Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Water Type
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 299 species
Neolissochilus hexagonolepis
This is the chocolate/copper mahseer - a big, powerful river cyprinid that lives in fast, rocky streams and gets built like a torpedo. It is the kind of fish that wants current, oxygen, and room to cruise, and it will absolutely outgrow normal home aquariums if you try to keep it long-term.
Jenynsia eigenmanni
Jenynsia eigenmanni is a little South American livebearer from southern Brazil, and it has that classic Jenynsia "one-sided" mating setup, which is pretty wild to watch once you keep a group. It's not a showy neon fish, but it is super active and always cruising and grazing, more like a tiny, tougher molly-type fish that stays busy all day.
Gymnotus darwini
Gymnotus darwini is a smaller banded knifefish from coastal river drainages in Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. Like other Gymnotus, it navigates and hunts using a weak electric field and tends to be most active after lights-out, cruising along the bottom and through cover. It is a cool oddball fish, but its exact aquarium needs are not well documented because it is a recently described species and not common in the trade.
Yunnanilus macrogaster
This is a little Chinese stone loach from a weedy marsh system in Yunnan, and it tops out around 7 cm (under 3 inches). Its name literally points at the chunky, swollen-belly look (macrogaster = large stomach), and it is an insect-and-worm picker that hangs along the bottom.
Nedystoma dayi
Nedystoma dayi is a small ariid catfish from turbid freshwater rivers in central-southern New Guinea. Its whole vibe is lurking along the bottom in murky water and picking off aquatic insect larvae, so its look and lifestyle are very much a "river-bottom" fish rather than a showy planted-tank centerpiece.
Iodotropheus declivitas
Iodotropheus declivitas is a little Lake Malawi mbuna that hangs around rocky reefs and spends a lot of its day picking at algae and tiny bits of food off the rocks. It stays pretty small for an mbuna, but it still does that classic cichlid thing of claiming a cave and showing off once it settles in. The big catch is its ID and availability - its often discussed alongside (and sometimes confused with) Iodotropheus sprengerae.
Bathyclarias atribranchus
This is one of Lake Malawi's weird, deep-living clariid catfish, hanging out on the bottom below about 70 m in the wild. What makes it extra cool is the dark, almost black gill filaments and suprabranchial (air-breathing) organ that the species is named for. Not really an aquarium fish in any normal sense - it gets big and comes from deep water.
Sahyadria denisonii
This is that sleek "torpedo" barb with the red racing stripe and black line-built for constant cruising in the middle of the tank. They're happiest in a proper group with lots of open swim room and really clean, oxygen-rich water with some flow. Get a school going and they look like a little pack of mini river missiles.
Yunnanilus polylepis
Yunnanilus polylepis is a tiny, newly-described stone loach from Yunnan, China that lives over plants in a deep pool, not a raging riffle. Males and females even look different (males show a dark side stripe), and the species name is literally about having lots of scales, which is a fun oddball trait for this group.
Moenkhausia pittieri
Diamond tetras are one of those fish that look kind of plain in the bag, then you get them settled in and they start throwing off this glittery, diamond-like shine when the light hits them-super satisfying to watch. They're active, always cruising around the midwater, and in a nice little school they'll do that tight, synchronized swimming thing that makes the tank feel alive.
Sphaerophysa dianchiensis
This is a tiny Chinese nemacheilid (stone loach) that lived on the bottom in Lake Dianchi, Yunnan. Sadly, its whole story in the hobby is basically that it is a super-local endemic that is listed as Critically Endangered and may even be gone from the wild, so it is not something you should expect to ever see for sale.
Moenkhausia doceana
Moenkhausia doceana is a Brazilian characin from the Doce and Mucuri river basins - basically a regional "lambari" type tetra. In the wild it hangs in the water column of clear, moving streams and picks off insect larvae and other little buggy bits, so it tends to do best in a roomy tank with good flow and a group of its own kind.