Fish That Start With E
Browse all aquarium fish species with common names beginning with "E". Each profile includes care requirements, water parameters, tank size recommendations, and compatibility information for freshwater, marine, and brackish species.
The letter 'E' offers a mix of aquarium fish, from beloved community species to unique finds. Notable species include the Midas blenny (Ecsenius midas), known for its vibrant colors and engaging behavior, and the Green chromide (Etroplus suratensis), a hardy species that can thrive in various setups. These fish offer diverse options for aquarists looking to enhance their aquatic environments.
East Indian lipsucker
Andamia heteroptera
This is one of those wild intertidal blennies that clings to wave-battered rocks with a sucker-like lower lip and will even pop out onto damp rock when conditions let it. In the ocean its whole lifestyle is about hanging on in the splash zone, grazing and picking at tiny foods between surges, so it is a super cool fish but honestly not a typical "throw it in a reef tank" kind of species.
East Indies siltgoby
Amblygobius cheraphilus
This is a tiny little sand-and-silt goby from the western Pacific that hangs around soft-bottom areas near reefs and spends its time picking/sifting for small critters. Its look is super clean and subtle - grayish with two reddish-brown stripes and a dark spot on the gill cover - and it is one of those fish that really wants a fine, mature substrate to graze on. Because it is not a standard-import aquarium fish, most of the hard care numbers you see for it are best treated as 'typical Amblygobius/sand-sifting goby' rather than species-proven.
Eastern longfin goby
Favonigobius lentiginosus
This is a little sand-loving coastal goby that hangs around estuaries, mangroves, tidepools, and sandy flats, and it does that classic goby thing of perching and scooting along the bottom. Color-wise its pretty subtle but really neat up close - sandy brown with distinct bars and head striping - and it spends a lot of time hunting tiny crustaceans in the substrate.
Eastern mudminnow
Umbra pygmaea
Eastern mudminnow (Umbra pygmaea) is a small freshwater umbrid native to eastern North America that inhabits slow, vegetated waters such as swamps, ponds, and ditches. It feeds mainly on insect larvae and small aquatic invertebrates and is noted for tolerance of low-oxygen wetland habitats.
East-Pacific ventbrotula
Ventichthys biospeedoi
This is a deep-sea cusk-eel that lives right around hydrothermal vents on the Southeast Pacific Rise - basically the fish equivalent of hanging out next to an underwater volcano. Its thick skin and other oddball body features are thought to be adaptations for that extreme vent neighborhood, and it seems to be a scavenger/predator on small stuff down on the bottom.
Edward cichlid
Haplochromis pharyngalis
This is one of those Lake Edward haplochromines that has the typical sleek, fast "hap" shape and attitude. It is not something you see in the average fish store, but if you do find it, treat it like a medium-sized African cichlid that appreciates hard, alkaline water and some real swimming room.
Eelpout
Oidiphorus brevis
This little eelpout hangs out way down in frigid water off Patagonia and the Falklands, so you are never going to see it in a home tank. It tops out around 11.5 cm and lives on the seafloor between about 135 and 900 m, picking at benthic critters. Cool fish, just more of a deep-sea curiosity than an aquarium candidate.
Elongate duckbill eel
Saurenchelys elongata
Saurenchelys elongata is a skinny, deepwater duckbill eel - basically a living piece of spaghetti with a long, pointed snout. It is not an aquarium fish in any normal sense (it is a marine, bathydemersal species), and it is the kind of animal you mostly see in research catches, not at fish stores.
Elongate killifish
Titanolebias elongatus
Titanolebias elongatus is a giant annual killifish from temporary waters in the Lower Parana-La Plata basin - it grows way bigger than most "typical" killies and has that chunky, predatory vibe. It is a bottom spawner with a long egg diapause (months), and its whole lifestyle is built around racing the dry season, which is just wild to watch and work with if you are into breeding projects.
-1771643191.jpg)
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.
Elongate shore-eel
Alabes elongata
Alabes elongata is a tiny, eel-shaped marine shore fish from Western Australia that lives right in the shallow reef and seagrass zone. It looks like a little slippery noodle with reduced fins, and it spends its time tucked into weed/reef structure rather than cruising the open water. This is the kind of oddball you appreciate for its weird body plan and secretive lifestyle, not because its going to be out front begging for food.
Ember tetra
Hyphessobrycon amandae
Ember tetras are tiny little orange "glow fish" tetras that look insanely good over a dark substrate with plants and a bit of leaf litter. They're happiest in a proper little gang, and when they settle in and feel safe the whole school starts moving like one warm, flickery cloud.
