Favorite and Least Favorite Fish

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DwarfGourami77

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Hi, I was a little bored and I was wondering what everyone's favorite and least favorite freshwater aquarium fishes are and why. It can be any fish or just a fish you own.

For me it is hard to pick a favorite because I have so many. Some that are close to being my favorites are bettas because they have so much personality, butterflyfish because they look really cool, and wolf cichlids for the same reason as bettas, but overall I think my favorite is the dwarf gourami because they are beautiful fish that are easy to care for and mine interacts really actively with me.

My least favorites are flowerhorns and parrot cichlids although I have never owned either because they are really controversial and become sick easily.

I'm excited to see what fish are the most and least liked, and might post an update on the winner of both categories after I get more answers.

Thanks!
 

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My personal favorite at the moment are platies especially solid orange. I have a whole bunch and one juvenile is solid orange and I like her so much I am thinking of starting a breeding project to isolate a strain of orange platies.
Other than that I usually prefer invertebrates such as my mystery snails and shrimps.
Oh yeah and at the moment my least favorite is definitely Oranda goldfish I think they are hideous.
 

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For most favorite fish, it's a tie between a Festae aka Red Terror & Rivulatus aka Green Terror.
My least favorite is the Syncrossus Helodes - one of the Tiger Botia Loach species.
I once kept a group of Helodes Botias in with a large Cichlid community.
Although the Cichlids were much larger, the Botias constantly attacked them, nipping fins and causing injury. Couldn't get rid of them fast enough.
 
My favorite right now is the Blackbanded sunfish. They are native North American cold water fish, so no heater. Beautiful traditional sunfish shape in an easy to keep 3-4 inch maximum size. Their temperament is everything I prefer in a fish: they recognize me and get along great with each other: no fighting or chasing. Very calm and enjoyable to watch.

For least favorite I'm not sure. Maybe the Filet-o-Fish. :p
 

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My favorite right now is the Blackbanded sunfish. They are native North American cold water fish, so no heater. Beautiful traditional sunfish shape in an easy to keep 3-4 inch maximum size. Their temperament is everything I prefer in a fish: they recognize me and get along great with each other: no fighting or chasing. Very calm and enjoyable to watch.

For least favorite I'm not sure. Maybe the Filet-o-Fish. :p
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Never heard of the blackbanded sunfish, but it seems really cool and I might have to try it sometime. I also keep some north american natives like longear sunfish that I caught in a local creek in Texas as well as wild caught texas cichlids and some sheepshead minnows which are a brackish water species that develop nice colors in the breeding season.
 
My favorite is the South American Puffer. They are so quirky and love snails, and I mean look at their face!

My least favorite has to be guppies. I mean they look good but they are so weak. Like they used to be strong but as they got more popular and got easier to breed the genes got weaker and weaker.
 

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This is a tough one….as favorite fish tend to be for me (and I’m pretty sure it’s the same for many others) a thing that goes through cycles. For years I kept platys, koi, guppies, crappies, and discus as favs, but ATM, I guess I’d have to say that it’s a three-way tie with Cardinal Tets, Congos Tets, and Koi.

Regarding least favorite, all I can say is there are a few I wouldn’t elect to keep. It’s kinda like dogs…. Dogs are my absolute favorite animal, but there are a few breeds I would not choose…for me. When I visit a friend who keeps one of my not preferred fish, I sort of instantly like that fish because that fish makes that person so happy.
 
I had to think about this one.

Near the top for me are definitely Plakat Bettas. Love the way mine moves around like a snake.

My least favorite is going to have to be the extremely deep bodied fancy goldfish. I have a Thai Oranda with a belly like a golf ball and I hate that he has swim bladder issues.

I do adore my fancy goldfish though. Would just prefer them to be bred differently.

Not fish, but totally in love with Neocardina!
 
Hard to choose but if I think about it in terms of "what fish would I never get rid of" it's easier. My passion has always been breeding bettas but I sell them in the end. Same for BN plecos, I have several adults but I would not be opposed to selling them too. For me I guess it has to be my panda garra, black kuhli loaches or perhaps my newest addition the half banded spiny eel. Panda garra because they are incredibly friendly and personable, the java loaches are just plump noodle fish who I loving refer to as my udon noodles, and the spiny eel because even as a baby it is very inquisitive and its little nose is fascinating to see in action.

