Fish for a beginner?

I'm glad you asked the right questions cause I was gonna go after you and answer "there is no such a thing as a beginner fish". All fish require at least a minimum of care. Yes, you can get hardy fish, but that just means you will be subjecting them to a "beginner" fish keeper?

Anyways...

Arm yourself with the most knowledge you can get. Read lots about how to keep an aquarium. Ask lots of questions too. You will soon find out which fish are right for you. Above answers gave you a list of fish that are hardy. Use that as a base, pick the fish you like, research the fish, then throw them in your tank(not literally).

Part of fish keeping(according to me) is learning about your fish. What they eat, what they get along with, water requirements...etc...

About the 1 inch per gal always consider the adult size of the fish and use common sense as someone mentioned above. They then come with a rule for Oscars, then one for Goldfish...I mean... just use common sense and always look for the adult size of the fish.

What do I recommend:

I started with a ten gallon and a school of 7 neon tetras. None of them died while I had them in that tank. I then got a 72gal tank and put them there along with other community fish. I had the 10gal tank for almost a year. They look nice and are small enough to be in a 10 gal.

Good luck and welcome to the club.

That rule of thumb is not a very good rule to go by. I would suggest MALE platies for a beginner. They come in a variety of colors and are easy to take care of if you get all males. They come in blues, yellows, reds oranges, and blacks. For a 10 gallon I would suggest 2-4 platies.

EDIT: Gold fish are not an option for a 10 gallon and are not fish for beginers. Sword Tails and mollies get bigger and seem to be more prone to disease (Would not suggust either for a beginer) Guppies are alright for beginners but I had a really hard time keeping them alive. They seem to be very fragile fish. 9Also would not suggest for a beginner. To me platies are perfect for beginers. All fish need heaters and since platies are tropical freshwater fish they need a heater. (If you dont want a heater then you can't have any fish in a 10 gallon because most cold water fish including gold fish get too big for a ten gallon.

Take that "rule of thumb" and throw it out of the window. That silly thing actually goes "an inch of fish per gallon", but can you imagine a ten inch oscar in a ten gallon tank? It's not a pretty picture. If anything, that rule can loosely be applied to small tropical communtiy fish who grow no longer than 3 inches.

A school of neon tetras and four or five pygmy cories would do nicely.

Ten gallon stocking ideas- http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Stocking_a_10_Gallo...

Mollies,for all that you hear about them are not good beginners fish. The advice about Tetras does not take into account the "beginner" thing either. Danios are definitely the way to go,and there are several types besides Zebras,like "Spotted or Leopard Danios" or "Giant Danios". They are all schooling fish and fairly sociable.

There's not much you can do with a ten gallon.

Here's some ideas: http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aquarium-stockin...

One fish for every gallon? You mean one inch of fish per gallon? That rule is completely useless. It's basically saying it's alright to keep a 10 inch fish in a 10 gallon.

Edit: I don't understand why I got thumbs down... Lol?

I prefer you to get 2 female platy, 1 male platy, 4 female guppy, 1 male guppy, 2 female molly. Those are great mix of fish for beginners and don't hate each other and are community.\

Good Luck! And Have Fun!

I would suggest either:

1 male betta, with an african dwarf frog, or ghost shrimp

OR

4 male guppies (the prettier of the 2 sexes, wont fight, might chase around a bit, but no injuries)

OR

2 dwarf gouramis (make sure they're dwarf)

OR

5-6 tetras of some kind 9 smaller breeds)

Platies, swordtails, guppies and mollies are the best beginning fish because they are hardy and get along well. They are live bearers and will give birth to live young not lay eggs.

Go to www.tetra-fish.com They will answer your questions in a personal email and have really good answers usually. they will also send you emails when its time to change your water and time to change the filter and stuff like that. A very helpful website!

first try getting a heater then get some

5 neon tetras

1 male betta

1-2 african dwarf frogs

and

2 cory doras

these are the only that can survive their so get a heater