Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 451 species
Upside-down Catfish
Synodontis nigriventris
The upside-down catfish is a small African mochokid catfish famous for swimming and feeding belly-up, especially under cover and along the water's surface. It has a light belly (often with darker spotting), a darker back, and prominent barbels, and it is most active at dusk and night. Peaceful overall, it does best in groups with plenty of hiding places like driftwood and caves.
Urosema dwarf pike cichlid
Wallaciia urosema (S. O. Kullander, 1990)
Rheophilic (current-loving) dwarf pike cichlid from Brazil’s Tapajós system; a small, territorial predator (to ~6.8 cm SL) that benefits from strong filtration/oxygenation, broken sightlines, and plenty of bottom cover (wood/rocks/caves).
Validus barb
Enteromius validus
Enteromius validus is a little Congo Basin barb that stays under 4 inches, with a chunky, sturdy body and proper barbels. Its wild diet is basically "whatever shows up" (insects, plant bits, seeds), so it is built for picking and browsing all day. This one is pretty obscure in the aquarium hobby, so most people keeping it are kind of blazing their own trail.
Vanmanenia gymnetrus (hillstream loach)
Vanmanenia gymnetrus
This is one of those true hillstream loaches built to live plastered onto rocks in fast current. It spends its time scooting around surfaces and grazing biofilm, and it really comes alive in a high-oxygen "river tank" setup. Not a "warm, still community tank" fish - it wants flow and clean water to look its best.
Vardar streber
Zingel balcanicus
This is a super niche Balkan river perch relative that lives right down on the bottom in fast, well-oxygenated current. It is a gravel-and-boulder stream fish that hunts small bottom critters, and its tiny natural range is a big part of why it is so imperiled in the wild.
Veilfin tetra
Hyphessobrycon elachys
This is one of those tiny Paraguay-basin tetras that looks kind of understated until the males mature and start throwing those longer, flowy fins - then it gets really classy. Keep them in a proper little group and theyll spend the whole day hovering and cruising the midwater, looking extra sharp over dark substrate and plants.
Velvet Catfish
Rita gogra
Think of this as a chunky, velvety-gray river catfish with a big noggin and a chill attitude toward anything it cannot swallow. It hangs around the bottom, loves driftwood hidey-holes, and eats like a champ, but small fish are snacks, so tankmates need to be sturdy and similar-sized. Give it room to cruise and good flow and it settles in nicely.
Velvety sole
Brachirus villosus
This is a true freshwater sole from New Guinea that spends most of its life glued to the bottom and buried in soft sand. It is one of those blink-and-you-miss-it fish during the day, then you catch it cruising the substrate at feeding time looking for meaty bits.
Vietnamese bitterling
Acheilognathus fasciodorsalis
Acheilognathus fasciodorsalis is a freshwater bitterling endemic to Vietnam. Like other bitterlings (Acheilognathidae), reproduction involves females using an ovipositor to deposit eggs in freshwater mussels.
Virgatula dwarf pike cichlid
Wallaciia virgatula
This is one of the little "dwarf" pike cichlids (recently moved out of Crenicichla into Wallaciia), so you get that sleek pike-cichlid look and attitude in a genuinely small package. Expect a smart, ambushy micro-predator vibe - it will hang around cover, watch everything, then dart in like a mini torpedo when food hits the water.
Wallace's dwarf pike cichlid
Wallaciia wallacii
A small "dwarf" pike cichlid (genus Wallaciia) from South America. Maximum recorded size is about 8.5 cm standard length; provide ample cover/structure and expect territorial behavior, especially around spawning.
Wataka
Ischikauia steenackeri
Wataka is a temperate Japanese freshwater cyprinid that tops out around 30 cm (about 12 inches), so it is way more of a pond or public-aquarium fish than a typical home-tank species. In the wild it is tied to the Lake Biwa-Yodo River system, and it is actually listed as Endangered, which is pretty wild for a fish that looks like a sleek, silver "river carp".