Least favorite that I own will have to be my guppies. As stated before, they can be incredibly weak and for some reason they only do well in my guppy designated tanks. If I keep them in my other tanks with other species they get thin and waste away. No clue why that is but it drives me nuts. But still, I breed them and get cool color combos. Their hardiness seems to of improved after a few generations though.
 
I have too many favourites, I think. A lot of very small to micro size fish are on the favourites list along with a lot of the loaches.

Least favourite would be all of the very large catfish, most especially those sold because they bear a resemblance to marine sharks - like the pangasius species.
 
I also have too many favourites, especially among the South American cichlids, I can't really decide which I like best of all, I am also fond of much smaller fish especially pencilfish, Copella and of course my ruby tetras and pygmy Corydoras. I really like Otocinclus too.

As for least favorites of those available in the hobby, it has to be those that are deformed, like blood parrots and all balloon varieties.

And of those fish I have actually kept I think it my least favourites would be emperor tetras- they were fine at first but after about 2 years became extremely territorial and aggressive, keeping other tetras and otos to one end of a 160cm long densely planted tank and even chasing Laetacaras! Although they were quite interesting in that they bred easily in the tank and I had a few all black ones produced from normal parents.
 

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I've had many favorites. But my favorite right now is golden white clouds. I've decided to get back to my roots, and then take those roots to the next level. Regular white clouds were the first fish I ever kept, and the first fish I ever bred intentionally. Now I've bought a group of golden white clouds and I intend to take a serious crack at breeding a really nice line of my own. I'm also going to do some summer tubbing with them this year as well which I'm excited about.

I don't have one single least favorite fish. But I really dislike pretty much all of the larger species in the hobby. I have a golden cichlid that I adopted off some family members when they moved. It's bigger than I prefer, and I'd never buy anything that large for myself. But I had space in my fish room, and it made my young nephew happy that he could still see it when he visits.
 
Hm I have a lot of favorites though my top favorite is probably Bettas. They’re super spunky and have a huge range of personalities despite being fish. Some other favorites I have are gouramis, snakeheads, loaches (dojos and khulis especially), angelfish, blood parrots, and Corydoras. I love all fish but there are some that I would never own (again for some). These include GBRs (they always die after a year or so in the most horrific ways), GW Killifish (huge jumpers, all of mine jumped through a 1/2" gap within a week), Kissing Gouramis (not great lookers tbh, the huge lips creep me out lol), Arapaima (duh), Arowanas (most of them ive heard of have died from jumping, plus they’re really expensive and hard to keep), Discus (I couldn’t deal with the stress of owning them), Oscars (controversial but honestly their faces aren’t very cute to me, though I haven’t owned one), Fancy Goldfish (inbred, and very overrated as pets. They often die from swim bladder issues and organ failure. Most varieties also kind of creep me out, especially Orandas and Ranchu. They look like human babies facial wise, and honestly are like the Goldendoodles of the hobby. The only positive I can think of is that they don’t require lots of space.) Malawi Chiclids (I might own some one day but I’ve heard too many stories of colonies crashing to be comfortable with them at my level), and finally Flowerhorns (I’m sorry to say this but imho they’re just ugly to look at, with their huge lips, beady eyes and huge bumps (also called koks). Plus they’re so fragile and aggressive that you need to keep them in a empty tank alone). Anyway people are free to disagree but that’s just my opinion.
 
My favorite fish? Of the ones we have had in our care there is not only one. First there was Fred and Ginger, they lived 6 and 7 years as mated pair of angelfish. A wonderful pair. Very gentle with the other fish. Then there was Miss Kitty a cory who lived 6 years, and of course Beast a ABN that lived 20 years.

As for least favorite fish it would be Kribs. I had a pair of them wipe out a 30 gallon's population overnight. I bought them as a rescue and regretted it.
 

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Hi, I was a little bored and I was wondering what everyone's favorite and least favorite freshwater aquarium fishes are and why. It can be any fish or just a fish you own.

For me it is hard to pick a favorite because I have so many. Some that are close to being my favorites are bettas because they have so much personality, butterflyfish because they look really cool, and wolf cichlids for the same reason as bettas, but overall I think my favorite is the dwarf gourami because they are beautiful fish that are easy to care for and mine interacts really actively with me.

My least favorites are flowerhorns and parrot cichlids although I have never owned either because they are really controversial and become sick easily.

