People assume that caring for fish is easy. You see parents giving their kids fish before they get them a puppy. As if the fish were test pets.
But fish take a lot more work, care, and love than people realize. But if you’re here, you’re ready to get a start with saltwater aquarium fish. And you’re in the right place.
As a beginner, you don’t want any saltwater fish. Saltwater poses more of a challenge and you will likely want fish you can maintain and care for.
There’s no shame with starting with beginner fish. You’ll grow attached to these so-called beginner fish.
Later on, you can expand your saltwater aquarium with a wider range of fish.
We’re going to check out the top six best and most popular saltwater aquarium fish for beginners.
1. Ocellaris Clownfish (or False Percula Clownfish)
Everybody loves a clownfish. And clownfish are one of the easiest saltwater aquarium fishes to care for. And there are several species of clownfish to choose from.
The normal Ocellaris Clownfish looks a lot like Nemo. They’re bright orange with a white stripe. There is also a clownfish that’s black with a white strip.
Your tank can only have one species of clownfish. When mixed with other species of clownfish, they can get aggressive. Otherwise, they get along with other fish species and never make a fuss.
Clownfish are all born female. When it comes to breeding, the dominant fish becomes the male of the bunch. Then he forms a partnership with a female to breed.
They love having anemones in their tank. Instead of staying in one place as they do, they’ll drift over to the anemones. They’re a great place for the clownfish to hide.
An interesting fact is that clownfish are immune to an anemone’s sting full of toxins.
Feeding a clownfish is super easy. You need to feed them near their safety area. Or the area they cling to.
For the meat part of their diet, you can feed them brine shrimp or even chopped up frozen shrimp. And add some fish flakes for the rest of their diet.
You need to feed adult clownfish about two times a day while you feed the young ones four times a day.
Tank conditions for these fish are lax. The anemones are the picky ones.
For the two together, you need at least a 50-gallon tank. If you’re only keeping clownfish, the tank needs to be at least 20 gallons.
The temperature should be somewhere between 74 degrees Fahrenheit and 79 degrees Fahrenheit.
The pH balance should range between 7.8 and 8.4. And clownfish need gravity ranging from 1.021 and 1.026.
On average, a clownfish can live up to six years and they grow up to four inches in length.
2. Flame Hawkfish (Brilliant Red Hawkfish)
Flame hawkfish are super easy to care for. They’re loved for their bright colors and their interesting demeanor.
They have their own personalities and interact with you outside of needing food.
They’re a brilliant bright red so they stand out in any aquarium. They also have a black stripe on the top of their body.
Hawkfish like to observe and to watch their surroundings. That includes outside of their tank. They go back and forth to see everything that’s going on.
They’re also jumpers when they get excited. They’re also easy to startle.
Flame hawkfish like to claim two territories. They claim a territory higher up in the tank and they choose a shelter to claim.
Even at night, these fish are watching their territory. They go to their shelter to rest. But their eyes are always watching for danger.
You can store smaller and non-aggressive fish with a flame hawkfish. Since they have little mouths, they can’t do much damage. But they’re aggressive towards any bottom dwellers or juvenile fish.
Hawkfish, like the clownfish we mentioned above, are all born female. The dominant fish will change into a male. This one male mates with all the female hawkfish in the group.
When the female releases the eggs and they’re fertilized, you have to move the eggs to a safe spot in a separate tank. The eggs take up to three weeks to hatch.
When they start to get sick or have an improper diet, these fish will lose their bright color. It starts to dull.
Flame hawkfish are carnivores. In the wild, they perch and wait for their prey. When their prey comes along, they attack swiftly.
You can feed your hawkfish brine shrimp, Mysis shrimp, squid, and fish flakes. You need to feed them once a day.
A tank for a flame hawkfish has to be at least 30 or 40 gallons. You need caves or other shelters in the tank for a happy fish.
Maintain the temperature between 72 degrees Fahrenheit and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The pH level has to be between 8.1 and 8.4.
They don’t grow much bigger than four inches and they can live up to ten years.
