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 365 species
Corydoras pygmaeus
Pygmy cories are tiny little armored catfish that do this super-cool thing most cories don't: they'll cruise around in the midwater in a loose school instead of just shuffling along the bottom. Give them a soft sandy substrate, lots of plants to weave through, and a proper group, and they turn into nonstop little busybodies.
Qianlabeo striatus
Qianlabeo striatus is a tiny, river-dwelling labeonin carp from Guizhou, China (Pearl River drainage) that stays under about 3.5 inches. It is the only species in its genus, and in the aquarium hobby it is basically a "data-poor" fish - you will likely be guessing a bit on care unless you can match it to its exact natural stream conditions.
Raconda russeliana
This is a slim, silvery pristigasterid herring with that long, flowing anal fin and a sharp belly keel - it is built to cruise open water. It is mostly a coastal marine fish but it shows up a lot in estuaries too, where it hunts tiny shrimp and other zooplankton-y stuff. Not really an aquarium species (way too pelagic and finicky), but it is a neat one to recognize when you are looking at Indian Ocean/far-west Pacific coastal fish lists.
Koumansetta rainfordi
This little goby is a tiny striped hoverer that spends its day scooting between rock crevices and pecking at the sand and micro-stuff on the rocks. In the right setup its a super chill, reef-safe character fish, but the big trick is keeping it well-fed in a mature tank so it doesnt slowly waste away.
Mikrogeophagus ramirezi
Rams are tiny little cichlids with big-time attitude (in the cutest way) and insane sparkle-those blues, yellows, and that black face bar really pop when they're happy. They're also one of the warmer-water dwarf cichlids, and they'll show off pair behavior and even spawn on flat stones if you keep the tank clean and calm.
Amblyeleotris randalli
Randall's shrimp goby is that little candy-cane striped goby you'll see parked at the entrance of a burrow, doing sentry duty like it's getting paid for it. The really fun part is the partnership with a pistol shrimp-goby keeps watch, shrimp does the digging, and they basically run a tiny construction site in your sand bed. Give it a cozy sand area and a few rubble bits and it'll settle in and start acting like it owns the place (in the cutest way).
Pseudomugil luminatus
This little blue-eye is basically a tiny fireworks show-males flash electric blue eyes and red/orange fins and spend half the day showing off to each other. Keep them in a nice-sized group and you'll see constant "dancing" and fin-flaring in the open water, especially over dark substrate and plants.
Etheostoma maydeni
This is a tiny Cumberland River drainage darter with a really neat telltale feature: the red pigment right on the lips. Its whole vibe is hanging out on the bottom in calmer pools along big creeks and rivers, tucked around boulders and woody cover.
Tomicodon lavettsmithi
This is a tiny little clingfish from the NW Caribbean that spends its life plastered to rubble and shells in super-shallow water. It has that classic clingfish suction disc, so it can hang on in surge and pick at small prey right on the bottom. Not really a "community tank" fish - its whole vibe is cryptic, rock-hugging micro-predator in a saltwater nano.
Urotrygon reticulata
A small, demersal round ray endemic to the Gulf of Panama that inhabits shallow sandy bottoms. Like other stingrays it has a venomous tail spine, and it is assessed as Critically Endangered (IUCN, assessed 24 Jan 2020), so it should not be targeted for aquarium trade.
Sewellia lineolata
This is the little "stingray-shaped" loach that parks itself on rocks and glass like it's magnetized, then cruises around in the current like a tiny river skate. Give it cool, super-oxygenated, fast-moving water and lots of smooth stones with biofilm, and it'll spend all day grazing and doing hilarious little dominance shuffles with its own kind.
Zenarchopterus clarus
Zenarchopterus clarus is a true halfbeak - that long lower jaw is built for picking stuff off the surface. Its a tropical, surface-cruising fish from the Western Central Pacific (Thailand and Borneo), and it reproduces via internal fertilization with ovoviviparous young.