Marbled Hatchetfish (Carnegiella strigata)
A 4 cm Amazon glider that lives in the surface film. Tight lid, floating food, soft blackwater, and a school — or an empty tank.
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Splash Tetra (Copella arnoldi)
Eggs glued above the waterline, a male who splashes them for hours, and a lid that must leave humid air — not a normal tetra spawn.
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Ulrey's Tetra (Hemigrammus ulreyi)
Three-lined Paraguay basin tetras that get sold as pencilfish. Cooler than Amazon characins, calmer than Buenos Aires tetras.
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Costello Tetra (Hemigrammus hyanuary)
Named for Lago Hyanuary, not a person. Green-gold iridescence and a caudal mark — not a Paracheirodon and not a dyed “green neon.”
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Garnet Tetra (Hemigrammus pulcher)
Western Amazon tetras whose black rear wedge only reads as a pattern when the school is large and the water is stained.
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Yellow Phantom Tetra (Hyphessobrycon roseus)
Guiana Shield gold with a shoulder blotch, not a bleached black phantom. Quiet midwater schools in soft, dim, planted water.
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Buenos Aires Tetra (Hyphessobrycon anisitsi)
A La Plata schooler that likes cooler water, eats soft plants, and nips when understocked — not an Amazon neon with a different label.
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Mexican Tetra (Astyanax mexicanus)
Eyed river fish and blind cave morphs share a Latin name. Mexican tetra care splits on light, schooling, and whether the animal can even see its food.
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True Rummy-nose Tetra (Petitella bleheri)
Petitella bleheri’s crimson face is a water-quality instrument — the true rummynose of Negro blackwater, a school of ten-plus, and a nose that…
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Three-lined Pencilfish (Nannostomus trifasciatus)
Nannostomus trifasciatus is the photographed pencil: three lines, red in the males, and nipping that stays inside the school if you keep twelve in…
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Diptail Pencilfish (Nannostomus eques)
Nannostomus eques hangs at 45 degrees in stained Amazon water — the hockey-stick pencilfish of the top third, shy, particular, and not a tetra th…
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Beckford's Pencilfish (Nannostomus beckfordi)
Nannostomus beckfordi is the pencilfish that forgives: a level-swimming Guiana characin whose midwater fencing looks like a school at eight fish an…
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Australian Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia splendida)
Melanotaenia splendida is the Australian rainbow with a shoulder: a deep-bodied river schooler that needs a metre of swimming room, a real filter,…
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Pacific Blue-eye (Pseudomugil signifer)
Pseudomugil signifer males grow filamentous fins for a surface dance — a thumbnail Australian blue-eye that only works as a covered school with f…
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Madagascar Rainbowfish (Bedotia madagascariensis)
Bedotia madagascariensis is Madagascar’s zona, not a New Guinea Melanotaenia: a surface school with a red-tailed male, a lid with no gaps, and an…
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Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia praecox)
Melanotaenia praecox is the rainbow that actually fits a modest tank — 5–6 cm of blue and red that appear when the school is eight or more and…
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Cyprichromis Leptosoma (Cyprichromis leptosoma)
Cyprichromis leptosoma is Tanganyika’s open-water sardine cichlid: a school in empty hard water, hanging at an angle, mouthbrooding in the blue.
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Silver Dollar (Metynnis argenteus)
Silver dollars are disc-shaped Amazon herbivores that turn a planted tank into a salad and a big open tank into a shoal of living coins. Feed veget…
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Bala Shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus)
The bala shark is a 30-plus centimetre river cyprinid, endangered in the wild, that jumps and schools. Juveniles in a starter tank are a welfare pr…
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Bluefin Notho (Nothobranchius rachovii)
Rachov’s notho is an annual killifish from Mozambican rain pools: brilliant short-lived males, peat-spawned eggs, and a script that ends when the…
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Elegant Rasbora (Rasbora elegans)
Elegant rasbora is a two-spot forest cyprinid that can reach 15 cm despite the nano reputation of its cousins. Buy it for a long 200 litre tank, or…
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Espei Rasbora (Trigonostigma espei)
The lambchop rasbora is a copper shoaler from Thai and Cambodian peat streams. Espei colour up in shade, softish water, and a crowd that actually f…
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Rosy Barb (Pethia conchonius)
Males of this northern Indian barb flush pink in coolish canals, not in a 28°C community box. Keep a real school in a long tank and they stay busy…
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Celebes Rainbowfish (Marosatherina ladigesi)
The Celebes Rainbowfish is a graceful schooling fish from Sulawesi with translucent fins and striking blue and yellow accents. Learn about its wate…
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