Tropical Fish for Sale: Colourful Freshwater Fish for Every Aquarium

Hardy community fish such as tetras, guppies and platies, danios and rasboras and corydoras are ideal for a first freshwater aquarium. They are peaceful, easy to feed and forgiving while you learn. Our guide to the best community fish for beginners has more ideas.

A tropical aquarium needs a filter, a heater and dechlorinated water. Cycle the tank for several weeks before adding fish so that beneficial bacteria can build up in the filter. Our guide to setting up a tropical fish aquarium takes you through it step by step.

It depends on the adult size of the fish, how active they are and how good your filtration is. Start with a few hardy fish and add more gradually so the filter can keep up. Our guide on how many fish to keep in a fish tank explains how to work it out.

Peaceful freshwater fish of a similar size usually mix well, such as small tetras, rasboras, corydoras and livebearers. Avoid keeping fin nippers with long finned fish, and keep large or predatory fish away from anything small enough to eat. Each of our product pages lists suitable tank mates.

Most freshwater tropical fish do best between 24 and 27°C, kept stable with a reliable heater and thermometer. Coldwater fish such as goldfish do not need a heater.

Yes, as long as you treat it with a water conditioner to remove chlorine and chloramine before it goes in the tank. Our guide to using tap water in an aquarium explains what else to check.

Good quality flake or micro pellets suit most community fish, with sinking wafers for bottom feeders and frozen foods such as bloodworm as an occasional treat. Feed small amounts once or twice a day, only as much as they will eat in a couple of minutes. See our guide to feeding tropical fish.

Yes, when the seller quarantines, packs and ships fish properly. Our checklist for buying fish online safely explains what to look for, from health checks to specialist couriers.

Float the sealed bag in your tank to match the temperature, then add small amounts of tank water to the bag over 30 to 60 minutes before netting the fish in. For sensitive species, use the drip acclimatisation method.

Every fish is quarantined and health checked before it leaves us. Live fish are dispatched Monday to Wednesday by DEFRA approved overnight courier, so they spend just one night in transit, and every order is covered by our Live Arrival Guarantee. Read more about how live tropical fish are delivered.