Fish compatibility chart
Start from thirty popular freshwater fish, shrimp and snails, or add your own from the catalog. Every pair is checked against TankBud's tank mate rules, and a square shows why.
Go to the chart →Which fish can live together
Find a fish's row and read across to its partner's column. Choose a square to see the reason, and open a recommended pair in the stocking calculator.
Your fish
Remove any fish you will not keep, or add your own from the catalog.
Schooling fish
- Neon tetra
- Cardinal tetra
- Ember tetra
- Harlequin rasbora
- Zebra danio
- Cherry barb
- Tiger barb
Livebearers
- Guppy
- Southern platy
- Black molly
- Green swordtail
Bettas and gouramis
- Betta
- Dwarf gourami
- Honey gourami
- Pearl gourami
Cichlids
- Blue ram
- Angelfish
- Electric yellow cichlid
- Oscar
Coldwater fish
- White Cloud Mountain minnow
- Common goldfish
Bottom dwellers
- Bronze cory
- Panda cory
- Kuhli loach
- Bristlenose pleco
- Common otocinclus
Shrimp and snails
- Cherry shrimp
- Amano shrimp
- Mystery snail
- Zebra nerite
- RecommendedThe pages endorse it, or published care guides list the pair.
- CautionCheck the pair before you buy.
- ConflictOne eats the other, or the water does not meet.
- UnknownNo evidence either way, which is not a yes.
- Open shapeA risk from temperament or size, not a recorded fact.
| Neon tetra | Cardinal tetra | Ember tetra | Harlequin rasbora | Zebra danio | Cherry barb | Tiger barb | Guppy | Southern platy | Black molly | Green swordtail | Betta | Dwarf gourami | Honey gourami | Pearl gourami | Blue ram | Angelfish | Electric yellow cichlid | Oscar | White Cloud Mountain minnow | Common goldfish | Bronze cory | Panda cory | Kuhli loach | Bristlenose pleco | Common otocinclus | Cherry shrimp | Amano shrimp | Mystery snail | Zebra nerite | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neon tetra | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cardinal tetra | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ember tetra | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Harlequin rasbora | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zebra danio | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cherry barb | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tiger barb | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Guppy | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Southern platy | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Black molly | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green swordtail | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Betta | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dwarf gourami | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Honey gourami | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pearl gourami | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Blue ram | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Angelfish | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electric yellow cichlid | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oscar | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| White Cloud Mountain minnow | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common goldfish | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bronze cory | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Panda cory | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kuhli loach | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bristlenose pleco | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common otocinclus | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cherry shrimp | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amano shrimp | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mystery snail | · | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zebra nerite | · |
Choose a square to see why the pair reads the way it does.
Check a whole tank in the stocking calculator →How the chart reads a pair
Positive evidence
A pair is recommended only when both pages endorse community keeping and the two share a profile, or published care guides list them together.
Water ranges
Temperature and pH ranges have to overlap. A pair whose ranges miss is a conflict, however calm both fish are.
Recorded predators
A conflict also marks a fish recorded as eating the other, such as an oscar with a betta or an angelfish with cherry shrimp.
Size and temperament
Some verdicts rest on a stored temperament or on adult size alone. The chart draws them as open shapes, a risk to check rather than a fact.
Unknown
An unknown square means TankBud holds no evidence either way. It never reads a missing answer as a yes.
Common questions
What fish can live together in a community tank?
Fish that share a water range, keep the peace and are too big for each other to eat. On this chart that means tetras, rasboras, livebearers, cories and the smaller gouramis.
Can a betta live with other fish?
A betta is marked aggressive, so most squares in its row are conflicts. Published care guides do name a few partners, and the chart shows ember tetras, harlequin rasboras, panda cories, kuhli loaches and mystery snails as recommended.
Can angelfish live with neon tetras?
The chart marks the pair as a size risk. A neon tetra grows to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) and an angelfish to 5.9 inches (15 cm), so a grown angelfish may eat it.
Can goldfish live with tropical fish?
Rarely. The common goldfish grows to 9.8 inches (25 cm), big enough to eat small tropical fish. Its range stops at 75°F (24°C), cooler than many tropical fish want. Zebra danios, bristlenose plecos and mystery snails are the three the chart recommends.
Why are some squares unknown?
TankBud recommends a pair only with positive evidence, and an unknown square means the catalog holds none. Most of them pair the electric yellow cichlid, an African cichlid, with community fish from a different kind of tank.
Is this the same check as the species pages?
Yes. The chart, the tank mates on each species page and the TankBud MCP server read the same rules. The stocking calculator adds tank size and group sizes for a whole tank.
Can I add a fish that is not on the chart?
Yes. Search the catalog above the chart for any freshwater fish, shrimp or snail, up to 42 on the chart at once. Each new pair gets the same check as the thirty.
Check the whole tank
The stocking calculator reads every fish in a tank at once, with space, water ranges and group sizes. TankBud is free for hobbyists and keeps the tank once it is set up.