Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 185 species
Affinis blind cusk-eel
Barathronus affinis
Barathronus affinis is a tiny, super-weird deep-sea blind cusk-eel from the western-central Indian Ocean. It is one of those gelatinous, loose-skinned brotula-type fishes that live way down in the dark and are basically never seen alive, so almost everything we know comes from preserved specimens and taxonomic work.
Annandale's zebra sole
Zebrias annandalei
Zebrias annandalei is a small, bottom-hugging sole from coastal India that lives on sandy/muddy flats and spends its life glued to the substrate. Its whole deal is camouflage and "disappearing" behavior like other soles - cool fish, but not really a typical home-aquarium species and you would need a proper marine sand-bottom setup to even try it.
Banggai Cardinalfish
Pterapogon kauderni
Banggai cardinals just sort of hover like little underwater satellites, and the bold black bars with those long, polka-dotted fins look unreal under reef lighting. They're super chill most of the time, but once a pair forms you'll see real "fish drama," and the male will even mouthbrood the babies like a champ.
Barbados vent eelpout
Thermarces pelophilum
This is a deep-sea eelpout that was collected at cold seeps off Barbados - think pitch-black, high-pressure ocean bottom, not an aquarium fish. It tops out around 12.4 cm and basically lives in a world of mud, methane, and seep life, which is a pretty wild niche for a fish.
Barbedwire-tailed skate
Notoraja martinezi
Notoraja martinezi is a deepwater skate from the eastern Pacific (Costa Rica down to Ecuador) that lives way down on soft bottoms. The tail is the giveaway - it is lined with strong, hooked thorns that really do look like barbed wire. This is absolutely not an aquarium fish; it is a cold, high-pressure deep-sea animal with basically no practical home care info because it is not kept in the hobby.
Barred-chin blenny
Rhabdoblennius nitidus
This is a tiny intertidal combtooth blenny that lives right up in surge channels and tide pools, so it is built for getting smacked around by waves and still acting like it owns the rock. Males guard eggs in little nests and the species has some seriously interesting breeding behavior, which is very blenny-like. In the hobby its not a common aquarium fish, but if you ever run into one you would treat it like a small, rock-perching marine blenny with lots of hiding spots and strong oxygenation.
Barrier reef anemonefish
Amphiprion akindynos
This is one of the cooler Great Barrier Reef clowns - orange-brown with two crisp white bars edged in black and that pale tail. Give it a spot to claim (ideally with an anemone or at least a comfy coral substitute) and it will settle in hard, pair up, and act like the little boss of its corner.
Ben-Tuvia's goby
Didogobius bentuvii
This is a tiny little Mediterranean goby from the Israeli coast that lives down on the bottom over muddy-sand, and it is likely a burrower. In other words, it is a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of fish - super small, demersal, and more about sneaky bottom-dweller vibes than flashy swimming.
Bigeye clingfish
Kopua nuimata
Kopua nuimata is a tiny deepwater clingfish with big eyes and a neat pink-and-orange banded pattern. It lives way down on reefy slopes (roughly 160-337 m), so its "care" is mostly academic - its natural habitat is cold, dark, high-pressure water that we just do not replicate in home aquariums.
Bigfin shrimpgoby
Vanderhorstia macropteryx
This is one of those classic sand-dwelling shrimp gobies that posts up at a burrow entrance and keeps watch while its pistol shrimp roommate does the digging. In the tank its vibe is basically "little sentinel" - calm, bottom-oriented, and super fun to observe if you give it sand and a secure lid (they can jump).
Black dwarfgoby
Eviota vader
Eviota vader is a truly tiny, purplish-black little reef goby from Papua New Guinea that was only described in 2025. It was named after Darth Vader because the whole fish is basically dark purple-black, which is wild for an Eviota. Its size is the big story here - at barely over 1 cm, its main challenge in aquariums would be making sure it actually gets enough to eat.
Black-chest cardinalfish
Xeniamia atrithorax
A tiny deep-reef cardinalfish described in 2016 that reaches about 3.0 cm SL. It has a distinctive dark melanophore patch on the chest/isthmus region and shows male mouthbrooding (brooding eggs reported in males). Recorded from the South China Sea off central Vietnam, with later records from Taiwan; reported from ~40–119 m depth (often ~70–119 m).