Top 10 Fish with Crazy Good Value for Beginners 

*What's your favorite, budget-friendly fish that you think everyone should try?* For more top 10 lists, browse our playlist here: ru-vid.com/group/PLNM4mDAXGxWx2xBHIYoP8FhhOZJeSmmMh

As a college student getting back in the hobby, this is just the video I needed

"You can co-habitate leopards and zebras just fine" -Cory, 2021

I bought from my LFS (actually just a privately owned pet shop) 4 mutt guppies, one male and three females over 4 years ago and put them in a planted 30 gallon tank and left them to their own devices. Within 4 months I had literally hundreds which I returned to the shop. In the intervening 4 years the pet shop has not had to buy a single guppy, I supply all that he wants. The beauty of mutt guppies is the offspring are so variable, every colour and fin type going. Every month I just scoop out a net-full, bag them up and give them to the pet shop. I don't take any payment although the owner would give me money, I take credit instead. I don't even remember when I last paid for fish food and any fish that I want from him are either free or massively discounted. I now do the same with Angels, Zebra Danios and Rosy Barbs. I get the pleasure of breeding various fish, the shop owner gets the pleasure of free fish to sell at 100% profit and I get free food; everybody comes out smiling.

So glad to hear about the Sunset Platy. I’ve recently found out about this fish because my boys fell in love with a photo and showed me. Great to get a blurb about them.

my grandfather had a loach in his tank when I was a kid...I LOVED it!! it reminded me of Oscar the grouches worm - Slimey.

I tried harlequin rasboras for the first time a couple of months ago. 15 in a 60 gallon planted tank look excellent!

The Khuli Loach is amazing and very friendly great community fish. Love them.

I love Cherry Barbs so much. They tend to be drab in the store, but once they're settled in and fully grown, both the males and females are stunning. They are outgoing, spunky fish that are so fun to watch. My main reccomendation is that they need a big group, probably 8 or more. They need to be in large enough numbers to keep each other in line and prevent one or two fish becoming the dominant bullies. If you do that, they're great. I've been able to keep 10 males and 5 females without an issue.

I’m enjoying my new white cloud tank. They get so excited at feeding time. The gold white clouds are absolutely beautiful too.

Cherry barbs are just so cute and good looking, especially with those little whiskers at the front

Fell in love with Super Red Bristle Nose when I was in hospital thanks to your videos. Today I have a bunch and supply two LFS with them. Happy to say I have most of the fish in my fish room. Thank you again for helping me through a tough time in my life. Want to say meeting you and your wife at the last Aquatic Experience was so great,impressed that all your success hasn’t changed you. Please tell your lovely wife that my niece is now a licensed veterinarian technician and is moving on to vet school. We spent a long time talking dogs, guy with wheelchair ( brought you the snickers and Reese’s).

I get bored sometimes of always suggesting the same fish for beginners at store I work at, but your videos always give me new good ideas to tell the customers, so thank you!

Black neon tetras are the best, super hardy, crazy beautiful under a dim light, they school and get crazy about any type of food, can’t help but just love them!

This group is more varied than what I was anticipating. I should’ve known you would put together a great grouping!

My LFS usually has a special of the week. It’s usually a tetra of some sort for $1.99 each. I always check out the special. You never know what is available.

White clouds are great. Ive got a 20g next to my desk with a mix of regular and gold white clouds with some Otos and cherry shrimp. Everyone gets along and its just non stop movement all day.

I absolutely love Kuhli loaches. Definitely putting some in my first tank (20 gallon, fully planted)

I initially started keeping monster fish, then cichlids (got into the whole breeding thing), and have now graduated to "beginner" fish. It's been a long strange trip... keep up the great vids.

Happy to see you mention Danios. I feel they don't get much attention and I think they are a very cool fish, they come with a good variety of colors and are very beautiful. I have 6 zebra Danios and I love them

Another great video from Cory and the gang. Love the Variatus platy. I would also add Endlers Livebearers and Bettas to the list. 🐠

I call my albino cory's my aquarium cows. They herd. They play together like cows in spring. I 💗 mine.

THIS is exactly the type of video I was looking for! Dad just got another tank and said he'd prefer the cheapest fish possible.

We LOVE YOU Cory and Aquarium Co-Op! Most informative fish channel

I'm definitely on a budget! Great top 10 Cory!! Thank you Aquarium Co-op for sharing 🙏🌿🐟🌿💚👍

Aquarium Co-Op and Girl Talks Fish BOTH mentioning my lemon tetra babies in the same weekend!? I'm not sure I can handle the sudden amount of love. These are honestly wonderful fish that are a delight to watch. I will be watching tv and without realizing it they have stolen my attention in their aquarium across the room. I have never seen them priced higher than $2.99 and they are just fantastic little fish. If you decide to go with lemon tetras, trust me, get more. Their behavior really manifests when you have 10+.

