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Everyone wants a colorful and busy aquarium and that’s why aquarium needs active aquarium fishes. Lots of people don’t understand which fish they should keep when they start keeping fish and they keep those types of fish mistakenly which hide all the time.

But now no more confusion because from here you are going to know about 7 active fishes that will help your aquarium be colorful and busy.

So without wasting much time let’s dive deep into the topic

5 best active aquarium fishes are

• Albino Rainbow Shark

• Neon Tetra

• Molly Fish

• Swordtail

• Tiger Botia

Now let’s know more about these active fishes

1. Albino Rainbow shark

The Albino rainbow shark is a species of rainbow shark. But this is special just because of its color. The bright white color of its body and orange fins will add some extra color to your aquarium.

Albino rainbow shark is an active swimmer and its dwelling place is the bottom of the tank. As it dwells at the bottom of the tank, that’s why it helps to clean algae also. That will be your plus point if you want to keep it in the aquarium.

This fish is most aggressive and doesn’t allow any other aggressive type of fish in its dwelling space. So remember that don’t put any similar type of fish with it.

Albino rainbow shark grows up to 6 inches and that’s why it needs a bigger space for swimming. If you can afford to keep a 50-gallon tank in your house, then that will be okay for the rainbow shark. But if you want to keep more than two then you need a 125-gallon fish tank. When it is kept in a short aquarium, it becomes more aggressive and fights with another similar type of fish. That’s why you should avoid it.

If you want to keep other fishes with it then Gourami, Barbs, and Danios will be a great companion with it because these types of fishes are also strong species and can adapt to it

Note – Avoid keeping raid tall shark, bala shark, catfish with it in a same aquarium

2. Neon Tetra

Neon Tetra is another active fish species that you can keep in your aquarium. This is a South American fish that was founded in the Amazon forest river. It is a well-known fish just because of its color. If you keep a group of Neon tetra in your aquarium then they will swim frequently and no one will be bored by seeing them.

There are tons of tetras you can find. All of these are colorful but among these Neon tetra is a little bit more attractive according to its color. The mixture of red and blue will make your aquarium better visually. But when it gets sick then its body color gets dull.

It is a peaceful fish and loves to stay with its community. You can keep a group of Neo tetra together in an aquarium. Mainly its dwell space is in the middle of the fish tank. A 10-gallon tank is enough for a Neon Tetra group.

As this fish lives in Amazon that’s why it needs a planted environment and if you keep this fish in a planted aquarium then nothing will be better than this. You can put some good driftwood to feel them special and a dark-colored substrate is mandatory for Neon Tetra.

If you want to find some good tank mate or a companion of Neon Tetra then it would be Gourami, Barbs and dwarf cichlids. But don’t keep aggressive giant fishes with it

Note – Avoid keeping pearl gourami and opaline gourami with Neon Tetra, just because of their big sizes. 

Read more:- How to set up a community fish tank with cost analysis

3. Molly fish

Among the lots of common active fishes, Molly fish is one of them. You can’t able to find an aquarium fish store where you can’t find molly fish. This type of fish is very much active in the aquarium and can steal your attraction with its activities.

This is also a South American fish and it likes sandy substrate. So if you are planning to keep molly fish then you should remember it. This is an active swimmer in the mid-level of the aquarium and it likes to stay in a group. Don’t buy single molly fish as a pet.

You can find different colors of molly fish. Black, orange, and white color is the most common for molly fish. You can put this fish with tetra then your aquarium will be more colorful.

As this is community fish, that’s why you need lots of space for it. You can start from a 10-gallon tank if you keep only molly fish but when you put other species in it then you need to change the size if the aquarium. The most recommended tank size is 30 gallons.

Don’t think that this is totally peaceful species. Yes, it is but if when this is attacked by a similar type of fish then you can find it as aggressive fish. So try to choose a good companion for it which will be better for your aquarium.

If we talk about the companion of molly fish then you can consider cherry barbs, rosy barbs, dwarf gourami, danios, harlequin rasbora as its tank mate.

Note – Avoid convict cichlids as their tank mate

Read More:- Types of Mollies: Choose from 8 Most Popular One

4. Swordtail

If you are looking for some active aquarium fish species, then you should consider keeping a swordtail in your aquarium because it will keep your aquarium very busy. Male swordtail fish shows aggression toward each other and that is very enjoyable to any viewer.

Red-orange and black types of swordtails will add some extra color to your fish tank. So it is beneficial to keep it visually also. It has a nice caudal fin and that’s why its name is swordtail. Generally, the size of the female swordtail becomes bigger at the time of reproduction.

This fish dwells in the upper and middle portions of the fish tank. So this will help you to keep it with tetra (dwelling place –middle) easily. As this stays in the upper portion of the fish tank mainly that’s why you don’t need to focus on the substrate but the sandy environment is the most favorable condition for it.

For this type of fish planted aquarium is important because when it gets stressed out then it needs to hide and it hides behind plants and that is very much important. You have to remember that a minimum of 5-6 gallon of water is needed for swordfish and this amount of water will provide comfort to it. But if you put a group of swordfish in a 15-gallon tank then they will not face any problem at all.

Now let’s discuss its tank companion. You can keep platies, rosy barbs, neon tetra, and dwarf gourami as swordtail’s tank companion. These types of fishes won’t harm swordtail.

Note –Jack dempseys or convict cichlids you should avoid to keep with swordfish.

Read more:- Is goldfish compatible with cichlids?

5. Tiger botia

Tiger botia is one of the famous fishes to keep as an active swimmer in a fish tank. Every fish keepers want to keep this fish just because of its playful and friendly nature. It’s orange with black bar color will add extra pleasure to see it.

Before keeping it you must remember that you shouldn’t keep it alone otherwise it will hide anywhere in the aquarium. Try to keep it in its community and for its community, you need a huge tank. When it is not fully grown then you can keep it in a 75-gallon fish tank but when it becomes fully grown then it needs 150-gallon fish tank which is huge for a beginner fish keeper

So from this, you may understand that this is not so easy to keep. Right? But you can keep it with other fish also. Neon tetra, cherry barbs, tiger barbs, and black widow tetra will be great companions of it. If you put it with neon tetra then your fish tank will be so colorful so try to keep it with neon tetra.

Note – Avoid any predatory fish to keep with tiger botia

Read more:- 7 great fishes for only 5 gallon tank 

Final thoughts

These are the fishes that you can keep in your fish tank if you want to make an active fish tank. These fishes will swim all around your aquarium and no one will feel bored by seeing them.

So here I’ve discussed 5 good examples that you can take as suggestions to make your fish tank so active with colorful. But make sure about its tank mate because if you mistake choosing the right tank mate of these fish species then your aquarium will be a mess. So remember it carefully

So best of luck & happy fishkeeping🐟