List of Freshwater Tropical Community Fish Part I

This will be a brief list of Freshwater Tropical Fish + Compatibility Level (0-5 (5 = gets along with all fish)) + Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Difficult). Hopefully this list will help me decide how to stock your tank. The following info is not 100% guaranteed accurate. Just based on some of my readings.

Format: Name - Compatibility Rating - Difficulty Level

1. Common Betta Fish (Male)

Compatibility: ** (depends on individual fish's aggressiveness, aggressiveness of tank mates, tank mate's colors, swimming speed, size of tank etc.) Given the right conditions, Betta fish make excellent community fish. Keep only one Labyrinth fish per tank or else they'll fight. Especially avoid keeping another male Betta - they will fight until one of them dies!

Difficulty Level: Easy



2. Fancy Guppies

Compatibility: **** (Make sure tank mates won't nip their colorful tails! Also, if kept in schools of less than 6, Guppies MAY get jittery and harass other fish. He won't fight them though, as guppies are peaceful fish.)

Difficulty Level: Extremely Easy

3. Platies

Compatibility: ***** (EXTREMELY peaceful, docile fish, but they don't like overly rowdy fish. Like to be kept in small groups - at least a pair)

Difficulty Level: Extremely Easy

4. Mollies

Compatibility: *** (May be incompatible with some fish as Mollies often need aquarium salt to thrive.)
Difficulty Level: Easy


5. Swordtails

Compatibility: *** (Needs to be kept in groups in a large aquarium in order to maintain their long sword-like tails. Gets along great with other fish.)

Difficulty Level: Easy


6. Neon Tetras, Cardinal Tetras, MOST of the other Tetras (some exceptions)

Compatibility: ** (Needs to be in large schools of 6+ or they'll nip fins. Cannot be tanks with large fish that might eat them. Prone to Neon Tetra Disease. Sensitive to poor water conditions.
Peaceful if kept with similar sized fish and lots of cover)

Difficulty Level: Medium


7. Otocinclus Catfish

Compatibility: ***** (Gets along with absolutely everybody. Quiet, peaceful, slow swimming and inconspicuous)

Difficulty Level: Hard (They're almost always starving because they pretty much only eat soft green algae, which is rare in a clean aquarium. You could wean them off algae and train them to eat veggies, but it's tough. Most ignore algae wafers (which contain fish meal that other fish will eat) They suffer from poor immune systems due to suspected poisoning methods during capture from the wild. Very sensitive to changing water parameters, poor water conditions. Thrives only in groups of 6+. I had two and both of them died within a month. =(

8. Corydoras Catfish (Panda, Dwarf, Spotted, Julii, Bronze)

Compatibility:***** (Very shy, peaceful species. Gets along with all fish and never gets in anybody's way. Excellent bottom cleaner.)


Difficulty Level: Easy (a sensible alternative to the Oto Catfish if you want to keep healthy catfish)


9. Zebra Danios, Pearl Danios

Compatibility: *** (Needs large tank (20g +) to dither around in...AND must be kept in groups 6+ (EMPHASIS ON THE MUST) or they will be AGGRESSIVE FIN NIPPERS. Very hardy but will be virtually impossible to catch once you introduce them to a tank as they swim impossibly fast. (I once spent a whole hour trying to catch a SINGLE Zebra Danio from my 10 G tank. Literally)

Difficulty Level: Extremely Easy


10. Dwarf Gouramis

Compatibility: *** (Avoid overly boisterous tank mates, fin nippers, other Labyrinth fish (i.e. Betta fish), aggressive fish, extremely large fish. Friendly fish.)

Difficulty Level: Easy