Aquarium fish compatibility: who gets along with whom?

Aquarium is a fairly popular hobby, and new people are constantly joining this hobby. They face a lot of problems and nuances. One such problem is the compatibility of different types of fish.

Types of aquarium fish can be combined according to a variety of selection criteria:

• territorial;
• the format of the aquarium;
• decorative characteristics;
• needs for a specific type of feed;
• size.

When the combination of species is finally selected, it is necessary to check again what their food needs are, how the fish should be kept. After that, you will have to choose plants, focusing on the level of illumination in the reservoir. The biological types of aquariums are formed taking into account the general conditions of keeping, nutritional characteristics, and the size of the food consumed. Geographic gradation has only recently begun to be used. Inhabitants of such aquariums (for example, "rainforest") are guaranteed to get along with each other.

Nothing surprising: the mass of aquarium inhabitants in nature inhabits reservoirs located in the middle of a dense forest... At the bottom of such lakes and rivers, rocks that do not contain calcium are grouped. Therefore, flowing and standing water is very soft. At the same time, a high concentration of tannins is maintained.

In a "tropical" aquarium, you need to create similar conditions. They are mainly populated by fish with a bright color. The decisive influence on whether different species are compatible, they can live with others or not, is not exerted by the geographical origin of a particular species, but by the unity of conditions in the natural environment.An aquarium for equatorial and subequatorial fish can have a wide variety of dimensions, picture-type aquariums are allowed. Such vessels must necessarily contain aquatic plants that grow in acidic water of low hardness and do not require significant illumination.

Good candidates would be:

• echinodorus;
• cryptocoryne;
• aponogeton;
• hygrophil;
• ambulia;
• kabomba.

If the necessary conditions are the same, even fish and fauna from different continents can be grown in the same vessel. Otherwise, a "crystal clear lake" aquarium is arranged. It is brightly illuminated, and the water must contain many "hard" components, while an excessively high temperature is contraindicated. The optimal species in this case are North American perches and fish from the middle zone of Eurasia. Sometimes biological aquariums are created taking into account the relationship of species.

In this case, you can also add unrelated, but similar in terms of the conditions of existence of the breed. You also need to think about the size of the co-reared fish. This is especially important when the size of the tank is relatively small. Not only biological, but also the geographical principle of selection is possible. In this case, preference is given to individuals originating from a particular locality. There are geographic aquariums that almost coincide with the popular biological species. So, in "South-East Asia" you can see:

• glass perch;
• puntius;
• zebrafish;
• parsing.

In North America":

• disk-shaped and brilliant perch;
• ellasome;
• rivulus;
• scalar;
• catfish.

If they are collecting a purely domestic aquarium, then the choice is also very wide. In such cases, take:

• minnow;
• stickleback;
• crucian carp;
• freshwater needle;
• perch;
• loach;
• tench and so on.

Fish from the Amur and its basin have been very popular in recent years. Many Russian species are even harder to maintain than exotic types. Initially, you need to change the water once a day. Representatives of aggressive breeds are advised to select smaller than calm fish.

Sometimes the excessive aggressiveness of some breeds forces the livestock to be divided into 2-3 aquariums. Geographical and biological principles are mainly adhered to by experienced breeders. Novice aquarists and those simply striving to decorate a room give preference to the criterion of decorativeness. In this case, they try to do everything as naturally as possible. They prefer to use young individuals, and the species diversity is minimized, since a large group of homogeneous fish looks better than a variegated school.

You should not chase a large number of fish. This can spoil the experience. It will be more difficult to assess the individuality of each individual and the specific traits of behavior. It is required to place either fast-swimming or slow-moving aquatic inhabitants in one vessel. The size should also be more or less the same. And even if the decorative characteristics coincide, the content requirements cannot be ignored. It is also important to consider the size of the artificial reservoir. In an aquarium of 100 liters, you can plant:

• 45 guppies;
• 30 swordsmen;
• 10 Odessa barbs;
• 10 cherry barbs;
• 20 zebrafish or leopard;
• 7 gold or marble gouramis;
• 32 Betta cockerels;
• 35 red or blue neons.

The larger the aquarium, the more stable the temperature and the easier it is to maintain water quality. Even with some kind of failure, you can not be afraid of special problems. To determine how many and which fish can be accommodated in an aquarium of a certain volume, simple calculations can be made. They proceed either from the need for oxygen, or from the fact that 0.01 m of body length requires 1 liter of water. Separate species have to be divided geographically, which makes it necessary to reduce the number of livestock.

If you plan to have large predatory fish, you need to choose an aquarium with a volume of 200 liters or more. With a capacity of 200 liters, you can plant 4 scalars and 2-4 ancistrus. You should first place the scalar there and only then carry out radical experiments. Another set includes:

• 10 rhodostomuses;
• 5 cardinals;
• 4 young ancistrus;
• 2 zebrafish;
• 1 sturisoma;

In an aquarium with a volume of 180 liters, you can plant:

• 10-20 rasbor;
• 12-15 five-lane barbs;
• 5-6 black barbs;
• 4-5 acanthophthalmus.

