs driftwood, caves, and stable, well-filtered water to live well. A clown pleco without wood to rasp is missing both shelter and a core part of its diet, and in a tiny tank its waste…
A bronze corydoras group needs at least a 20-gallon tank with a good footprint, because although one fish is small, bronze corydoras live in shoals of six or more and spend their lives working over the bottom. A longer 20-gallon suits them better than a tall one, with soft sand or fine substrate for their barbels,…
A Boeseman's rainbowfish needs at least a 30-gallon tank, and 55 gallons suits a proper group far better, because these deep-bodied rainbowfish are active schoolers that grow larger than their shop size suggests. Kept in a small tank, their famous two-tone colour — steely blue-grey at the front, orange-yellow behind —…
A blue gourami needs at least a 30-gallon tank, with a longer footprint preferred, because this is a sizeable, territorial labyrinth fish that claims space at the surface and middle levels. A single gourami in a smaller tank often becomes cramped and pushy with tankmates, while 30 gallons or more gives room for…
A bamboo shrimp does best in a tank of at least 20 gallons, even though a single shrimp is sometimes kept in 10 gallons, because this large fan-feeding shrimp needs stable water and a reliable current carrying food particles to its fans. In small, newly set up tanks there is rarely enough microscopic food in the flow,…
Bettas need a regular day-night cycle rather than strong light: gentle to moderate aquarium lighting on for roughly eight to ten hours a day, then real darkness at night. Bright, unshaded light stresses a fish whose ancestors lived among plants in slow, shaded water, so give him floating plants or tall cover that…
Keep yoyo loaches in a group of five or six at minimum, because these loaches are social, hierarchical fish that spar, rest, and forage together. A single yoyo often turns shy or, in some tanks, pushy with other bottom fish, while a proper group spreads its energy among its own kind and shows the species' playful,…
Keep scissortail rasboras in a group of at least six, with eight or more giving a calmer, more natural school. These active mid-water fish flick their forked, black-and-white tails constantly as they move together, and in twos or threes they turn skittish, hug the plants, and lose that easy schooling motion. Give the…
Keep at least six peppered corydoras together, and more if the tank allows, because these small catfish are genuine shoaling fish that feed, rest, and explore as a loose group. In pairs or trios they tend to hide, sit still, and show washed-out colour; in a proper shoal they sift the sand together and move around…
Peacock cichlids are kept in groups, but the group's makeup matters more than a single magic number. An all-male show group needs enough males, often eight or more in a large tank, that no one fish takes all the aggression, while a single-species harem works as one male with four or more females. A lone male or a pair…
Keep panda corydoras in a shoal of at least six, with eight to twelve showing their best behaviour in a tank with open sand to forage over. Pairs and trios of these small catfish hide among plants and barely venture out, while a proper shoal sifts the substrate together, rests in little piles, and explores the whole…
Oscars are best kept singly or as one bonded pair, never as a casual group. A single oscar in a large tank becomes a responsive, pet-like centrepiece with room to grow to full size. Pairs must be genuinely bonded, usually grown out together, because two unbonded adults can fight seriously; groups of juveniles only…
Nerite snails do not need to be kept in a group at all, so the right number is set by your tank's algae rather than by the snails' social needs. One nerite can live happily alone as a full-time grazer, while two or three suit a tank with steady algae on glass and rocks. Adding many to a clean tank just leaves them…
Kribensis should be kept as a single pair in most tanks, one male and one female, rather than in a group. A bonded pair claims a cave, colours beautifully, and often raises fry in the tank, while extra adults get driven into corners once breeding starts. Two pairs need a genuinely large tank with separate cave…
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