This is such a great list! I'm not a really beginner aquarium keeper and I can totally agree with everything here. White clouds are so fun to watch, especially in a nice big cold tank. In good tank conditions they really can live a long time. We keep em as feeders so we don't get to attached but they do add a fun flashy flash to the tank. Oh, and they are so inexpensive, here they run about a dollar for ten or 5$ for a net full.

Australian Rainbowfish. One of the most underrated fish in the hobby and a great value at a couple bucks apiece.

Cherry barbs,my favorite on this list. I have a tank with them,black neons,and a bristle nose.

Picked up a trio of hi-fin variatus platies and 6 longfin rosy barbs after you hyping them up. Both complete stunners, and I was out the door for less than $50. Thank you Cory

Thanks for the perfect recommendations, summer tubbin about to be started.

This was awesome! I love when you do videos like this. Highlighting affordable fish is great for this hobby. You can do it and not break the bank.

Your videos are always so informative. I’ve been looking at Norman’s lamp eyes for a tank I’m putting together, but I think you just sold me on the emerald eye rasboras! Thanks!

Glad to see black neons on your list. I started my 20 gallon long with 6 of these. Pretty, and they grew a lot bigger than I expected. Not as strong a schooler as I had hoped. As a result, I recently bought 9 harlequin rasboras. I wasn't even looking for them, but in the store there were only these along with some placos, and I had never seen a school as organized as them. I didn't need 9, but when I saw this, I just bought them all. I've had them for a month, and they continue to be great schoolers. A bonus is that my black neons often hang out with them!

Fantastic video Cory. I'll be getting some of these when I start my tank back up. Thanks!

Love your channel! Just did a 46 gallon bow front. Planted and loaded with barbs. Osceola barbs, rosey barbs, zebra and cherry 🍒 barbs. Never thought about doing a barb tank untill i found a video you did. Thanks brother in fish 🐟 😆

I have three out of 10 of these fish in a 36 gallon and I love them! The corys I just recently got and I am super happy with them. I have a dark substrate so they stand out nicely.

I already have several of these types in my 55 since I watch a lot of stocking videos. The black neons really stand out against my plants. Now, on the lookout for some cherry barbs..... love the video.

Thanks so much this was such a great list for budget Aquariusts like myself. As always great information. Keep up the great work I'm actually waiting on another shipment of plants and tank supplies from Aquarium co-op as we speak, It's due to arrive tomorrow and I'm excited. Love the products and love all of the great and handy information you all have on RU-vid. Keep up the great work. 👍🏽👍🏽

Totally agree with your picks. Great choices for beginners and experienced keepers alike.

Thanks Cory! As always... great insights.

love my kulhi loaches. all of them at lesat 8 years old or plus whatever the age i got them from. they live for so long and truly feels like a family now after 8 years. fun to watch and always loses their pellet or other food to other fish lol

Cool suggestions. I think I'm going to have to add some of these to my community. Thanks for the video!

Love the coop! Your vids have really helped me be a better fish keeper!

Great list, but I especially like that you include white clouds, I think they are gorgeous and so under rated!

Just tuned in this month your pretty awesome bro

Super great content. Thanks, y'all! I wonder if you'd do (maybe you already have?) A deep dive on plecks. Love my bristlenose, they love me back with dozens of frye.

I have been bingeing most of your content. Love it!

Great video! Wish I had that when I was starting out

Thanks, Cory. I love the aquarium hobby. I had a lot of tanks way back,but none in the last 25 yrs. Now I want them again,but being much older ,my memory isn't as good as it used to be. So I really rely on you for help! THANK you once again 👍 I know what each of these fish are- but NOT the technical name. Every week after my PT sessions, I stop in at Petco just to check out the fish. I STILL don't have my quarantine 10 gal set up yet---- but I keep seeing cool fish that I know + love--- so I better get my kiester going. Thank you for EVERYTHING that I 've learned from you. 😂🐠

All great fish! And especially for the beginning hobbyists!! Love my minnows

Great list! A bunch of my personal favorites were on it :)

Great video! Appreciate it Co-op team!

You are the best Corey thank you!

Good video! I love the wag tail platys. Bright red/ orange color. And affordable.

Love your recommendations - I seem to have most of these already 😊

Love spotting the Vienna guppies in with the Platys !

I love cherry barbs, corys and white clouds! The barbs and clouds I haven't seen in a long time.

Truly enjoy these videos.

Man, I want all of these fish. Can't wait until I can buy my own tanks. Your videos are super helpful btw, keep up the good work!🤗

Great suggestions!

I LOVE albino corys! They're super cute and lively. Adorable little fish ❤

I just got 12 zebra danios in the first fish in my 55 gallon tank and I love them so far! They're great fish and despite how small they are they do a great job of making the tank feel inhabited because they swim so fast and all over the place. They're great fish and I think I might try breeding them later on.

Love the list!! Great recs of some unsung heroes!

Cherry barbs were the first fish I got when I decided to get "serious" about fishkeeping after failed attempts in previous years. They will always be the most dear to me for that reason.

Hey Cory thanks love your suggestion. I cant Wait for my aquarium to finish cycling so I can get my white clouds, and my albino Corydora and kuhli loach maybe zebra Danios.