I'm excited to see what fish are the most and least liked, and might post an update on the winner of both categories after I get more answers.

Thanks!
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I love rope fish and leopard bush fish.
I suppose least favorite would be gold fish. IMG_4469.jpeg
 
My favorite right now is the Blackbanded sunfish. They are native North American cold water fish, so no heater. Beautiful traditional sunfish shape in an easy to keep 3-4 inch maximum size. Their temperament is everything I prefer in a fish: they recognize me and get along great with each other: no fighting or chasing. Very calm and enjoyable to watch.

For least favorite I'm not sure. Maybe the Filet-o-Fish. :p
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Wow they are great looking fish!!

Well favorite’s can change the longer you keep fish. In house favorites are my pair of clown loaches and my featherfin squeaker. These are my oldest fish at least 10yrs now. Next are new to me.1 yr so far. Hillstream loaches. Just a fun fish to watch. Discus are what I’ve been keeping. But I think it’s more for the challenge of keeping them. The fish itself is just too fragile.

Least favorite is easy Chinese algae eaters. When do they eat algae? Sold so small many buy believe they will stay that size. But no they get big and nasty. And next would of course be bettas!
 
Current favorites I have are dojo loaches and rosy reds. Least favorites fancy goldfish and guppies unfortunately wife likes both.
 
I'm not sure what my favorite fish is, as it could change on any given day. Today I'm going to say Siamese Algae Eater. They're good algae eaters to be sure, but they're also just fun to keep. They have interesting social interactions, and they amuse me how they sometimes stop and lazily sit on something. In this state, they seem oblivious to everything around them and then sort of startle themselves back into reality. It's like they're day dreaming. I also find SAEs can distinguish one person from another surprisingly well, and I find that interesting.

My least favorite might be zebra danios. I can find their frenetic energy stressful. This may be a bit unfair though, because they're fine in larger aquariums. It's just when they're in a smaller aquarium that they bother me.
 
Woah is that a leopard bush fish? I’ve never heard of them before, beautiful fish though!
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He was only about an inch when I first got him. But now he is king of the tank.
 
A favourite would American cichlids in general, due to their intelligence and parental care. Least favourite might be the Chinese Algae Eater. Also this might be a bit contentious given their popularity but I'm not a big fan of corydoras which, to me, just seem to bumble about aimlessly.
 

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A favourite would American cichlids in general, due to their intelligence and parental care. Least favourite might be the Chinese Algae Eater. Also this might be a bit contentious given their popularity but I'm not a big fan of corydoras which, to me, just seem to bumble about aimlessly.
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Lol that’s the enjoyable part of cories. I always picture them as janitors like mario :D . Stumbling along the bottom of the tank making sure it’s clean.
 
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Hm I have a lot of favorites though my top favorite is probably Bettas. They’re super spunky and have a huge range of personalities despite being fish. Some other favorites I have are gouramis, snakeheads, loaches (dojos and khulis especially), angelfish, blood parrots, and Corydoras. I love all fish but there are some that I would never own (again for some). These include GBRs (they always die after a year or so in the most horrific ways), GW Killifish (huge jumpers, all of mine jumped through a 1/2" gap within a week), Kissing Gouramis (not great lookers tbh, the huge lips creep me out lol), Arapaima (duh), Arowanas (most of them ive heard of have died from jumping, plus they’re really expensive and hard to keep), Discus (I couldn’t deal with the stress of owning them), Oscars (controversial but honestly their faces aren’t very cute to me, though I haven’t owned one), Fancy Goldfish (inbred, and very overrated as pets. They often die from swim bladder issues and organ failure. Most varieties also kind of creep me out, especially Orandas and Ranchu. They look like human babies facial wise, and honestly are like the Goldendoodles of the hobby. The only positive I can think of is that they don’t require lots of space.) Malawi Chiclids (I might own some one day but I’ve heard too many stories of colonies crashing to be comfortable with them at my level), and finally Flowerhorns (I’m sorry to say this but imho they’re just ugly to look at, with their huge lips, beady eyes and huge bumps (also called koks). Plus they’re so fragile and aggressive that you need to keep them in a empty tank alone). Anyway people are free to disagree but that’s just my opinion.
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Personally, I think Oscars are really fun, and even though they aren't the prettiest, I would reccomend getting them someday.
Hi, I was a little bored and I was wondering what everyone's favorite and least favorite freshwater aquarium fishes are and why. It can be any fish or just a fish you own.

