Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 337 species
Spottedfin sand cichlid
Xenotilapia spiloptera
Xenotilapia spilopterus is a Lake Tanganyika sand-sifter that spends its day cruising over open sand, scooping mouthfuls and filtering out tasty bits like insect larvae. They are at their best in a small group where you get to watch the schooling vibe, then pairs peel off to mouthbrood when they are ready. Give them fine sand and stable, hard alkaline water and they really settle in.
Spring bitterling
Rhodeus suigensis
This is a tiny cool-water bitterling from western Japan, and the females lay eggs inside living mussels using a little tube-like ovipositor. Males flash a subtle blue-green stripe and rosy fins when they are in the mood, which is awesome to watch in a calm, planted setup. It is protected in Japan and rarely seen in the trade, so it is more of a conservation-darling than a casual community fish.
Starhead topminnow
Fundulus dispar
Fundulus dispar is a small native U.S. topminnow associated with vegetated standing waters and quiet pools/backwaters. It is known for reflective "star" spots on the head, and FishBase notes it can be difficult to maintain in aquaria long-term.
Stream catfish
Pseudobagarius macronemus
This is a tiny little akysid stream catfish from eastern Sumatra that spends its time down low, poking around the bottom (benthopelagic). The weird part with this one is the name - a lot of sources treat it as Pseudobagarius macronema, and you will see it sold or listed under either spelling.
Sundolyra catfish
Sundolyra latebrosa
This is a super obscure little bagrid catfish from northwestern Sumatra, and its whole vibe is "hidden" - the species name latebrosa literally points at how cryptic and rarely seen it is. In the wild it is known from a very limited drainage, and in the hobby it is basically unicorn-level rare, so most "care" advice you see online is going to be educated guesswork rather than proven aquarium experience.
Tachira rubbernose pleco
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.
Talas stone loach
Triplophysa paradoxa
Triplophysa paradoxa is a little bottom-dwelling stone loach from the Talas River basin, built for life hugging the substrate in cooler, well-oxygenated water. In a tank it spends most of its time scooting around the bottom, wedging into crevices, and generally acting like a tiny river-goblin that wants lots of cover and clean water.
Tanganyika lampeye
Lacustricola pumilus
This is a tiny Lake Tanganyika-area lampeye killifish that hangs in little groups along quiet shorelines and river-mouth shallows. When the light hits right, the males flash a really slick metallic eye and warm orange tones in the fins, and they are constantly out in the open cruising the edges for food.
Taquari banjo catfish
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.
Tetracamphilius pectinatus
Tetracamphilius pectinatus
A tiny African loach catfish with chocolate-and-cream banding, Tetracamphilius pectinatus tops out around an inch and hides in and around fine sand. It has a neat serrated pectoral spine without a locking mechanism, and behaves like other sand-loving catlets, so a soft sandy bed and gentle flow really brings it out. It is rare in the hobby, so think of it as a fun niche project rather than a first catfish.
Thracian shemaya
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).
Threadfin rainbowfish
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.