Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 61 species
Galapagos snake eel
Quassiremus evionthas
Quassiremus evionthas (Galapagos snake eel) is a marine snake eel (family Ophichthidae) from the eastern Pacific that inhabits areas with sand/gravel/rubble around reefs and is often associated with sandy substrates.
Gorgeous prawn-goby
Amblyeleotris wheeleri
Amblyeleotris wheeleri is that classic shrimp-goby that picks a sandy spot, makes a burrow, and basically turns your tank into a little nature documentary if you pair it with a pistol shrimp. It hangs at the burrow entrance, does the whole lookout routine, and flashes those red bands and blue speckling when it is settled in.
Harlequin filefish
Oxymonacanthus longirostris
This is that super-cool orange-spotted, long-snouted filefish that hangs tight in branching Acropora like it's part of the coral. In the wild it's basically an Acropora-polyp specialist and usually lives in pairs, which is exactly why it's so tricky in home aquariums unless you're ready for the feeding challenge.
Humpback unicornfish
Naso brachycentron
A big Indo-Pacific unicornfish with a distinct humped back and, in adult males, a long horn that gives it a prehistoric look. It cruises reef slopes in small groups grazing algae all day and can grow to truly massive sizes, so it is a fish for huge marine systems only.
Indonesian sawtail
Prionurus chrysurus
A Prionurus (sawtail) surgeonfish from southern Indonesia with a distinct yellow caudal fin and fixed bony plates (“sawtail”) on the caudal peduncle; described from cool upwelled seas.
Jewelled blenny
Salarias fasciatus
This is the classic "lawnmower" blenny - a little reef perch-fish that spends its day scooting around the rocks, scraping film algae and looking like it has tiny eyebrows. Give it a mature tank with lots of live rock to graze and it will stay busy all day, but if the tank is too clean it can slowly starve unless you supplement greens.
Johnston Island damsel
Plectroglyphidodon johnstonianus
A bold little reef damselfish with a thick black bar near the tail, yellow body, and bright blue eyes. It hangs tight to branching corals on wave-washed reef crests and has plenty of attitude for its size, so it can boss tankmates and may peck at SPS.
Longnose hawkfish
Oxycirrhites typus
A white-and-red lattice pattern and a long snout give this hawkfish a cool, almost checkerboard look. It perches on rock or gorgonians like a tiny raptor, watching for small crustaceans to snatch. Great personality, but it may view ornamental shrimp as snacks.
Mandarinfish
Synchiropus splendidus
This is the classic mandarin dragonet-the little reef crawler that looks like someone hand-painted neon blue and orange squiggles onto a fish. It spends basically all day pecking at live rock for tiny pods, and at dusk you can sometimes catch the pair-spawning "rise" if you keep a bonded male/female. Absolutely reef-safe, but it's one of those fish that does amazing only when the tank is truly mature and full of microfauna.
Midas blenny
Ecsenius midas
Midas blennies are those weirdly "blenny-but-also-open-water" fish that zip around the tank like a tiny golden torpedo, then duck into a hole like nothing happened. They'll even color-shift and loosely school with anthias in the wild, which is honestly one of the coolest behaviors you'll see in a reef fish.
Munahosi cardinalfish
Ostorhinchus cheni
Think of a deepwater cardinalfish with a moody, reddish body, two slim dusky stripes, and a bold spot at the tail base. It hangs in the shadows, cruises slowly, and the male mouthbroods eggs, which is wild to watch if you ever see it happen. Super cool fish, but it comes from 70-100 m and prefers cooler marine temps, so it is definitely a specialist project.
Needlespine coral goby
Gobiodon acicularis
A tiny coral-dwelling goby that perches among branching SPS corals and can be nearly jet-black to brown. It is the only Gobiodon with a filament-like first dorsal spine, which looks wild when it flicks it while displaying.