Every species

This species has previously been considered synonymous with both O. ornatus and O. pulchellus but is currently considered to be distinct following (Tejavej, 2012). It can be distinguished from congeners by a combination of characters including: small caudal spot presen...

Inhabits well-oxygenated, low-to-medium gradient, slow to moderate-flowing rivers and streams with substrates of gravel, cobbles, larger boulders and exposed bedrock. At the habitat in our image pH was 7.5, temperature 26°C and cond...

Type locality is 'Mé-Nam River, Thailand', with 'Mé-Nam' having been considered an older name for the Chao Phraya river in central and western Thailand prior to this species' redescription by Tejavej (2012). In fact 'menam' is the Thai word for 'river' and thus could refer to any drainage, and B. ornatus is restricted to...

This species is traded for aquaria under various names including 'butterfly barb', 'mackerel barb', 'green-barred danio', and 'royal opsarius'. It can be told apart from other memb...

O. dogarsinghi and O. bernatziki are the only two Southeast Asian congeners to possess a large blotch at the caudal-fin base but in the former the blotch is vertically-orientated and hardly extends onto the fin itself (vs. laterally-elongate and extending onto the basal fin rays) and long (vs. short) barbels, while th...

An assortment of undescribed Oreichthys spp. from India, Myanmar and Thailand are currently traded as O. cosuatis. It can be distinguished from other described members of the genus by lacking a black blotch on the caudal peduncle, plus the following combination of characters: 2-3 perforated scales in lateral line; ½6½ between pelvic-fin origin and dorsal midline; presence of dark stripe in centre of anal-fin, forming a triangular blotch in adult individuals; dorsal-fin with whitish tip and broad, black, subdistal margin in the upper portion of the fin; 11-13 rows...

This fish is sometimes traded as Oreichthys cosuatis, O. sp. 'high fin', O. 'umangii' (a nomen nudum that has only ever been applied to an image of a fish in the book 'Ornamental Aquarium Fish of India'; K. L.Tekriwal and A. A. Rao 1999), Puntius 'arunavii' or 'neon highfin barb'. It can be distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: absence of a dark marking in the anal-fin (vs. presence in other species); ½7½ scales scales between pelvic-fin origin and dorsal midline (vs. ½6½ in O. cosuatis and...

This fish is one of several sometimes imported and sold as Oreichthys cosuatis or O. parvus which has led to considerable confusion. It appears to be an undescribed species and can be most easily identified by the absence of a dark marking in the dorsal-fin of adult males (vs. presence in O. cosuatis and O. parvus) and possession of a large, well-defined black blotch on the caudal peduncle ( vs. absent in O. cosuatis, smaller and less well-defined in O. parvus).

One of the most invasive fish species in the world, O. mossambicus is one of the species farmed for supermarkets and restaurants across the globe. Several colour varieties have been selectively bred from the natural green fish to make the fish more appealing to consumers and unsurprisingly, it is these more brightly coloured forms which are usually seen in aquaria. Some of these variants are cross breeds with other species of Oreochromis. The destructive effect of O. mossambicus on non-nativ...

One of the most invasive fish species in the world but also one of the most economically important, O. niloticus is bred in huge numbers in many countries as a food fish. It is often cross-bred with other Oreochromis species for colour in order to make the fish more appealing to consumers. The destructive effect of O. niloticus on non-native ecosystems into which it escapes or is released is mainly due to it's adaptibility. It has been recorded over a temperature range of 60-110°F an...

This large Tanganyikan species is not seen very often in the hobby. It is often seen in shoals in nature, where it appears to feed primarily on phytoplankton. An adult male would make a truly stunning specimen fish....

O. stormsi was previously classified as Schwetzochromis stormsi and is still named as such by many sources. Its swimbladder is modified, being much reduced in size. This makes the fish less buoyant and therefore less likely to be swept away by the strong currents in its natural habitat. In the aquarium it spends most of its time on the substrate, where it swims in a characteristic 'hopping' fashion. Unfortunately, it is rather rare in the hobby....

When the type series was collected the Sungai Asinua contained clear, slow to fast-moving water with a temperature of 26 °C. The substrate was composed of mud, sand an...

Described from the Maros River (Salo Maros), southwestern Sulawesi, Indonesia and subsequently recorded from rivers and streams throughout the southwestern arm of the island including Lake Tempe (Danau Tempe), plus the Mota Talau River, East Timor state on the nearby island of Timor. More recently Herder and Chapuis (2010) reported it to be more widespread on Sulawesi, with new records pertaining to an unnamed small stre...

This species continues to be mislabelled as O. melastigma, a name currently considered invalid by the majority of recent workers, or O. javanicus, a valid but distinct taxon. Roberts (1998) demonstrated that MClelland's description of Aplocheilus melastigmus, later renamed O. melastigma, does not correspond with any known Oryzias species from the Indian subcontinent or Myanmar since it's said to have a dark spot in the dorsal-fin and an excessively slim body, among other anomalies.

The type locality is a karst pool around 30-40 m in length, 10m in width and up to 4 m deep. It contains still, transparent water, has a single inflow and outflow, is surrounded by rainforest and in September 2010 the water temperature was 21.5°C/70.7°F. The habitat is used by locals as a bathing pool and sympatric species included a nat...

This species is widely-distributed throughout Peninsular Thailand, Malaysia (Malay Peninsula plus the states of Sabah and Sarawak, Borneo), Singapore and Indonesia, with records from the Riau Archipelago, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Bali, Lombok, and Sulawesi existing in the latter. Type locality is 'Panimbang River, Perdana, Indonesia'. It's typically found in coastal, normally brac...

Commonly known as 'Japanese rice fish' or simply 'rice fish', O. latipes is well-known to science having been widely used as a model organism in genomic and experimental biology for well over a century and was the first vertebrate animal to mate in space during the mid-1990s. It's also been a popular aquarium fish for many years, though is less widely-available than it once was, with the ornamental 'gold' vari...

It can be further distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: small adult size; bright orange-red marginal bands on caudal-fin lobes in males; caudal-fin rounded and elongate; 5-7 dorsal-fin rays; relatively few (13-18) anal-fin rays without bony contact organs, the last ray branched; 6-8 pectoral-fin rays. Members of the family Adrianichthyidae are...

Best maintained in a heavily planted set-up, ideally with a dark substrate, patches of dense vegetation, and some open areas. Other décor can consist of twisted roots and pieces of bogwood, while surface vegetation is also appreciated by the fish. When maintained under such conditions they're more likely to display their best colours, and planted aquaria also offer fry a more favourable chance of survival alongside the adults.