Emperor tetra
Nematobrycon palmeri
Emperor tetras are those classy little Colombian characins with the dark horizontal stripe and the males' awesome trident/lyretail look. Keep a decent-sized group and you'll see the males do their little posturing displays without really hurting each other, especially in a planted tank with some shade.
Endler's livebearer
Poecilia wingei
Endlers are basically tiny little firecrackers-males stay small but flash a ton of neon color and never stop cruising the tank. They're super social and active, and if you keep males and females together you'll have babies before you've even finished tweaking the aquascape.
Engkarit
Osteochilus partilineatus
Osteochilus partilineatus is a tiny little bony-lipped barb from West Kalimantan (Borneo) that lives in deep, blackwater forest streams with flowing water. Its small adult size is the cool part here - it is one of those "wait, that is an Osteochilus?" species - but it is not really a standard aquarium fish, so most of its care is best approached like a sensitive blackwater river/stream cyprinid.
Epulu alestid
Brachyalestes epuluensis
Brachyalestes epuluensis is a Congo Basin African tetra relative from the Epulu River system in DR Congo. It is a mid-sized, torpedo-shaped schooling fish (max about 11 cm standard length) that would act a lot like other African tetras in the tank - always cruising and looking for food. The tricky part is there is basically no aquarium-specific care info published for this exact species, so you keep it successfully by treating it like a small-to-medium riverine alestid and focusing on clean, well-oxygenated water and room to swim.
Eregli minnow
Garra kemali
Garra kemali is a tiny Turkish Garra that hangs close to the bottom and spends a lot of time grazing surfaces for edible bits. It comes from marshes and lakes rather than the typical fast riffles people associate with many other Garra, and its wild populations are considered endangered, so its story is more conservation-focused than aquarium-trade focused.
Eriarcha rhamdella
Rhamdella eriarcha
Rhamdella eriarcha is a shy little South American three-barbeled catfish (Heptapteridae) that spends a lot of time tucked under wood and cruising the bottom after dark. It gets a lot bigger than most people expect for a "small" catfish, so think more "subtle nocturnal predator" than "tiny cleanup fish".
Estuarine triplefin
Forsterygion nigripenne
This little triplefin is a bottom-hugging, rock-darting fish from New Zealand estuaries - the kind that wedges itself into cover and then pops out to grab tiny critters. Males get extra interesting in breeding season with enlarged fin tips, and they guard eggs that are stuck down to the nesting site with sticky threads. It is not a typical tropical aquarium fish - think cool, temperate, and brackish-leaning conditions.
Eurasian Minnow (Common Minnow)
Phoxinus phoxinus
Phoxinus phoxinus is a small, fast-swimming minnow associated with cool, well-oxygenated waters. It is a gregarious shoaling fish; males intensify in colour during breeding. Note: the name P. phoxinus has historically been applied broadly across Eurasia, but the group is now treated as a species complex in which true P. phoxinus may be restricted to parts of Western Europe.
European gudgeon
Gobio gobio
The European gudgeon is a small bottom-dwelling cyprinid with a slender body, sandy-brown mottling, and distinct barbels at the corners of the mouth used to locate food in the substrate. It is an active schooling fish that prefers well-oxygenated water and a sand or fine-gravel bottom, often resting on the substrate between foraging bouts. Best kept in cool, river-style aquariums with moderate flow rather than warm tropical setups.
European mudminnow
Umbra krameri
Umbra krameri is a little swamp-and-ditch specialist from the Danube area that does the classic mudminnow thing: it can handle low-oxygen, weedy water and will happily pick at tiny critters all day. Its coolest party trick is that it is facultative air-breathing, and it has that subtle mottled, shadowy pattern that makes it vanish in plants until it suddenly darts out for food.
European Perch
Perca fluviatilis
The European Perch is a predatory freshwater fish recognized by its olive-green body, dark vertical bars, and bright red/orange pelvic and anal fins. It is an active hunter that can grow quite large and is best suited to coolwater, spacious aquariums with strong filtration and plenty of cover.
European seabass
Dicentrarchus labrax
This is the classic Mediterranean/NE Atlantic seabass (the restaurant branzino) - a super sleek, silver predator that cruises shorelines, harbors, and estuaries. Juveniles will school, but bigger adults get more solitary and are built to inhale shrimp and smaller fish. It can handle brackish water and a pretty wide temp swing, but it is absolutely not a typical home-aquarium fish because it gets huge and needs serious swimming room.