3. Yellowtail Damselfish (or Yellowtail Demoiselle)
The yellowtail damselfish is the perfect saltwater aquarium beginner. They’re affordable and you can find them almost anywhere.
They’re bright blue fish with yellow forked caudal tails, hence the name. They have a nostril on each side of their head.
They are susceptible to ich and marine velvet disease.
The biggest downside is that they can be pretty aggressive. They bully smaller and non-aggressive fish. Sometimes they even kill them.
And they have even bitten their feeders a time or two. This means they’re also territorial. They pick a large area and claim it.
Luckily, the yellowtail damselfish is the least aggressive of all the damselfish species.
It’s not suggested to add other types of fish with damsels, especially non-aggressive fish.
Yellowtail damselfish may be able to live with our types but you want to keep them in a large aquarium.
A male will send out a mating call so-to-speak to a female damselfish. They move wildly about the tank or change its’ colors.
When the male catches the female’s attention, they head to the bottom of the tank to the nesting site. The female fish will release her eggs for the male to fertilize.
After that, the male protects the eggs. But they eat the youngest eggs. It lets them decide how healthy all the eggs are. It all gives them more energy to protect their juvenile.
Unlike most of the saltwater fish on this list, it takes longer for the eggs to hatch. It takes a few days to a week.
Yellowtail damselfish eat both meat and veggies. But they eat more vegetation than anything.
They snack on algae in the tank. You can feed them frozen shrimp, pellets, and flakes. You should feed them small amounts about three times a day.
For a yellowtail damselfish, a 30-gallon tank will do. They love if you add live rocks to their tanks. They also need shelters to hide out in from time to time.
Keep the water temperature between 79 degrees Fahrenheit and 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
The pH level has to be between 8.1 and 8.4. The gravity should be 1.020 and 1.025.
Usually, this damselfish grows up to three inches. But now and then one will grow up to fourteen inches in length.
They can get quite long sometimes. And they can live for six years or longer. The more aggressive the damselfish, the longer it’s going to live.
4. Auriga Butterflyfish (or Threadfin Butterflyfish)
The Auriga butterflyfish have their name since they’re like a butterfly. It looks like an expanded butterfly wing.
The Auriga butterflyfish is an easy fish to care for and grow. But there are other species of butterflyfish that are much more difficult.
Do your research before you buy another species. Some are better left to the experienced.
The most common butterflyfish is a beautiful white with a yellow back end, including the back fin. It also has a unique black stripe across its’ eye.
But they can also come in blue, black, and yellow. They use their long nose to sniff out food.
They each have a dot on their flanks. The dot protects them from predators. They confuse predators because it looks like an eye at the opposite end of the fish. So, the predators don’t stop for long.
Unfortunately, butterflyfish are vulnerable to fungal infections and parasites. They also get dropsy.
Some of the biggest reasons for dropsy is using too much salt in the water, a bad diet, or filthy water.
These fish can swim like no other. You can watch them swim their way through a maze of coral. Their pectoral fins help them move quickly.
They are moody beings. One day they’re calm and the next they can turn semi-aggressive about their territory.
They often stay in a group but the few loners are the ones that tend to get territorial. Butterflyfish tend to hide when a predator is nearby.
These cute fish mate for life. Once they find a partner, they stick by each other. They find each other as juveniles.
They spawn at night in the darkest area they can find. And at night the female will release up to 4000 eggs. The males then release sperm to fertilize the eggs.
Within 24 hours the fertilized eggs hatch. The pair like to be around their hatched fish afterward.
Auriga butterflyfish eat both meat and veggies. They’re big on algae and seaweed. They also love brine shrimp, crab, and invertebrates.
You need a 70 to 125-gallon tank. Butterflyfish are happy jumpers.
Your best bet is to have your Auriga butterflyfish in a live fish tank. Use reef and shelters to decorate the tank. They like to hide at night.
They’re also diurnal fish which means they’re active during the day and calm at night. So, some light manipulation is helpful. Have a light on the ceiling of your tank.
