Sticklebacks are certainly fun but highly aggressive, so they have to be kept on their own. They've very hardy, and I've kept them indoors several times. The males are gorgeous when spawning, almost like coral reef fish!
Minnows are easy too, but sensitive to low oxygen and high water temperature, so you need a cold room, like an unheated basement, to keep them successfully. On the other hand, crucian carp, common carp and especially tench are generally easy to keep. Tench are incredibly tough, and they're also sold in aquarium shops, usually as pond fish. All three species tolerate room temperature well. Bream, dace and roach will also do well, though they're a bit more sensitive to warm water, so you'll need to watch them in summer. All these are cyprinids and will eat just about anything, much like goldfish. Some are fairly big fish, and most need to be kept in small groups or schools, so choose wisely.
Perch and ruffe do well in aquaria, but they're predators, and need live, fresh or wet-frozen foods, at least to begin with. Both are territorial when mature, and tend to be quite hard on their tankmates unless the aquarium is very big.
I've seen pike kept in aquaria, and they're fairly robust, but obviously feeding presents some challenges here since they really only go for live foods, and since minnows and cyprinids generally contain thiaminase, you can quickly end up with vitamin deficiency problems. There is some evidence from wild pike populations that pike populations suffer health problems if the only prey available to them are those containing thiaminase.
Bitterling do very well in aquaria. They aren't native to the UK but several species are traded periodically, and these could be kept as dither fish for non-predatory native species. Likewise rosy-red minnows would work well too. If water quality was good, you might even consider the bearded corydoras
Scleromystax barbatus, a species happier at room temperature than in a tropical aquarium. The black-banded sunfish,
Enneacanthus chaetodon, is a beautiful North American fish for unheated tanks. It's delicate though, and needs soft water to do well, so approach with caution. On the other hand, the standard weather loach is a hardy and easy addition to any unheated tank. Keep it in groups for best results.
Various sturgeons are offered in the trade. These are poor choices because they get too big and are too sensitive to high water temperatures to do well indoors.
Cheers, Neale
Very informative Nmonks
do you happen to know which fish from our native waterways are possible to keep in home aqauriums?
Would be very nice to have a native tank, but i understand it can prove quite difficult,well oxygenated fast flowing water,id imagine minnows/stickleback/dace? what others could prove a nice display?just intrested thats all
