Winner, Winner, Fish for Beginners: Which fish is best for beginners?

[AlyciaMarie]

Listen, reefing isn't for the faint of heart; all fish come with unique challenges and special quirks. But in general, I feel like there are always a few fish that you always hear on the roll call sheet when someone asks..."What fish should I get?" In your opinion....

Which fish is best for beginners?

 

[Dburr1014]

Classic clowns.
Durable, slime coated, bullet proof fish.

 

[akossard]

My first 3 fish was 2 cardinals and a yellow watchman goby + shrimp. They are awesome fish, but they are not really active. The goby is just doing the "watching" part from its name front of its burrow, and the cardinals just hang out around my gorgonian at the back of the tank. Tank looked empty until I got some more active fish.I voted clowns, planning getting a pair in the future.

 

[Slocke]

Basslets and gobies. Both are easy and not aggressive or disease prone

 

[design.maddie]

I misread the question. I thought it was asking what is the best first fish for a beginner. I chose Chromis because they are a community fish that can be added earlier in a tank's life and not have major issues with adding in other fish at a later time. I would not have said that for the clownfish even though they may be more forgiving of a fish for beginners.

 

[Dburr1014]

I misread the question. I thought it was asking what is the best first fish for a beginner. I chose Chromis because they are a community fish that can be added earlier in a tank's life and not have major issues with adding in other fish at a later time. I would not have said that for the clownfish even though they may be more forgiving of a fish for beginners.

Hmmm, that was the question...

 

[vlangel]

I say any of the above can be good choices. Most of those fish work well in nano tanks but not all them play well with others, ( like some damsel or chromis species). Some varieties of Damselfish can get rather large and can out grow a smaller tank. Most of those fish are hardy, omnivore so will eat a variety of prepared food which is good for a beginner. Blennies and gobies can have lots of personality in a pint size body. Cardinal fish often will hang in the top third of the tank where there isn't a lot of action. Although don't look for pajama cardinalfish or banggai cardinals to provide much action but they are out in the open where most fish don't hang. And then there are clownfish who now come in lots of color variations, and are cute and adorable. So I say any of those fish have merit for the right aquarium.

 

[WvAquatics]

Clowns are great beginner fish but also can be pita. My clowns host the back left corner of every tank they are in. So i never see them unless feeding. Kinda sad. Hopefully when i get more fish they are out more but they never really have been

 

[PotatoPig]

IMO the basic Ocellaris Clowns

Economical, easy to obtain, interesting looking fish, a little goofy, low care demands, claim a limited territory, won’t get into tank wide turf wars with other fish.

I suppose a group of Chromis is also not a bad start, it’ll get new folks used to things dying.

 

[design.maddie]

Hmmm, that was the question...

Oh! Then I misread, misreading the question? This is getting complicated now.

 

[Shaina Carey]

I picked clownfish because I had a salinity swing where it went to 1.022 and my corals got angry and are hiding. My clownfish are swimming along happily.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Blue Green Chromis. Not aggressive like damsel fish, will swim the full tank unlike clowns, long lived and unless you have owned one most people don't realize the recognize owners and have a personality. They have an uncommon color and one of the cheapest fish in the hobby.

 

[Knucker]

Clowns for sure, then a lot of Gobies are great for beginners.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

for me, I keep two things in mind when deciding what my first fish will be.
are they sensitive to possible fluctuating parameters AND how will they be with other fish I plan on buying in the future. I don't buy fish with the intention of re-homing later down the road.

for my beginner fish I went with Occellaris clownfish and Banggai cardinals. I had them in my last tank, and I started with them again my current tank.

If had to pick one over the other, it would definitely be the clownfish.

 

[tbrown]

No one said Six Line Wrasse???

 

[Cichlid Dad]

No one said Six Line Wrasse???

 

[carol3]

Captive bred fish!!!!

 

[wjm6449]

A Toy Lego fish. Bulletproof. Tradeable. Floats, keeps its color, and not an environmental hazard! All seriousness I even want to say my Sailfin tang. I put him in when my tank was 3 weeks old. He had only my clowns with him.

Anyway ‘storm’ has really been great dealing with the swings of a new tank, needed no major care or tending to. Survived 3 summer vacations (7 days each). Has doubled his size it seems or certainly bigger.

Also happily schools with my yellow tang and tomini.

 

[mchans]

See I would say two worker fish. I love Tomini Tang and Foxface. Both never stop cleaning and are so friendly. Don’t need a huge tank and both come in so small that you could keep in a 40 gallon for a long time.

 

[i cant think]

It’s hard to pick number one but there’s certainly 3 families I’d consider;
Blenniidae, Gobiidae and Labridae

Obviously not all species from these families are good. So there’s definitely specific genera I’d look at;

1. Ecsenius is best in Blenniidae
2. Cryptocentrus is best in Gobiidae
3. Paracheilinus is best in Labridae - especially for larger tanks this is a great beginner fish.

These genera are overall very robust, unusual for a beginner fish, and peaceful for when you add more fish later.