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
Bluespotted dottyback
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.
Borari knodus tetra
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.
Borneo sucker
Gastromyzon fasciatus
Gastromyzon fasciatus is one of those super-cool little Borneo hillstream loaches that scoots around rocks like a tiny stingray and parks itself in the current. It really shines in a river-style setup with lots of smooth stones to graze on and high oxygen - they look busy all day and have a neat, banded pattern.
Borneo sucker (Segama River gastromyzon)
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.
Boulenger's lamprologine (shell-dwelling Tanganyika cichlid)
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.
Brachyhypopomus batesi
Brachyhypopomus batesi
Picture a slim little South American knifefish that glides with a rippling fin and chats in tiny electric pulses - that is B. batesi. It sticks to root tangles and leaf litter in super soft, tea-colored blackwater and tops out around 5 inches, so it stays manageable size-wise. Keep the lights low and offer meaty foods and it will show tons of quirky after-dark behavior.
Bradbury's batfish
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.
Brazilian sand stargazer
Platygillellus brasiliensis
Tiny marine sand-burrower that pops just its eyes and a little fan-like dorsal finlet above the substrate and ambushes food. Give it a fine to medium sand bed and expect lots of peek-a-boo behavior rather than open swimming. It can be picky at first, so target feeding small meaty foods helps a ton.
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Brilliant rummy-nose tetra
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.
Bristlemouth
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.
Bristlenose Pleco (Common Bristlenose)
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.
Bristletail Filefish (Aiptasia-Eating Filefish)
Acreichthys tomentosus
This little weirdo is one of my favorites because it's got that goofy filefish "face," a knack for wedging itself into rockwork, and a ton of personality once it settles in. People love them for the chance they'll snack on nuisance Aiptasia, but even when they're not on pest patrol they're just fun to watch cruise around and pick at stuff all day.