Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 665 species
Kulbicki's pipefish
Festucalex kulbickii
This is a tiny reef pipefish from the western-central Pacific that hangs around coastal reefs and blends in with bands and ridges like a little living piece of reef debris. Like other syngnathids, the male broods the eggs in a pouch, which is honestly one of the coolest fish-family flexes in the hobby. It is not a commonly kept aquarium fish, and there are basically no solid reports of long-term captive success for this exact species, so I would treat it as a specialist-only pipefish.
Lais kuning
Kryptopterus schilbeides
Kryptopterus schilbeides is a slim sheatfish from Southeast Asia that looks super "knife-like" because it has no dorsal fin, plus a neat narrow pink stripe along the side. In the wild it cruises rivers, canals, and swamps and even pushes into flooded forests when the water is high, picking off little fish, prawns, and insect larvae. Its not really a standard aquarium fish, so most people who want a "glass catfish" vibe are actually thinking of other Kryptopterus species.
La Lucha blind catfish
Rhamdia laluchensis
A troglobitic cave catfish endemic to the Sistema de La Lucha (Chiapas, Mexico), characterized by reduced pigmentation and rudimentary eyes covered by skin; not commonly maintained in aquaria and husbandry guidance is limited.
Lambari de adiposa preta
Diapoma itaimbe
This is a tiny southern Brazilian characin (a lambari) that comes from clear, cooler waters in the Tramandai-Mampituba region. In a tank it acts like a little open-water micro-predator/omnivore - happiest in a small group with plants and gentle flow. The big gotcha is temperature: its natural range is more subtropical than "hot tropical," so it does best kept cooler and stable.
Lambari (Mimagoniates rheocharis)
Mimagoniates rheocharis
This is a tiny, stream-dwelling Brazilian characin that likes cooler, super-oxygenated water and some current - think clear Atlantic Forest creeks. In the right setup it stays busy and hangs mid-to-upper water, and it does best when you keep a little group so it feels secure.
Lambari (Sarda)
Oligosarcus pintoi
Oligosarcus pintoi is a slim, toothy little South American characin from the upper Parana basin - kind of a mini "pike" tetra vibe. It is a predator in the wild (FishBase lists a high trophic level), so in an aquarium it will absolutely treat tiny fish and shrimp as snacks if it can fit them in its mouth.
Lambchop rasbora
Trigonostigma espei
This is that tiny coppery-orange rasbora with the sharp "lambchop" black wedge on its side-super slick-looking in a planted tank. Keep a proper little gang of them and they'll cruise the midwater together, flashing color way more than when they're kept in a sad little trio. They're gentle, easy to feed, and honestly one of my favorite small-school fish for calmer community setups.
Lanceolate shrimpgoby
Tomiyamichthys lanceolatus
This is a little sand-bottom shrimp goby from sheltered lagoons and bays in the western Pacific. It hangs close to its burrow on fine sand or mud and does the classic goby thing of hovering and darting back to cover when spooked. The lance-shaped tail and the bold side blotches make it a really neat, understated fish if you are into sandbed micro-predators.
Lancer red banner blenny
Emblemariopsis lancea
This is a tiny little Caribbean tube blenny that lives tucked into holes in reef rock, corals, and even sponges, basically poking its head out like a grumpy periscope. The showy part is the male display - a darkened head with an anterior dorsal fin that can flash a red-over-white "banner" when it is posturing.
Lang's blenny
Hypleurochilus langi
This is a little West African combtooth blenny that hangs around mangroves and river mouths, and it can handle changing salinity (it is euryhaline). In a tank it would be one of those perch-and-peek fish that wedges into cracks and watches everything, but the big gotcha is it is not a true freshwater fish - it is a brackish-to-marine coastal species.
Large-eye bigscale
Poromitra megalops
Tiny deep-sea ridgehead from the Atlantic with huge eyes, living in cold, dark water hundreds of meters down. It tops out around two-and-a-half inches and hangs in the mesopelagic-bathypelagic zone, which is awesome to read about but not something you can realistically keep at home.
Largescale chela
Chela macrolepis
Chela macrolepis is a tiny, super-sleek Indian danionid from Chembarampakkam Lake near Chennai. Its whole claim to fame is right in the name - it has noticeably larger scales than close relatives, and it has that fast, open-water "minnow" vibe that makes these fish fun to watch in a group. Its wild range is extremely limited, so it is not something you should expect to see regularly in the aquarium trade.