For an artificial reservoir of 30 liters, you need to use:

• 5 barbs;
• 3 catfish;
• 10 mossy barbs.

Or:

• 10 guppies;
• 4 danios;
• 3 catfish.

It is necessary to consider which fish will be compatible with which. Scalars can be partially combined with loaches, but it is categorically impossible to combine them with cockerels, discus, guppies, goldfish. Astronotuses also turn out to be bad neighbors, unlike other representatives of the pecilia family. In some cases, rasboros, tetras, swordtails, zebrafish, bots, irises are launched into the aquarium.

Koi carps can be combined with other members of their family. Goldfish would be a great combination. Koi carp tend to pursue anyone weaker than it. As already known from the above, loaches can be combined with scalars. But it is also advised to keep corridors, zebrafish, labeo, rainbows along with them. Koi carp should not see goldfish, cichlids and astronotus around them. Mollies are recommended to be kept together with:

• fight and discus;
• rassbor and zebrafish;
• corridor and tetra.

The already mentioned astronotuses do not get along well with carp and large cichlids. But they will meet the scalar, guppy, zebrafish complacently and even affably. Plekostomus (one of the types of catfish) is compatible with other peaceful species. Their list includes platy, and swordtails, and iris. Rainbow women are also famous for their peaceful disposition and do not attack others, on the contrary, they themselves must be protected. And bettas are clearly visible because of their lush, fan-like fins. They can be combined with:

• corridor;
• petsilia;
• plecostomus;
• iris;
• sword-bearer;
• ornatus.

Sometimes the question arises: is it possible to keep fish together in an aquarium if the tables show that they have poor compatibility? The reasons for these questions are manifold. Some people just like completely different types. Someone wants to fill the aquarium, but it is difficult to find suitable individuals of the right size with optimal requests.

However, you will have to take into account some of the nuances. For example, behavioral incompatibility can somehow be overcome or mitigated, but biological contradictions are almost invincible. In this case, the aquarium should be spacious. For different animals, specific zones are allocated, which are delimited by shelters, vegetation and various decorations. Fish that prefer to inhabit the upper layer of water will feel better in dense thickets with snags and grottoes.

Once it has been decided to combine the incongruous, it is necessary to check that there is enough food for each inhabitant. If, because of hunger, the fish enter into fights, nothing good can be expected. It is recommended to keep different species together from a very young age. Then they will better get used to communicate with each other. Of course, you will have to constantly work on a mixed aquarium, create shelter zones and change them, heal sick and wounded individuals, and renew dying livestock.

It is categorically unacceptable to overload the aquarium even when combining friendly species. Fish, like other animals, are entirely guided by instincts. And one of them is precisely the desire to fight for survival and control over a certain territory. If there is a shortage of space, fights will go "until the first death." You should take care of the compatibility of fish not only with each other, but also with aquarium plants.

It is extremely dangerous to keep in one place species that are twice or more different in size. In such a situation, even usually peaceful individuals can show gastronomic interest in weak neighbors. At the time of spawning, everyone is moved to a separate place, where predators will not get to either the pets themselves or their eggs. To rule out problems, you will also need to systematically replace the water and clean up the order in the aquarium. When taking "herbivores", you will have to either breed duckweed, or plant additional aquatic plants.

But there is one more nuance that must be remembered in any case. It is believed that individuals from the same family and order, approximately the same in size, will get along with each other. This is usually the case. However, there is one important exception to this rule.

People who turn them on will also face such an unpleasant thing as intraspecific aggression. It is also impossible to keep fish without taking into account their requirements for the ground. Aquantophthalmus definitely needs the ability to bury itself in the ground. They are supposed to be provided with a substrate - sand or fine pebbles. If you use large pebbles or dense soil, fish will still try to dig up the soil and could be seriously injured.

A common mistake is trusting sellers' recommendations. They are primarily interested in selling goods in maximum quantities. It is very important to study in advance as much information as possible about the desired fish from independent sources. It is necessary to pay attention not only to the behavioral properties of individuals, but also to the growing conditions. There are times when a cold-water species is psychologically combined with warm-water individuals.

However, in this case, it is not very correct to be touched by the fish floating around peacefully. An unjustified acceleration of physiological processes will certainly make itself felt. It will be expressed in a reduction in the life span, which is already small, even under excellent conditions for other parameters. If the fish is designed to be kept in soft water, it will somehow survive in a hard environment, however, reproduction will be questionable. The price of such a "mistake" is also expressed in the need to spend a lot of money on the constant purchase of drugs or the use of softening reverse osmosis units.

Oddly enough, many people do not pay enough attention to the nutritional compatibility of fish. If the animal eats plant food by default, it will not give up both the bloodworm and other insect. But then digestive upset can soon be expected. Even representatives of the same families, for example, cichlids, can be divided into carnivorous and herbivorous species. Therefore, keeping them in the same aquarium is not very smart.

For more information on the compatibility of aquarium fish, see the following video.