What is your current favorite fish?

[gwand]

I like small fish and I like South American and African cichlids. Being one of the smallest cichlid species Neolamprologus multifasciatus is a perfect match. Multies set up breeding colonies in and around small shells. They love digging up and rearranging sand. These diminutive steam shovels are fun to watch. They are incredible parents. In my Lake Tanganyika tank they go nose to nose with any approaching Altolamprologus compressiceps. Multies do not back down from the much larger marauding compressiceps. It is amusing watching the larger fish flee away like giant babies from these tiny dynamos. My colony are parenting vigorously from at least three separate spawns separated over time.

 

[otterblue]

Your description makes me want to set up a new tank for multies. I've never had them, but I also prefer small fish in large aquariums.

My favorite is always my Scarlet Badis. They're not very popular, but they're very interesting and "smart". They are often slow and deliberate in their movements, as if they're thinking things out. Females are drab but full of spunky personality. The males have their little hierarchies and territories. It's like an underwater soap opera.

 

[plebian]

Discus have always been my favorite...I know, too common for folks here. Still, I've never observed fish with more personality or any that display greater social complexity. Not to mention, they are incredibly beautiful.

I also enjoy smaller fish. I really like my blue neons (wild caught). They are brilliantly colored, active, not fussy about food, and very tolerant of a range of water conditions. I personally think they are a better option than cardinal tetras, my previous favorite among tetra species.

Recently, I've found a challenger to my favorite. Betta splendens (females) make an excellent community fish. Less aggressive among themselves than some tetra species, more colorful, and totally non-aggressive toward any other species. They also have very interesting personalities. They're curious, tolerant of a wide range of water conditions, and not at all fussy about food. They're also very bold. They have no fear of my discus whatsoever and are completely undeterred when I'm performing tank maintenance.

 

[GaryE]

What is my favourite song. It's kind of similar. After almost 6 decades keeping fish, I've kept many species and there are a lot of them I love.

My favourite Cichlid is Pelvicachromis kribensis (not the hobby krib, but its smaller, more colourful cousin). I enjoy their complex social lives, their colours and their diversity - one species with many local colour forms, all of which are treasures.

My favourite killie is harder, probably any killie from the Kathetys sub group of Aphyosemion (I know, it sounds like I'm not speaking English. I am!). But I also have kept and bred Aphyosemion zygaima for 34 years and never gotten tired of seeing it.

My favourite tetra is the good old cardinal.

Asking my favourite cory is like asking my favourite song by the Clash. Right now, today, this morning I'd say Hoplisoma concolor. But if you ask my favourite Rolling Stones song, it would be Hoplisoma atropersonatum, and there are quite a few more contenders.

In barbs - Enteromius jae. It's a tiny west and central African rainforest barb - very shy and very pretty.

My favourite livebearing fish is the Xiphophorus nezahualcoyotl swordtail.

I like no loaches, so we're safe there.

Otherwise, if I ask myself tomorrow, all this could change. So many cool fish, so little time and space.

 

[anewbie]

Currently i like my d39 a lot; and there are some whiptails i ahve that are quite nice - but oddly the common well known nijjensi remain a favorite.

I mostly prefer south american fishes though west africa has some the problem is that i'm finding to make things interesting you need a large aquarium (larger the better) and as i increase the base size i can only keep more select species. Right now i'm find 48x16 (inch) minimum for a good environment and 24x48 or 48x96 prefer if space and money permits (these are floor sizes in inches). Sure you can keep something in a 29 or 20 long but then it is a constant fight to allow them to settle in. 48 long seems to be enough for many species in terms of horizonal seperation but larger floors allow for colony of a single species.

My hope is after moving i have room for 6 or 8 48x16 and 2 or 3 48x96 and call it a day.

 

[simonas]

As Gary E said after years of fishkeeping there are multiple choices.
Ever since I started fishkeeping in 1991 I have always veered towards oddballs predators and catfish

Since I have kept rays I dont think I will ever be without them again , they look cool and are just a great interesting and active fish to keep

My favourite though is probably toothy predators and is a toss up between Hydrolycus and Hydricynus - vampire fish and tiger fish. I love watching mine feed, the two I have now keep me super interested in my tank and their development and I hope to keep them as long as I can

 

[emeraldking]

What is your current favorite fish?​

Still the Micropoecilia picta...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I must be boring, my favorites are my clown loaches. When young they are real clowns and when they get older and bigger they are a lot of fun but not as colorful.

I agree with Colin on cardinals. At one time I had a group of 65 in a 75 gal tank.

I am also a big fan of Altum angels.

 

[gimme30]

Easy, Pterosynchiropus splendidus.(mandarin fish)

For fresh? Misgurnus anguillicaudatus!! (dojo) Personality in spades!

(neither pic is my own, sadly I no longer have either one)

 

[anewbie]

Easy, Pterosynchiropus splendidus.(mandarin fish)
View attachment 375807

For fresh? Misgurnus anguillicaudatus!! (dojo) Personality in spades!

It would almost - just almost - be worth setting up a 120 gallon salt water enironment for such a fish but oh the pain of salt which can be quite abrasive.

 

[Kuhlisarecool]

All pangio species! I loves kuhlis so much I have a least only 4 different species now unfortunately i had way more but i lost 11 due to a tank failing many rare species too so trying to build up my populations again!

 

[Innesfan]

Good timing. I've been in the process of scaling down to 'favorite fish only.' As is the case for @GaryE , I have a favorite for each family of fishes:

Pethia setnai for barbs;
Vienna Emerald guppies (lower sword) for live bearers:
Discus (wild only) for cichlids (though I no longer keep them);
Aphyosemion sp. Lobaye for killies;
H. oiapoquensis for 'cories;
Brevibora dorsiocellata ("Emerald Eyes") for rasbora
Betta splendens (Cambodian butterfly) for anabantoids
Nannostomus unifasciatus for characins. The latter is my favorite over all species, and has been so since as a nine-year-old I read these words written about them by Innes that led me to getting my first sextet of them at, believe it or not, Macy's which used to have an elaborate pet department:

"There is a marked elegance about its simple color arrangement...For some reason the writer unconsciously accords them a place among the aristocracy of the aquarium. They seem to have that indefinable something called 'class.'

 

[GaryE]

@Innesfan Aphyosemion sp Lobaye - what a lovely species, for a nameless one.

 

[Innesfan]

@Innesfan Aphyosemion sp Lobaye - what a lovely species, for a nameless one.

Indeed. Actually, it has several names since everyone seems to have their own opinion about what they are. As you know, of late it is most often being traded as A. sp. Lobaye, but others have it as A. aff. decorsei (Lobaye), A. cf. castaneum (Lobaye), A. cf. chrysti (Lobaye) etc. I just call them 'gorgeous.'

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Here is the thing about our hobby from a quote I saw many years ago:

"So many tanks and so little time. Since you cannot get more time, you may as well get more tanks."