Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 40 species
American shadow goby
Quietula y-cauda
This is a little mudflat goby from California down into the Gulf of California that loves hanging tight to the bottom and vanishing into burrows. The neat tell is that sideways Y-shaped blotch right at the base of the tail, plus the row of dark spots along the side. Its whole vibe is brackish estuary life - calm water, soft substrate, lots of hiding holes.
Banded-tail glassy perchlet
Ambassis urotaenia
This is one of those see-through glassy perchlets where you can literally watch the organs shimmer when it turns-super cool in the right lighting. In the wild it hangs around river mouths and mangroves and cruises in groups, so it does best when you keep a little gang of them and give them some open swimming room.
Barbed pipefish
Urocampus nanus
Urocampus nanus (barbed pipefish) occurs in protected inshore and estuarine habitats among seagrass (Zostera) in the Northwest Pacific (southern Japan and adjacent coasts). Like other syngnathids, males brood eggs in a pouch under the tail and produce fully formed young.
Barred mudskipper
Periophthalmus argentilineatus
This is one of those classic "walks around like it owns the place" mudskippers-big goofy eyes, climbs, hops, and spends a ton of time out on the mud when it's humid. In the wild it lives on intertidal mangrove/nipa mudflats and even shuttles between little pools and open air, hunting worms, insects, and small crustaceans. It's super fun to watch, but it really wants a brackish paludarium setup (not a normal aquarium).
Beach silverside
Atherinella blackburni
This is a little coastal silverside that cruises the shallows in loose groups and flashes like a tiny chrome dart when the light hits it right. In the wild it hangs around beaches, estuaries, and lagoons, picking at small drifting foods in the surf zone. It is cool, but its real "gotcha" is that it is an open-water, salt-tolerant schooling fish that does best in bigger, well-oxygenated setups rather than a typical planted community tank.
Bumblebee goby
Brachygobius doriae
Brachygobius doriae is one of the classic "bumblebee gobies" - tiny, bottom-hugging little characters that perch on rocks and sand and stare at you like they own the place. They're at their best in a calm setup with lots of caves and leaf litter, and they really shine once you get them eating frozen/live foods reliably (they're slow, picky eaters). Also: they're one of the species that gets mislabeled a lot in shops, so it's super common to see them sold under the wrong bumblebee-goby name.
Bumblebee goby (Bumblebee fish)
Brachygobius xanthozonus
This is that tiny little goby with the bold black-and-yellow bands that likes to perch on the bottom and stare back at you like it owns the place. It's happiest in lightly brackish water with lots of little caves and sight-breaks, and it's one of those fish that often refuses flakes-frozen/live meaty foods usually flip the "yes, I will eat" switch.
Caniscapulus eel goby
Taenioides caniscapulus
This is one of those super-weird mud-burrowing eel gobies (Amblyopinae) with that long, eel-like body and tiny reduced eyes. Its natural world is silty coastal/brackish zones around the Philippines, so it is way more of a "mudflat fish" than a typical community-aquarium goby.
Cuban cusk-eel
Lucifuga subterranea
A blind, cave- and sinkhole-dwelling livebearing brotula (Bythitidae) endemic to Cuba that feeds on small crustaceans (e.g., isopods) in subterranean waters.
Danube delta dwarf goby
Knipowitschia cameliae
This is a tiny little bottom-dwelling goby from a single lagoon system near the Danube Delta in Romania. It stays under about an inch and a half, and the males can show dark barring when in breeding colors. Honestly, it is more of a conservation-interest species than an aquarium fish - it is Critically Endangered and may even be possibly extinct in the wild.
Estuarine triplefin
Forsterygion nigripenne
This little triplefin is a bottom-hugging, rock-darting fish from New Zealand estuaries - the kind that wedges itself into cover and then pops out to grab tiny critters. Males get extra interesting in breeding season with enlarged fin tips, and they guard eggs that are stuck down to the nesting site with sticky threads. It is not a typical tropical aquarium fish - think cool, temperate, and brackish-leaning conditions.
Exquisite sand-goby
Favonigobius exquisitus
This little sand-goby is a bottom-hugger from Aussie estuaries that likes to hang out on sandy flats (sometimes right in seagrass). Its whole vibe is "blend in, perch, and pounce" - a neat goby if you are into naturalistic brackish setups and watching tiny ambush-predator behavior.