
Sun Tetra (Hyphessobrycon heliacus)
A 2002 Tapajós species whose males grow filamentous fins. Soft, slow, species-focused tanks — or shredded gold splinters.
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This Freshwater hub on Fishy Friends gathers practical freshwater fish guidance for keepers who want clear answers before they change water, livestock, or gear.
Use these articles to match species to tank size, plan filtration and feeding, and troubleshoot water chemistry without guessing. Each guide is written for home aquariums and links to related reading when you need more depth on freshwater fish.
Start with the basics — stable parameters, quarantine habits, and a feeding schedule that matches the livestock — then browse the profiles and how-tos below. When you are ready to branch out, jump into neighbouring topics so your freshwater fish plan stays consistent across the whole tank.
Whether you are stocking a first community tank or refining an established scape, bookmark this page and return as questions come up. Healthy aquariums are built from small, repeatable routines more than one-time upgrades, and freshwater fish success follows the same pattern.
Explore next: all guides, aquarium plants, water chemistry, feeding guides.
Fishy Friends publishes species care sheets, plant and invertebrate notes, aquascaping ideas, and water-care explainers so freshwater fish advice stays easy to find. Read one guide thoroughly, apply it slowly, and use the linked hubs above when you want a second angle on the same problem.
Before you buy livestock or rethink filtration, skim two or three freshwater fish articles here and write down target numbers for temperature, hardness, and feeding. That short checklist prevents the most common resets and keeps your aquarium closer to the calm, healthy display you are aiming for.
Come back after water changes or new additions: compare what you see in the tank with the freshwater fish checklists below, then follow one recommended next step instead of changing everything at once. Steady improvements compound, and Fishy Friends is built to support that pace.

A 2002 Tapajós species whose males grow filamentous fins. Soft, slow, species-focused tanks — or shredded gold splinters.
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Deep-bodied Amazon tetras with white-tipped fins. Warm, planted schools; males flare, and nippers destroy the reason you bought them.
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A 3 cm lebiasinid with three stripes, a pinhead mouth, and a need for still, stained water — not a tetra and not a danio.
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An African alestid from the Congo, not a South American tetra. Gold-yellow tails need length, tannins, and a large shy school.
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Peru’s steel-blue schooler. Colour is a crowd effect; small groups go grey and start nipping long fins.
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Chrome river hatchets that need a sealed top and a long surface runway. Larger and hardier than marbles, still dedicated jumpers.
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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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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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Three-lined Paraguay basin tetras that get sold as pencilfish. Cooler than Amazon characins, calmer than Buenos Aires tetras.
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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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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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Guiana Shield gold with a shoulder blotch, not a bleached black phantom. Quiet midwater schools in soft, dim, planted water.
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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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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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Leiarius marmoratus is a marbled sailfin pimelodid that can pass 60 cm — a huge Amazon predator with a high dorsal, not a barred tiger shovelnose…
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Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum, the barred or tiger shovelnose, is a metre-class Amazon channel predator — a public-aquarium fish, not a living-room…
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Sorubim lima, the duckbill or shovel-nosed catfish, is a 50-centimetre pimelodid that hunts over sand with a spatula snout — a large river predat…
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Cetopsis coecutiens, the whale candiru, is a thick-bodied Amazon scavenger-predator that bites chunks from fish — a dangerous river specialist, n…
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Helogenes marmoratus, the otter catfish, is a small leaf-litter cetopsid that looks like a mottled tadpole — an insectivore of blackwater debris,…
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Auchenipterus nuchalis is a midwater, nocturnal driftwood-family catfish of Amazon channels — a schooling insect-hunter, not a log-packing Trache…
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Trachelyopterus galeatus is a nocturnal driftwood catfish of the Auchenipteridae — a hollow-log fish with internal fertilisation, not a pleco and…
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Microglanis iheringi is a small Venezuelan bumblebee catfish — a nocturnal cave ambusher of insects and fry, not a giant shovelnose and not a pla…
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Sciades herzbergii, the pemecou sea catfish, is a large West Atlantic ariid of brackish and coastal marine water — a venomous-spined estuary fish…
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Panaque cochliodon is the Magdalena blue-eyed panaque — an olive xylophage with a startling iris, not a striped royal, and still a large wood-eat…
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