Search Species
Search for fish species by common or scientific name, or use filters to browse by water type, size, temperament, and difficulty.
Found 39 species
African moony
Monodactylus sebae
This is that shiny, diamond-shaped "mono" that cruises around in a tight pack and looks like a little silver dinner plate with black bars when it's young. The big thing with African moonies is they're euryhaline-so they'll tolerate freshwater as juveniles, but they really shine long-term in brackish (and can be transitioned toward marine as they mature). Give them a big, open tank and a group, and they turn into nonstop, super fun midwater swimmers.
American shadow goby
Quietula y-cauda
This is a little mudflat goby from California down into the Gulf of California that loves hanging tight to the bottom and vanishing into burrows. The neat tell is that sideways Y-shaped blotch right at the base of the tail, plus the row of dark spots along the side. Its whole vibe is brackish estuary life - calm water, soft substrate, lots of hiding holes.
Banded-tail glassy perchlet
Ambassis urotaenia
This is one of those see-through glassy perchlets where you can literally watch the organs shimmer when it turns-super cool in the right lighting. In the wild it hangs around river mouths and mangroves and cruises in groups, so it does best when you keep a little gang of them and give them some open swimming room.
Barbed pipefish
Urocampus nanus
Urocampus nanus (barbed pipefish) occurs in protected inshore and estuarine habitats among seagrass (Zostera) in the Northwest Pacific (southern Japan and adjacent coasts). Like other syngnathids, males brood eggs in a pouch under the tail and produce fully formed young.
Beach silverside
Atherinella blackburni
This is a little coastal silverside that cruises the shallows in loose groups and flashes like a tiny chrome dart when the light hits it right. In the wild it hangs around beaches, estuaries, and lagoons, picking at small drifting foods in the surf zone. It is cool, but its real "gotcha" is that it is an open-water, salt-tolerant schooling fish that does best in bigger, well-oxygenated setups rather than a typical planted community tank.
Buffon's river-garfish
Zenarchopterus buffonis
This sleek, surface-dwelling halfbeak has a distinct dark stripe along the snout and is typically found at the surface in coastal waters, estuaries, and rivers where it feeds on terrestrial insects. In aquaria it does best with floating/surface foods and a secure cover, and it requires brackish (or marine) conditions long-term. Reproduction is internally fertilized; FishBase lists the species as ovoviviparous.
Cuban cusk-eel
Lucifuga subterranea
A blind, cave- and sinkhole-dwelling livebearing brotula (Bythitidae) endemic to Cuba that feeds on small crustaceans (e.g., isopods) in subterranean waters.
Danube delta dwarf goby
Knipowitschia cameliae
This is a tiny little bottom-dwelling goby from a single lagoon system near the Danube Delta in Romania. It stays under about an inch and a half, and the males can show dark barring when in breeding colors. Honestly, it is more of a conservation-interest species than an aquarium fish - it is Critically Endangered and may even be possibly extinct in the wild.
Decorated ponyfish
Nuchequula gerreoides
This is a little Indo-West Pacific ponyfish that hangs around coastal bottoms and wanders into estuaries, so it is a saltwater fish that can handle brackish too. In the wild it hunts tiny crustaceans when young and shifts into a more mixed, grab-what-you-can menu as it grows, which is very "estuary survivor" behavior. Cool little silvery fish, but its need for marine/brackish conditions (and the fact FishBase lists the family as basically not an aquarium fish) makes it a pretty niche, specialist keep.
Dotted gizzard shad
Konosirus punctatus
Konosirus punctatus is a coastal, open-water schooling shad from East Asia that runs in and out of bays and brackish estuaries to breed. It gets fairly big for a "shad" and is built for constant cruising, so its care is much closer to a coolwater baitfish setup than a typical home aquarium community fish.
Dusky Tongue Sole
Paraplagusia sinerama
A tongue sole (family Cynoglossidae) from soft-bottom habitats in northern Australia (Exmouth Gulf, WA to Moreton Bay, QLD) and also New Guinea. It is a bottom-dwelling flatfish associated with soft substrates; aquarium care details (salinity/pH/tankmates) are not well documented in major references.
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Elongate mudskipper (pointed-tailed goby)
Pseudapocryptes elongatus (syn. Pseudapocryptes lanceolatus)
This is that super-cool "mudskipper-ish" goby that mostly stays in the water, but will park itself in the shallows and periscope its eyes above the surface like it's keeping watch. It's an obligate air-breather from tidal rivers/estuaries, so it really appreciates shallow, brackish setups with soft mud/sand and gentle flow-more of a mangrove vibe than a typical community tank.