Sometimes it’s just easier to look at a chart and move on.  For more detail about a compatibility component visit the compatibility discussions.  These charts are for freshwater and saltwater fish providing a summary of the compatibility information and more.

Each chart can be enlarged and zoomed into to see a specific fish or compatibility value.

The Diet compatibility chart identifies compatibility in two ways.  The first is that of similarity.  If the fish have similar diets then it is assumed they would be compatible.  The other is when combining different types of fish and different diets.  Two fish can be termed compatible if they have dissimilar diets and will not compete for resources in the aquarium.

The scoring method below will help to understand the chart.

The four diet types are: Flakes, Invertebrates, Plant matter & Algae, and Biofilm Protozoa and Insect larvae.  Since many fish are omnivores it is difficult to relegate them too a single type of food.  Rather, the fish are assigned a numerical score that represents a preference for a type of food, and the preference is used to determine compatibility.

The three compatibility/preference scores are:

• 3: Dark Blue, Highly Compatible
• 2: Medium Blue, Compatible
• 1: Light Blue, Slightly Compatible

Note: when two different diets are present in the same aquarium, the aquarium needs to be of sufficient size to accommodate two different fish with two different diet requirements.