Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 562 species
Scaly-headed triplefin
Karalepis stewarti
This is a New Zealand triplefin that hugs rocky reef structure and comes out more at night, so you often spot it perched and watching everything rather than cruising the water column. It tops out around 15 cm and lives in cool-temperate coastal water, picking at tiny crustaceans and mollusks.
Schmidt's hillstream catfish
Glyptothorax schmidti
This is one of the little Asian hillstream catfish that lives in fast, cool, super-oxygenated water and literally clings to rocks with a sticky belly pad. In an aquarium its whole vibe is "powerhead + smooth stones + pristine water," and if you nail that setup its rock-hugging behavior is seriously cool to watch.
Seba's goby
Feia seba
Feia seba is a tiny little marine goby from Papua New Guinea that lives tight to the reef and spends a lot of time perching and darting between cover. Its whole vibe is "blink and you miss it" - super small, super subtle, and really more of a nano reef curiosity than a fish you build a tank around.
Serpae Tetra
Megalamphodus eques
Serpaes are those fiery little red tetras with the black "comma" behind the gill-super eye-catching in a planted tank. They're active and a bit spicy, so they do best in a real group where they'll squabble with each other instead of nipping slower tankmates. When they're settled in, you get this constant cruising-and-chasing vibe that makes the tank feel really alive.
Sete Quedas eartheater
Gymnogeophagus setequedas
This is a smaller South American eartheater cichlid from the Parana River basin, and its vibe is classic Gymnogeophagus: cruising the bottom, picking at the substrate, and doing that cool biparental fry-guarding thing. It stays under 4 inches, but it still acts like a real cichlid when pairing up, so giving it space and some structure matters.
Sharpnose wrasse
Wetmorella nigropinnata
This is one of those tiny, sneaky reef wrasses that lives in the rockwork - you'll see it poking its little sharp snout into cracks hunting micro-prey. Super peaceful and shy, but once it settles in, its yellow bars and twitchy 'possum wrasse' vibes are seriously addictive to watch.
Sheepshead swordtail
Xiphophorus birchmanni
A wild swordtail from eastern Mexico that loves fast, splashy streams and shows off bold vertical bars and a big, yellow-speckled dorsal. Males barely carry a sword at all, which always surprises folks, but they make up for it with tons of personality when kept in a roomy, well-oxygenated tank.
Short Zaireichthys (dwarf loach catfish)
Zaireichthys brevis
Zaireichthys brevis is a tiny little African loach catfish from the Congo River basin - think "micro catfish" that spends its time down on the bottom. Its wild habitat is sandy stretches of big river, so it tends to appreciate fine sand and some rocks/cover, and it is more of a look-and-enjoy species than an interactive pet.
Shorthead sole
Brachirus breviceps
Brachirus breviceps (the shorthead sole) is a little bottom-hugging flatfish from Australia that lives right on soft sand or mud in shallow coastal water. Its whole thing is staying camouflaged and half-buried, so it is more of a "you spot it and smile" fish than a constant swimmer. Also worth knowing up front: there is basically no solid aquarium-care info published specifically for this exact species, so any tank recommendations are best treated as cautious, general "small sole" guidelines.
Shortspine cardinalfish
Ostorhinchus brevispinis
This is a small deepwater cardinalfish from French Polynesia. It has alternating brown/golden-brown and whitish longitudinal stripes and a dark mark on the caudal peduncle; the name refers to its very short first dorsal-fin spine.
Short-sword platyfish
Xiphophorus continens
Xiphophorus continens is a tiny little wild-type livebearer from the Rio Panuco drainage in Mexico, and the males have just a short "stub" sword instead of the big flowing one you see on common swordtails. They really shine in a planted, oxygen-rich tank with some current, where you can watch the males do their low-key "sneaker" style mating behavior and the females quietly cruise the plants.
Silver Tip Tetra
Hasemania nana
These little guys are like tiny sparks in the tank-silvery bodies with those warm orange "copper" fins that really pop when they're happy and colored up. Keep them in a proper group and you'll see them cruise around together, doing that classic tetra "we're all going this way now" thing, and the males will sometimes flash at each other without it turning into real drama.