Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 654 species
Three-spot righteye flounder
Samariscus triocellatus
This is a tiny little Indo-Pacific flounder that lives right on sand and rubble around reefs, and it can be ridiculously hard to spot once it settles in. The coolest part is the three eye-like spots (ocelli) and the way it kind of creeps along the bottom hunting small benthic critters at dusk.
Tidepool snailfish
Liparis florae
This is a little coldwater snailfish that literally lives in tide pools on exposed Pacific coast rock, hiding under algae and stones when the surf is crashing. It has that classic soft, tadpole-ish snailfish look and a suction-disk belly, so it can cling in place instead of getting tossed around. Super cool fish biologically, but it is absolutely not a normal home-aquarium species unless youre set up for a chilled marine system.
Tidewater mojarra
Eucinostomus harengulus
Tidewater mojarras are those sleek, silvery little estuary fish with the crazy-protrusible mouth they use to pick and vacuum tiny critters out of sand and mud. They show up around seagrass, mangroves, and shallow muddy flats, and theyll even push up into lower-salinity creeks and tributaries when conditions are right.
Tiger watchman goby
Valenciennea wardii
This is one of those classic sand-sifting sleeper gobies that will stay busy all day taking mouthfuls of sand, picking out tiny foods, and spitting the clean sand back out. Super chill temperament, but it really wants a mature tank with a real sandbed so it can do its thing without slowly starving. Also heads-up: they can redecorate by burying frags and making little bulldozer trenches.
Tippecanoe darter
Etheostoma tippecanoe
Teeny little riffle goblins that perch on the gravel and then rocket up to grab passing bugs. Males get a cool orange throat and fin edges in breeding season, and they spawn by burying eggs in clean pea-sized gravel. Awesome fish to watch, but they need cool, super-clean, fast-moving water to thrive.
Tombigbee darter
Etheostoma lachneri
This is a tiny Gulf Coastal Plain darter from the Tombigbee drainage, and the males get seriously wild in breeding colors - green/turquoise with orange and blue patterning. In the wild they hang around that stream transition zone from pools into riffles, sticking close to the bottom around sand-gravel, rubble, and snag cover. Think of it as a little bottom-perching insect-hunter that really wants clean, well-oxygenated flowing water.
Tom Coon's orestias
Orestias tomcooni
Orestias tomcooni is a little high-altitude killifish from the Lake Titicaca basin, built for chilly, oxygen-rich water. It is one of those super-niche Andean natives you almost never see in the trade, and the big "gotcha" is that it wants cool temps long-term, not a standard tropical setup.
Tonguetied minnow
Exoglossum laurae
Exoglossum laurae (tonguetied minnow) is a freshwater leuciscid minnow of cool, clean, rocky streams in parts of the eastern United States. It has a distinctive ventral mouth adapted for benthic feeding, and it is associated with pebble/rock nest spawning behavior documented for Exoglossum in scientific literature.
Torrent catfish
Glyptothorax chimtuipuiensis
A tiny hillstream cat that hugs rock faces with a grippy chest pad, G. chimtuipuiensis comes from fast, cool riffles in Mizoram. Set it up in strong flow with tons of oxygen and it will spend its time scooting from stone to stone like a little river ninja.
Torrent catfish
Glyptothorax interspinalum
Think of this as a little river cat that grips rocks with a ribbed chest pad so it can sit right in the rapids. It stays around 10 cm and comes from fast, cool streams in Laos, Vietnam, and southern China, so it shines in a high-flow, high-oxygen tank with smooth stones and meaty foods. ([fishbase.se](https://www.fishbase.se/summary/Glyptothorax-interspinalum))
Tubeshoulder
Mentodus mesalirus
Mentodus mesalirus is a deep-sea tubeshoulder - one of those wild ocean fish that can squirt a bioluminescent fluid from a special tube organ near the shoulder. It is not an aquarium species at all, but it is seriously cool from a biology standpoint because that light-producing setup is basically its whole claim to fame.
Tufa darter
Etheostoma lugoi
Tiny darter from Mexico's Cuatro Cienegas springs that hugs the bottom over pale tufa rubble. Males get a neat blue throat in breeding dress and you will catch them scooting between the grooves of the stromatolites like little gobies. Gorgeous fish, but super specialized and protected in the wild.