Or you can set it near a wide window during the day. It’ll allow the butterflyfish to get natural sunlight.
Keep the temperature between 72 degrees Fahrenheit and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The pH level should be between 8.1 and 8.4.
These butterflyfish can live anywhere from five to ten years. On average, they grow between 4.7 and 8.7 inches in length.
5. Flame Angelfish (or Japanese Pygmy Angelfish)
The flame angelfish is a dwarf angelfish. They adapt well to living in a tank.
They’re a loud orange with black stripes in the center. There’s also a bit of blue on the black fins.
Some flame angelfish are a bright red instead of bright orange. It depends on where they come from or where they bred them.
The body is an oval shape and they have rounded fins.
Copper is lethal to angelfish. So, keep copper away from your aquarium when setting up your angelfish tank.
These angelfish can share a tank with coral but they like to snack on it. As long as you keep a feeding schedule, it won’t become an issue.
They live the best with a small group. Everything is calm if this group of fish is less aggressive fish.
Every flame angelfish born is a female fish. But as adults, if some of them are more dominant and they’re large, they turn into males. This happens through a two month hormonal conversion.
If you want to breed your flame angelfish, you need some light manipulation for awhile. You need to manipulate day and night. And you have to do this at the same time every day.
This is because they go upwards in the water early in the morning. As they do, the females drop eggs and the males release sperm.
A day later, any of the fertilized eggs hatch.
Flame angelfish are omnivores, so they need both meat and veggies in their diet. A balanced diet of brine shrimp (or Mysis shrimp) and veggie pellets are perfect.
The tank size for one of these angelfish needs to be at least 30 gallons if it’s a live-rock tank. But if you want corals in your habitat, you’ll need a 100-gallon tank.
Make sure you add a hiding spot or shelter for your flame angelfish. They love to have a place of their own to hang out in.
Maintain the tank temperature between 75 degrees Fahrenheit and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. And the pH needs to be between 8.1 and 8.4.
Adult flame angelfish only grow to be about four inches in length. And they live between five and seven years.
6. Blue Tang (or Palette Surgeonfish)
Blue tang fishes are one of the most beautiful saltwater aquarium fishes. Their electric blue color demands attention. Tangs can come in a bright neon yellow color as well.
The juvenile blue tangs are bright yellow with blue spots around their eyes. When tangs spawn, they turn from a dark blue to a lighter blue.
The coolest part of their coloring is that they’re bio-fluorescent.
The downside is that they are vulnerable to ich. They can also erode on their heads and lateral lines. This is a common occurrence in Surgeonfish.
These amazing creatures are peaceful with other fish species. But adult tangs fight among themselves if they aren’t in a big enough tank. They need their space from each other.
Tangs are amazing to observe when it comes to their behaviors. They flip to their side and stop moving until the threat is long gone.
Adult tangs have super sharp spines. When the males are showing dominance, they sword fight with their caudal spines. It’s also referred to as “fencing”.
When they’re not showing off dominance and a predator comes by, they play dead.
Adult tangs create a school when they spawn. Females release their eggs above the coral as they start to swim. The male fish will swim up as well but they’ll release sperm around the coral.
A day later, those fertilized eggs hatch into juvenile tang fish.
They can live up to twenty years and on average grow up to twelve inches in length. So, they can get pretty long. They weigh about 1.3 pounds.
Younger blue tang fish eat plankton. If you have coral in your tank, these fish are going to keep them going since adult blue tangs eat algae. They also eat plankton like their younger counterpart.
Keep the water temperature between 75 degrees Fahrenheit and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. And the pH balance needs to be between 8.1 and 8.4.
The gravity of the tank needs to be 1.020 to 1.025. At the smallest, the tank should be 75 gallons.
More Guides For Beginners
Check out the following pots for some great info for aquarists who are just starting out:
Final Thoughts
There are numerous saltwater fish out there suitable for an aquarium. And there are plenty that are easy enough to take care of.
Before adding different fish together, always check out their capabilities.
