Community Aquarium Fish Species

Community Aquarium can be made up of different combination of compatible non-aggressive tank mates. Listed below are some of the common examples of community fish species house in different tank size and other unique aquariums. The best setup should be the one comprises of different fish size (not far or significant between the biggest and smallest fish), colors and also whether the fish is a top, (hatchet fish) bottom (clown loach) or middle dwellers (zebra danios). The idea is to create a natural looking environment simulating tropical aquatic freshwater ecosystem with different types of fish filling every level of the aquarium. Community aquarium not only comprises of different flora (aquarium plants) and fauna (fish species) but also combined with different aquarium decoration in order to create a stunning and wonderful view.

25 gallon tank
1 pleco (bottom dwellers)
2 marbled hatchet fish (top dwellers)
2 dwarf gourami (middle dwellers)
3 male guppies (middle dwellers)
5 neon fish (middle dwellers)

30 gallon tank
1 bristlenose pleco (bottom dwellers)
5 rummy nose tetra (middle dwellers)
3 zebra danios (middle dwellers)
3 dwarf gourami (middle dwellers)
1 angelfish (top, middle dwellers)

(Note that gouramis and angelfish can be very territorial and thus 30 gallon is the minimum size to house them)

50 gallon tank
3 female clown loaches (bottom dwellers)
7 tiger barbs (middle dwellers)
1 male 3 female swordtails (middle dwellers)
5 silver hatchet fish (top dwellers)
1 Red-Tailed Black Shark (bottom dwellers)

(Be forewarned that both clown loaches and red-tailed black shark may exhibit aggressive behavior towards small fish and even towards each other. If it does, then the tiger barbs are the most vulnerable. Remove if necessary)

Please note that the suggestions above are not necessarily the best. In fact there are hundreds of combination one can come up with. Remember, it’s just the matter of finding the right compatible fish to live with each another. Although I often come across people saying that one can also use dwarf cichlids as community fish, I have to disagree. The reason is because the fish can have a very unpredictable behavior often becoming aggressive towards other fish.