Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 74 species
Iljin's dwarf goby
Knipowitschia iljini
This is a tiny Caspian Sea dwarf goby that sticks close to the bottom and tops out under 2 inches. The big catch is it is a deep-water, brackish/sea-influenced fish from the Caspian, so its real-world habitat needs (salinity, temperature, pressure/oxygen) make it a super uncommon aquarium candidate.
Indian ponyfish
Deveximentum indicium
This is a little ponyfish (slipmouth) from coastal seas and brackish edges, with that classic super-protrusible, upturned mouth they can shoot forward when they feed. Silvery body, some dark facial marking, and it tends to be a schooling, open-water kind of fish rather than a hide-in-the-rocks type.
Iranian cichlid
Iranocichla hormuzensis
This is the wild, oddball cichlid from southern Iran that lives in warm, salty streams where most other fish would tap out. It is a maternal mouthbrooder, and adults can go dark with silvery speckling - super cool fish, but not something I'd call forgiving if your water and temps swing around.
Kampen's ilisha
Ilisha kampeni
Kampen's ilisha is a small, silvery coastal herring-relative that cruises nearshore waters and will also push into rivers when it feels like it. Its whole vibe is fast, open-water, plankton-and-small-fish hunting - not really a cozy planted-tank fish, more like a little pelagic sprinter that wants room and current.
Kaup's pipefish
Enneacampus kaupi
Enneacampus kaupi is a skinny little West African pipefish that likes to lurk through algae and basically cosplay as a piece of vegetation. Its whole vibe is slow, sneaky, and ultra-picky at feeding time - super cool if you enjoy target-feeding and watching hunting behavior up close. It shows up from brackish estuaries and coastal rivers, so a slightly brackish setup is often the safest long-term direction.
Kaup's snake eel
Yirrkala kaupii
Yirrkala kaupii is a skinny little snake eel that spends a lot of its time down on the bottom, and its whole vibe is more "hide and cruise" than "swim around for show". FishBase lists it as a freshwater-brackish, demersal tropical species from Indonesia and the Philippines, topping out around 35 cm (about 14 inches), so it is not really a standard home-aquarium fish.
Knight Goby
Stigmatogobius sadanundio
Knight gobies are those chunky, spotty "estuary" gobies that perch on the bottom, scoot between caves, and then suddenly dash out like little predators. They're super fun to watch because they're territorial in a goby way (lots of posturing) and they'll even breed in caves when they're happy. They do best long-term when you treat them like an estuary fish: hard, alkaline water and (often) a bit of salt.
Lang's blenny
Hypleurochilus langi
This is a little West African combtooth blenny that hangs around mangroves and river mouths, and it can handle changing salinity (it is euryhaline). In a tank it would be one of those perch-and-peek fish that wedges into cracks and watches everything, but the big gotcha is it is not a true freshwater fish - it is a brackish-to-marine coastal species.
Large-eye croaker
Johnius plagiostoma
Small sciaenid (croaker) from tropical Indo–West Pacific waters. Reported from shallow coastal habitats, estuaries, and rivers, and can occur across marine, brackish, and freshwater conditions. Not a common aquarium species; if kept, it requires a large, open-bottom system and predatory feeding.
Lutea sleeper
Eleotris lutea
Eleotris lutea is a tiny little sleeper (eleotrid) that hangs out on the bottom in coastal/estuary type habitats and tends to just park itself and watch the world go by. Its wild environment is listed as marine and brackish (and it is amphidromous), so it is one of those fish people often mis-label as "freshwater goby" even though it usually does best with some salt and stable conditions.
Milkspotted puffer
Chelonodontops patoca
This is that chunky, curious puffer with the milky white spots and big "what are you doing?" eyes that follows you around the glass like a little water puppy. It's a super fun fish to watch-always cruising, inspecting everything, and begging for food-but it's also one of those puffers that really needs the right setup as it grows (and it grows a lot).
Milkspotted puffer
Chelonodon patoca
This is the big milk-spotted brackish puffer that cruises estuaries and mangroves and sometimes wanders a little way into fresh water. It gets chunky (over a foot) with those clean white spots, and it has that classic puffer personality - curious, food-motivated, and sometimes a bit too interested in other fish's fins. Long-term it really does best as a brackish-to-marine fish with hard, alkaline water and lots of crunchy shell-on foods to keep the beak worn down.