Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Water Type
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 351 species
Chromis viridis
Blue Green Chromis are those shimmery little green-blue darts you'll see zipping around the top of a reef tank, always looking like they're catching the light just right. They're super fun in a group because they hover and cruise together, but they've got a bit of a "pecking order" thing going on if the tank's tight or the group's too small.
Fundulopanchax sjostedti
This is the big, flashy West African killifish with the ridiculous triple-point tail and electric blue-green body covered in red spotting. Males can be real attitude machines with each other, but if you give them room, cover, and a tight lid, they make an awesome centerpiece fish that will absolutely demolish live and frozen foods.
Valenciennea strigata
This is that classic gold/yellow-headed sand-sifting goby with the little blue cheek stripe-always busy, always rearranging your sandbed. In a reef tank it'll spend the day taking mouthfuls of sand, filtering out tiny critters/foods, then "snowing" clean sand back out, and it'll usually claim a burrow area (often as a pair in the wild). It's super cool behavior-wise, but you really do need a mature tank with a proper sandbed and a lid because they can jump.
Chrysiptera caeruleolineata
This is one of those damsels that looks like it should be a little terror, but its vibe is way more chill than the classic blue devils. You get that bright blue body with a clean line detail, and it spends a lot of time zipping low around the rockwork like it owns a tiny little neighborhood.
Pseudochromis persicus
This is a bigger dottyback from the Persian Gulf area that lives tight to rocky reef crevices and will absolutely claim a little cave as its home. Gorgeous dark body with bright blue spotting, but it has that classic dottyback attitude - tough, alert, and a bit territorial once it settles in.
Knodus borari
Knodus borari is a tiny, brand-new-to-science (described in 2023) little characin from Brazil's lower Rio Tapajos area. Its wild habitat is a moderately fast stream over rock-gravel-sand, so I'd treat it like an active small schooling tetra that appreciates clean, oxygen-rich water and some current.
Gastromyzon spectabilis
This is one of the true Borneo "suckers" from fast, rocky streams - the kind that park themselves on stones and graze biofilm like a little living coaster. FishBase notes its distinctive live coloration/patterning (the whole reason it got named spectabilis), and it stays small, so its whole vibe is more "stream tank grazer" than "loach that cruises around." If you give it clean, oxygen-rich water and lots of algae-covered rock, it will reward you with nonstop weird, cool hillstream behavior.
Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri
This is one of those really fun Lake Tanganyika shell-and-sand lamprologines that lives as a pair, digs a little pit, and then the female hangs out in snail shells like its a tiny fortress. Give them fine sand and a pile of shells and you will get to watch legit, purposeful cichlid home-building and territory behavior in a small-bodied fish.
Coelophrys bradburyae
A tiny deep-sea batfish (family Ogcocephalidae) known from deep water off Japan; the original description was based on a single specimen collected at 557–595 m, and the species remains poorly known.
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Petitella bleheri (syn. Hemigrammus bleheri)
This is the rummy-nose with the really "full-face" red that runs back past the gill plate, plus that crisp black-and-white tail that flashes when the whole group turns together. When they're happy and the water's clean, they school tight and look like one living fish-when they're stressed, that red head fades fast, so they're basically your tank's mood ring.
Gonostoma denudatum
Gonostoma denudatum is a deep-sea bristlemouth that spends its life out in the dark, open ocean and does that classic daily up-and-down migration (deeper in the day, shallower at night). It has silvery flanks, a darker back, and light-producing photophores that start showing up as it grows - super cool biology, but not something you would ever realistically keep in a home aquarium.
Ancistrus cirrhosus
The Bristlenose Pleco is a small catfish with a sucker mouth, armored body, and distinctive bristles on its face, especially in males. It is primarily nocturnal and spends much of its time grazing on biofilm and algae from surfaces, making it a popular, hardy "algae-eater" in community aquariums.