Thanks for the info. All wonderful fish.

nice guide! love it!

Can’t wait to see the store in person! I’m finally able to make the pilgrimage next week!

Great list, thanks for sharing.

Wonderful Ideas, thanks

The cherry barb females are also quite handsome with their stripe, pinecone-patterned, brown body and red fins. As nice as many male tetras or other schooling fish. And harlequin rasboras or the similar lamb chop rasboras are such great fish, so hardy and that bright, copper penny color and sharp markings.

This is fantastic content! Fishkeeping can be really expensive, which is definitely a barrier for bringing new folks into the hobby. Thanks for this list! Next: budget-friendly plants???

Cory it would've been great if you mentioned a min. tank size and min no. Of fish

I'm a huge fan of white cloud mountain minnows. I actually live sort of close to the mountain stream where they were discovered in Guangdong.

Hey Cory, you are a fish legend. I recently set up 20 gallon tank. Had to cycle it the hard way. Lots of patience. Using your advice from previous vids, I first put in 6 leopard danios, they were the only variety available at my small town LFS in Australia. Next, about 10 days later, 6 beautifully conditioned Black Neons that I came across at my local shop, went in. Decided to stick with Hardy fish that I could check out for myself, before buying, rather than get species that I just wanted. Three Albino Cory's went in next to help eat what got past the danios and Tetras. Shop had the healthiest little Neon Tetras I had ever seen. Got 6 at same time as Cory's. I let the tank settle for a couple of weeks, and over the next fortnight, added a very small as yet, Albino bristlenose, 8 more Neons (regular if you can call such beautiful fish that) and I put a supurb Plakat Betta in a Guppy breeding cage to acclimatise, whilst his 5 gallon tank was coming up to temperature, in the end he 'escaped' into the community tank. At first he attacked anything that went near him. However, 24 hours later, all the other fish were still there. BTW counting a school of Neon Tetras is not easy. Its been a month now since the Betta went in and he is super happy. The tank had a decidedly pink/red theme, so I added 2 zebra danio, that have nice blue lines. So far I haven't lost a fish. I have to thank 'Michael's fish room', for his video on using Seachem Prime to keep your fish alive during spikes in water chemistry. I didn't know that prime will bind Ammonia, without starving the good bacteria. Anyway, sorry for the long comment, but I and my fish thank you sincerely for your trust worthy advice. All the fish I have are just as you described, crazy danios, really elegant black Neons, the neon Tetras (12 of them now) school tightly, the Cory's are fascinating, the bristlenose is endlessly busy, and I'll (I hope) will never keep a Betta in anything but a community tank again.

I started with a 28 litre nano tank and recently bought a 65 litre tank. Thanks for the ideas!

Thanks Cory grate list have a grate day

Thanks for the video!

Love my cherry barbs...they are soo pretty. I also highly recommend the White mountain minnows...they are beautiful calm fish too. Just got black neons...they are pretty cool...a bit bigger than i thought theyd get..but are still cool in a nano tank. I love the Harlequins too...they do color up nicely and are gentle.

Much love here for white clouds! I currently have 30 approximately in my nano tank writ large! A heavily planted 40 breeder with the aforementioned white clouds, 10 pygmy Cory's, 6 reticulated Hillstream loaches, and cherry shrimp. Planning to add gold white clouds and some more pygmy Cory's. Pygmy cories might be borderline on your list too. 3.99 is the going rate around here.

When are we getting another guppy video, you inspired me to get guppies for my first fish tank and I’ve taken your advice and they’re doing great! Thank you!

Love the Leopard Danio suggestion!

Lots of great ideas!

Mmm, very curious and interesting. Content of this format will always inspire thoughts about summer vacations and so on))) It's gorgeous)))

Have a lot of these. Been considering trying out white clouds.

These videos are always so good!

Always great fun. Thank you for sharing! Long Live Aquarium Co-Op! - Little Bobby

I have a 120 gallon in my office with most of those fish, harlequin Rasbora's, scissor tail Rasbora's, Danio's, panda Cory's and 3 kuhli loaches i got 5 or 6 years ago and they are still going.

Great list!

Great video as always!

I have 4 out of 10 in my 37gallon. Been debating adding some black neons in there too so that is pretty funny. I didn't know the zebra/leopard danio could live in the cooler water, I've been recommending those as starter fish for years.

There's some great recommendations here!

This is such a helpful video! Do you ever work with crayfish or axolotl? I’m really wanting both but know I’ll have have to wait till I have room to have tanks with just one of them and no other fish. But I love tanks with lots of fish! My community tanks are so fun to watch.

I’ve got 13 emerald eye rasboras in my 20 gallon and they just go back and forth I feed them frozen daphnia and crushed up micro pellets and they can eat from the top a bit too

Amazing collection

Lol you havent posted in a while so your throwing em out quick i love it

Going to the store front in a week can't wait!!!

Cherry barbs are AHMAZING love them

Love it! Can you recommend outdoor tub fish??