How to Choose a Perfect Fish Tank Size for Your Little Pet Fish

As a novice fish keeper, you may have a query about choosing suitable fish tank sizes for your little aquatic friends. However, some aquarists ignore the fact and select the wrong aquariums for water species, which may create trouble for the breeds. So, whether you are a beginner or an expert fish keeper, get proper suggestions from experienced aquarists before selecting a small, medium, or large tank size along with other setup requirements.

Fish Tank Size Requirements for Popular Species

There are thousand or more fish and other water species in the world that vary in their sizes, and they need specific tank size to dwell. Choosing the wrong size may affect them adversely, as we have mentioned above.

Along with the sizes of the fish breeds, the temperament or behavior of the fish also matters a lot while selecting an aquarium for your pet fish. Moreover, if a fish is aggressive in nature, then you always need a big fish tank, and for peaceful breeds of small size, you can select medium or small-sized fish aquarium. Now, let’s have an overview at some popular fish, their temperament and their tank size requirements in the given table:

Large-Size Fish Tanks

There are multiple fish breeds, among them, the large-size breeds are needed to be kept in large aquariums where the specifications are mentioned below:

Fish Names	Fish Size	Minimum Tank Size (Single Fish)	Tank Size (For Group Breeds)	Filled Weight of Fish Tank
Silver Arowana	2-3 inches	250 Gallons	500 Gallons	2500 lbs.
Butterflyfish	8.7 inches	125 Gallons	250 Gallons	1400 lbs.
Garibaldi	12 inches	100 Gallons	200 Gallons	1200 lbs.
Oscar	11-15 inches	60 Gallons	150 Gallons	900 lbs.

Medium Size Fish Tanks

The medium size fish should always be kept in a medium-sized aquarium where they can keep medium-sized fish breeds. Look at the specifications below:

Fish Names	Fish Size	Minimum Tank Size (Single Fish)	Tank Size (For Group Breeds)	Filled Weight of Fish Tank
Rainbow Shark	6 -7 inches	50 Gallons	80 Gallons	200 lbs.
Royal Gramma	3 inches	30 Gallons	100 Gallons	300 lbs.
Killifish	1-6 inches	20 Gallons	60 Gallons	700 lbs.

Small Size Fish Tanks

It is not necessary to bring spacious tanks in your house. Just bring small-sized aquariums to keep small fish breeds.

Fish Names	Fish Size	Minimum Tank Size (Single Fish)	Tank Size (For Group Breeds)	Filled Weight of Fish Tank
Neon Tetras	1.5 inches	10 Gallons	25 Gallons	120 lbs.
Dwarf Gourami	2 inches	6 Gallon	15 Gallons	110 lbs.
Betta Fish	2.25 inches	5 Gallons	15 Gallons	100 lbs.
Goldfish	4 inches	3 Gallons	10 Gallons	200 lbs.

Common Mistakes Done by Beginners in Selecting Right Aquarium

Some beginners often make common mistakes by purchasing a small fish tank due to inadequate space in their home and office. This makes the fish violent, suffocated, and aggressive, which are the adverse sources of their health downfall. Along with that, the fish keepers also do several other mistakes, which can harm the fish. Hope you don’t want to see your little friends in trouble. So, try to avoid some mistakes mentioned below:

Novice fish keepers really don’t know what is the specific size of a fish and chose a wrong aquarium for them. Definitely, as mentioned above, acquire knowledge about the temperament, height, width and tank size of any fish breed you want to keep. This complete information will really help you in giving comfort to your swimming-companion by avoiding the mistakes.

Generally, fish enthusiasts keep too many fish together in a fish tank, which may create chaos among the breeds and make the water dirty.

To get rid of these crucial problems, try to keep fewer water species in a single tank whether the aquarium is large or small in size. Also, make the living place of your tiny buddies spacious, so that they don’t feel suffocated and irritating.

Some aquarists make a great mistake by buying their favorite pet fish and the tank on the same day. But do you know it can really trouble you, and confuse you in setting the tank just in a single day?

To avoid this mistake, buy a fish jar with two or three fish breeds and keep them in the clean distilled water of a jar. After a day, purchase a fish tank and set water, decorations, plants, gravels and other necessary objects in the tank. Once the tank is decorated and ready to keep your cute swimming-companions, keep the fish breeds in the aquarium by holding them with a soft fishnet.

Many fish keepers don’t understand the compatibility as per the temperament of the fish breeds and keep wrong companions together in the water, which result in fights, bloodsheds or even death.

If you really want to avoid these negative effects then know about the temperament and compatibility of each pet fish you are breeding, and also acquire an idea about the suitable tankmates for your buddies before you plan to keep different water species together.