For me it is hard to pick a favorite because I have so many. Some that are close to being my favorites are bettas because they have so much personality, butterflyfish because they look really cool, and wolf cichlids for the same reason as bettas, but overall I think my favorite is the dwarf gourami because they are beautiful fish that are easy to care for and mine interacts really actively with me.

My least favorites are flowerhorns and parrot cichlids although I have never owned either because they are really controversial and become sick easily.

I'm excited to see what fish are the most and least liked, and might post an update on the winner of both categories after I get more answers.

Thanks!
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And when I say butterflyfish are one of my favorites, I mean the freshwater kind.
 
Personally, I think Oscars are really fun, and even though they aren't the prettiest, I would reccomend getting them someday.

And when I say butterflyfish are one of my favorites, I mean the freshwater kind.
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I agree there, they’re very personable fish from what I’ve seen! The only thing stopping me from owning them is their size and looks. Honestly if I were wanting a water puppy I’d probably go with blood parrots or some sort of hand reared chiclid (like a Severum or a female Red Devil) :))
 
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I agree there, they’re very personable fish from what I’ve seen! The only thing stopping me from owning them is their size and looks. Honestly if I were wanting a water puppy I’d probably go with blood parrots or some sort of hand reared chiclid (like a Severum or a female Red Devil) :))
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Yeah, cichlids, especially new world ones are really personable, however, I would not recommend a flowerhorn or blood parrots although they are intelligent they are very controversial and also vulnerable to health problems. Red devils seem fine though and severums are great fish.
 
Yeah, cichlids, especially new world ones are really personable, however, I would not recommend a flowerhorn or blood parrots although they are intelligent they are very controversial and also vulnerable to health problems. Red devils seem fine though and severums are great fish.
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True, though the controversy doesn’t really ward me away from blood parrots. I’m more worried about deformities in the mouth and spine, though that can be prevented from buying directly from a good breeder. Still, I understand the concern and if I were to go with a wet pet I would probably do a green terror, a red devil or severum over a BP chiclid as to not deal with health issues that might arise from such hybridization.
 
Small livebearers are nice because they have many patterns and the patterns can be bred together. Endlers are good for that since they are more streamlined for swimming than huppies and they have many pattern combinations that come naturally. Peaceful cichlids also have a cool factor. I haven't owned them, but I like the looks of keyhole cichlids, mbunas, acaras, and angelfish.

Least favorites would have to be fancy goldfish, parrot cichlids, and flowerhorn cichlids. They are like the pugs of the aquarium world and they cannot survive without lots of intervention.
 
Favorite: Koi, Cow Goby, Oscars

Least favorite: Flounders. I just find it extremely creepy that they swim on one side, their face is deformed on one side. They're just hideous in my opinion
 
My favorites are plecos and basically anything that is a similar shape/type. And loaches. And anything that has cute little round fins like a panda garra or a bumbling goby. And also Cory catfish.
My least favorites are those goldfish that have the swollen bubbles under their eyes.
But I do like other goldfish.
 
My favorites are plecos and basically anything that is a similar shape/type. And loaches. And anything that has cute little round fins like a panda garra or a bumbling goby. And also Cory catfish.
My least favorites are those goldfish that have the swollen bubbles under their eyes.
But I do like other goldfish.
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You mean the bubble eye goldfish and celestial eye? Those are abominations made for human viewing pleasure, I don’t even see why these fish are attractive
 
Favorites: Any large cichlid. I know they have a (partially deserved) reputation for being absolute brutes, but my Jack Dempsey cichlid was nearly 11 years old when he passed, and he never stopped being both beautiful and full of hatred for everything that lived. Oscars are similarly adorable to me. They are such wonderful, beautiful creatures. (Also every species of minnow/shiner)

Least favorite: Mosquito Fish. The fact they're sold basically everywhere as a living pest control solution has lead to them becoming a massive detriment to the beautiful livebearers local to my region. Common carp and goldfish also tie for last place for similar reasons. They outcompete native fish species, dirty up the water with their feeding behaviors, and they're next to impossible to get rid of. I think carp are the only fish I'm more interested in getting on a plate than in an aquarium.
 

