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 303 species
Fundulus bifax
Fundulus bifax is a native Alabama-Georgia studfish with a really slick stippled (spotty) pattern, and breeding males can get some wild blue and red-orange tones. Its also a serious jumper and an absolute rocket when it spooks, so a tight lid is non-negotiable.
Pelvicachromis taeniatus
P. taeniatus is one of those West African dwarf cichlids that'll act totally chill most of the time, then flip the switch into "serious cave owner" the moment it wants to spawn. The fun part is the local color forms ("Nigeria Red", "Moliwe", etc.) and the pair-bonding-when they settle in, you really get to watch a little cichlid soap opera play out around their cave.
Puntigrus tetrazona
Tiger barbs are little chaos nuggets in the best way-super active, always zipping around, and they look awesome with those four bold black bars and orange fins. The big trick is keeping them in a proper-sized group so they roughhouse with each other instead of shredding a slow, long-finned tank mate's fins.
Iheringichthys syi
Iheringichthys syi is a medium-sized pimelodid catfish from the upper Rio Parana in Brazil. Its body pattern is more of a fine, scattered spotting (especially toward the front half), and it has those classic pimelodid whiskers plus a chunky, fleshy-lipped mouth that hints at a bottom-feeding lifestyle. This one is basically a wild river catfish rather than an "aquarium species," so most of what we know is from scientific collection data, not hobby care guides.
Chaetostoma tachiraense
This is a small mountain Chaetostoma from the Catatumbo (Lake Maracaibo) drainage, the kind of fish that wants to be plastered to rocks in high-oxygen water. It stays around 3.4 inches SL, spends its time grazing biofilm, and does best when you treat it more like a river fish than a typical warm, lazy pleco.
Malapterurus tanganyikaensis
This is an electric catfish from Lake Tanganyika that lives around the shoreline and will absolutely eat other fish (FishBase straight-up calls it a voracious piscivore that targets cichlids). Super cool animal, but it is a big, predatory, nocturnal-ish bruiser and you need to respect the fact that Malapterurus can deliver serious electric shocks when handled or stressed.
Ernstichthys taquari
This is a tiny little banjo catfish from Brazil that lives right on the bottom and blends in with rocks, sand, and leaf litter. Its known habitat is shaded, vegetated stretches of a small whitewater river with moderate flow and lots of big rocks - very much a hide-and-sit-still kind of fish. In the aquarium hobby its basically a "research fish" right now: super cool, but there is almost no species-specific care data published.
Zoogoneticus tequila
This is a little Mexican goodeid livebearer where the males get that awesome orange crescent in the tail and will spar and posture like tiny cichlids. They do best in a planted tank where they can duck into roots and stems, and once they're settled they'll breed steadily and you'll see lots of interesting social behavior.
Alburnus istanbulensis
Endemic to Turkey, occurring in coastal streams of Thrace (Marmara to SW Black Sea drainages) and Lake Sapanca; a small, silvery pelagic cyprinid (bleak/shemaya type).
Iriatherina werneri
This is the little rainbowfish with the ridiculous, delicate streamers - especially on the males, who love to posture and "dance" at each other in a calm planted tank. Keep them in a real group and they get way braver, cruising the top/midwater under floaters and showing off those thread-like fins. They are peaceful, but they really hate fast flow and rough tankmates that shred fins or outcompete them at feeding time.
Aphyosemion trilineatus
Aphyosemion trilineatus is a small West African killifish from Cameroon that does best in a calm, plant-heavy setup with gentle filtration and a tight lid (they can jump). Males top out around 5.1 cm and look way flashier than females, and like most Aphyosemion they are happiest when you keep things on the soft, slightly acidic side and do changes slowly.
Gasterosteus aculeatus
The three-spined stickleback is a small, armored fish with bony lateral plates and three prominent dorsal spines used for defense. Males become striking in breeding condition, often developing a red throat/belly and intensified coloration while they build and guard nests. It is highly active and behaviorally interesting, but can be nippy and territorial, especially during breeding.