The 7 Worst Beginner Fish for your Aquarium

We recommend every new Fish hobbyist to have a checklist for their new aquariums, more importantly we recommend not to keep certain fish as they could be more difficult for a beginner to handle. 

We all get an adrenaline rush when we first enter the pet store. This makes us want to find prettiest fish in there and immediately want it out of the shelf and in our tanks.

But this is definitely not how it goes about in real life. I mean, we wouldn’t want to keep a fish that we cannot afford to keep happy and healthy, right?

So, here are the top 7 fishes that we should not adopt or keep as beginners.

1. Angel Fish

Angel fish can be one of the most beautiful fishes to look at, but they also happen to be one of the most fragile, aggressive, and fast growing fishes in our tanks.

Angel fish require a large amount of space for starters (4 to 10 gallon), and also tend to need temperature control, calm environment and suitable water PH level (especially for the young ones). 

Once they start growing in size, they happen to get more aggressive and bully the other small fishes to death.

2. Gourami

Gourami are one of the worst fishes to keep in an aquarium due to their aggressive nature which just increases when they are kept in groups. They are very aggressive and fast, which just adds on to the deadly combination of their nature.

We recommend you not to keep them unless you have a designated tank that is meant just for them.

3. Bala Sharks

Everyone these days wants to keep a freshwater shark in their tanks as a beginner, but only until they realize how fast they grow in size and the difficulty of space efficiency that comes along with it. So they are a big ‘NO-NO’ for the beginners. 

These guys require a huge aquarium that needs that is at least 4-5 feet tall, while most of the beginners tend to have an aquarium that is not more than 5-10 gallon tank.

This is definitely not the idol size for any Bala-Sharks and its best to stay away from them as beginners. 

4. Oscars

These guys are known to be sold at a very small size at most of the stores, and the most common problem that we all face keeping them is their rapid growth rate which puts our 10 gallon tanks of no use after a small period of keeping them. So, this is a BIG NO, for any beginner unless they are willing to shift them to a bigger tank. 

5. Guppies

YES, Guppies are a good, but only till them come in big groups carrying endless amount of problems of worms and parasites. Most of us are not even able to recognize these faults and hardly know how to fix it, resulting in their death. 

Mostly, it’s the fault of the importer or the aquarium store manager who is not able to Quarantine them effectively. However, as a beginner, you have the knowledge as to bring the right source of food and care for the guppies, you should go for it.

Most of these faults are found in ‘Normal’ guppies and not the Endlers or other varieties of guppies that are imported with care and proper quarantine methods due to their high demand and price.

Another reason why a beginner should not keep a guppy fish is because their frequent dying could result in the hobbyist to lose interest in fish-keeping as you might think it is your fault for the fish to die so often. 

6. Large Plecos

It is obvious that Plecos would fall within the ‘TOP 3’ category as they grow very large and require a massive amount of space once they grow big just like ‘Bala Shark and Oscars.

However, buying a smaller variety of the Plecos like the ‘Bristle Nose’ Pleco shall be a better choice due to their convenient average size and needs. Else, it is going to be a BIG PROBLME to most of the beginner fish keepers as a whole. 

7. Goldfish

Gold fish might be the go-to choice of most of the beginners just because people think it’s an idol fish for any aquarium.

But NO!, they require a large surface area and a minimum of 20 gallon tank. In addition, they produce a large amount of ‘WASTE’ which becomes difficult to manage and clean from time to time. 

If however, you are planning to keep them  in a large tank, it would just be easier to maintain the tank but still bring in more waste and more health problems like ‘Swim Bladder Disease’ due to their constant eating habit. 

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