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I also want to add that I really dislike the Chinese High Fin Shark. In my opinion, they only look good as juveniles and hideous when they're adults. Of course, there are other people who might disagree with me. Seems like other people collect or buy these fish just because they look great or cute but fail to realize that they are only like that as babies, and will look very different when they grow into massive sizes. A lot of buyers are also quite unprepared when the fish grows large.
Favorite: Koi, Cow Goby, Oscars

Least favorite: Flounders. I just find it extremely creepy that they swim on one side, their face is deformed on one side. They're just hideous in my opinion
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Small livebearers are nice because they have many patterns and the patterns can be bred together. Endlers are good for that since they are more streamlined for swimming than huppies and they have many pattern combinations that come naturally. Peaceful cichlids also have a cool factor. I haven't owned them, but I like the looks of keyhole cichlids, mbunas, acaras, and angelfish.

Least favorites would have to be fancy goldfish, parrot cichlids, and flowerhorn cichlids. They are like the pugs of the aquarium world and they cannot survive without lots of intervention.
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Keyholes are very underrated fish IMO!
I think my favorite fish may be Empire Gudgeons (love how the males glow, and I found them to be extremely hardy). My least favorite fish are probably balloon mollies - I feel so bad for them and feel like they shouldn't even be sold.
 
Red OB Peacock for favorite,
Or any variegated/multi colored fish (koi betta Shubunkin Sanke etc.)

Least favorite ANY DIED FISH, I wish everyone actually cared about the fish they sell.
 

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Gourami
The way mine use their ventril fins, almost like little hands, is fascinating. When they swim by each other, they insist on reaching one out to touch the other
They do the same when a rasbora swims by
 
Gourami
The way mine use their ventril fins, almost like little hands, is fascinating. When they swim by each other, they insist on reaching one out to touch the other
They do the same when a rasbora swims by
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The way gourami use their little ventral fins is one of the cutest things ever, but I also fully understand how some people think its a bit creepy.
 
The way gourami use their little ventral fins is one of the cutest things ever, but I also fully understand how some people think its a bit creepy.
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Yeah. To me they look a lot like a plate-shaped legless swimming crustacean feeling around with its long skinny arms.
 
The way gourami use their little ventral fins is one of the cutest things ever, but I also fully understand how some people think its a bit creepy.
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What? Creepy?!

They're adorable lol
 
Of the fishes I currently own - my favorite species would be a toss up between a. sp winkelfleck and a. lineta. The a. lineta has very little colouring but they are very well behaved. The a. winkelfleck are beggars but a little nicer looking.

My least favorite is tough - I'm not very happy with my a. cacatuoides as they are super aggressive and keep killing everything in the 40B (mostly guppies) (all the mentioned apistogramma are wild caught) and i guess a close second would be g. sp. alto sinu as they are just taking up space right now. Also they constantly bite my fingers when i feed them.
-
 

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What? Creepy?!

They're adorable lol
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I think its just the vibe of this weird little fish touching everyone with his feelers that looks a bit off-putting to some people. I gotta find the post of that guy whose girlfriend called his honey gourami "creepy yellow fish"
 
Oh, I didn't know that!
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The Glo fish were originally developed as a possible means of easily monitoring some kinds of pollution in water. I don’t think that idea worked out but the flourescent proteins they were using to try to create a visible marker for contact with pollutants created some interesting coloured fish and it went from there.

The most common fish you’re likely to see that have been dyed are Indian Glass fish and they are subjected to some extreme processes to strip the slime coat so the dye will take. It’s very hard on the fish so there are fairly significant mortality rates and the dye is not permanent so they gradually lose the fake colours anyway.

Glo fish breed true since the proteins that give them the vivid colouring have been made a part of their genetic makeup. You may not like the idea but it doesn’t harm the fish, unlike dyeing or tattooing.

Some fish are tattooed - I once saw Blood parrots being offered around Valentine’s Day with cutesy words tattooed on their sides - LOVE and so on. They were also ‘heart’ parrots which are produced by amputation of part of the tail. Barbaric.

It is disgraceful and disgusting and the practice of tattooing, amputations & dyeing fish needs to be banned.

Some Koi have been tattooed as well, which appears to have been done to perpetuate fraud.

Low grade koi were tattooed to match the patterns of very expensive fish with highly desirable patterns of colouring. Been done to win shows (I believe) on a limited scale but also to dupe the unwary into paying through the nose for ‘rare’ koi that are no such thing.

What some people are willing to do for money is just mind boggling.
 

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