Usually, fish keepers have too much faith on the seller of the fish pet store because they think shop keepers are never wrong, as they have complete knowledge and experience about every fish they sell.

No, it’s completely a wrong belief; the pet store-keepers may have very specific knowledge about some breeds, but it’s not possible to keep 100% information about all the breeds. So, before having a hobby to keep fish, try to get plenty of knowledge by researching fish from the internet and books where complete details about water species are mentioned. Don’t trust blindly on others, and first, try getting suggestions from experienced aquarists before you start breeding different fish.

This is a very bad habit of changing fish tanks or fish jars frequently on a weekly or monthly basis because this can disrupt or irritate some breeds who don’t like shifting their living place, as they are comfortable in living at the same place for a long time.

Remember, they are not like human beings who love changing their homes. So, you should set an aquarium properly before keeping fish in a tank. Moreover, you can add necessary decors or objects while cleaning an aquarium. If you want to change a fish tank then you can change it once in a year.

Some aquarists keep their aquarium near the sunlight or near window, but the harsh air and sunlight may really harm the fish.

If you want to provide comfort to your little friends then keep the aquarium in a cool place where no one can disturb the water species.

There are several fish that are aggressive and the best jumpers. Remember, they will always try to jump out from the fish tank and if they jump high, they then whether the tank may fall down and some fish can come out.

Therefore, be careful in fixing the top-most lid of the fish tank carefully, and also keep the tank in a big spacious table, so that the fish cannot come out. Moreover, never keep a tank at the edge of the table, because it can easily fall down and your little buddies may meet an accidental death because of your fault.

Results of Choosing Wrong Fish-Tank Size

Keeping large and aggressive tempered breeds in small tanks can be dangerous for their life and the other companions in the same place as mentioned above. It may result in fighting, bloodsheds, irritation, health issues, and many other problems. Therefore, figure out the appropriate space or collect more information about your pet breeds before keeping them in an aquarium. You may have a look at some significant problems that fish face while kept in a small aquarium or in a congestible living place:

When a large fish breed is kept in a small fish tank, it does not grow properly and feels choked in the aquarium. The unhealthy living condition is the primary reasons for their stress and other health issues along with color-fading. Therefore, try to know about the breeds and their required space related to the size and temperament for their smooth growth with a healthy life.

The large fish will also become ill, and their lifespan will get reduced if you provide an unhealthy environment to them by keeping them in a small aquarium.

Veterinary doctors also say, if a fish is not comfortable in an aquarium then it may get affected with multiple life-threatening diseases, stress, and panic attacks. So, fish keepers are suggested not to restrain the little water species which can make them unhappy. Stress is the reason of heart stroke and internal organ failure of sensitive fish.

As mentioned previously, if less space is given to a large breed fish then it will get affected by anxiety and that may result in aggressive nature, irritation, annoyance, fighting mood and many other negative behavioral disorders. These types of mood-fluctuations will also harm the other aquatic species in the fish tank. So, plan accordingly before choosing fish tank size for particular breeds.

You will find a significant amount of uneaten food and fish poops, which can make the tank water dirty. So, a large fish tank is needed because keeping a small aquarium and making it over-crowded may be unhygienic because it’s hard to clean small fish tanks. Therefore, bacterial and fungal infections spread quickly in the water and make it poisonous.

A little amount of water in a small aquarium can make the pH scale, hardness and temperature of the water unbalanced, and make the home of the fish an uncomfortable place to dwell. Moreover, the oxygen level of the water will be unstable which will obstruct the fish to breathe properly.

What are the Suitable Places to Put a Fish Tank

You have to choose a suitable fish tank size but along with that never forget to select a proper place in keeping the aquarium. Take a look at a few appropriate places for placing a tank:

• Peaceful Place – You can keep a fish tank at your bedroom or at a large drawing room at a corner. Make sure small children don’t go such rooms at any cost because they may accidentally push the tank, and it may lead to a pathetic death of your favorite pet fish.
• Cool Temperate Place – Fish and other aquatic species don’t like staying in the hot temperature, so try to keep them in a cool place where sunlight and heat do not disturb them.
• Low Noisy Place – Generally, fish don’t like noise pollution because they are peaceful in nature. So, if you want to make them comfortable, then keep your fish tank in a silent environment.

The comfort and safety of your pet fish are the mandatory things that you should provide to them. So, don’t ignore the proper size requirement of your fish breeds, and provide a happy living place to them.

Get More Information about Petting Your Fish by Choosing Appropriate Tank

There are several fish in the entire world and different breeds need specific places to live. So, along with this article, you can also know about other topics as follows: