# Smallest Fish for the Aquarium?



## Largesse

Hello,

I was under the impression that tetras are the smallest aquarium fish (in terms of length). Would anyone care to differ?

Thanks!


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## trenac

_Which species of tetra are you referring to?..._ There are quite a few small fish out there: http://www.franksaquarium.com/nanofish.htm


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## yoink

Micro rasboras and male endlers are smaller than any adult tetra I've seen.


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## furballi

Most neons will stay under 1.1". My oldest and largest is 1.3".


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## Largesse

Well something smaller than a Purple emperor tetra (approx. 1-1.5 inches at adulthood). From what I understand rasboras start at around 1 inch, so looking for something slightly smaller - approx. .75 inches in length.


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## John P.

Boraras sp.

http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=Boraras&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi


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## DonaldmBoyer

I agree with Yoink. You aren't going to find much smaller fish than micro rasboras. Check out Franksaquarium. Most stay 3/4" to 1" fully grown. My boraras species came in today, in fact, and they aren't much bigger than 1/2" and won't get much bigger than that.

The smallest fish in the world lives in Sumatra acid pools. It is a type of carp and doesn't grow any bigger than 6.5 millimeters! But you can't buy them.


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## eklikewhoa

I have Boraras Merah and Brigittae ane they are the smallest I have seen in height and length other then endlers.


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## sithspawn

I've got 20 of these fishes called Danionella spp. They are transparent and about less than 1cm long. These guys makes my micro rasboras look like giants because of their slim profile. In fact they look like the fry of some other fish. The other fish I have is an Indostomus paradoxus, about 1cm long but they are thin and are much nicer looking than the pic. I have 4 of em. 
The last I don't have a pic but they are gobies and are colored like bumblebee gobies but way smaller. I have 4 of the smaller ones about 5mm long and 2 more not as well colored and slightly larger (might be a different species as well). Their build is not as bulky as bumblebees; their bodies taper off towards the tail end like those mini puffers. I keep them in a 1ft tank with various shrimp and shrimplet as well who are unharmed by them.


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## Largesse

Thanks for that information, all of you(eklikewhoa, donaldmboyer, yoink, Trenac, JohnP, Furballi: - very informative). Especially to Sithspawn, it seems like you have some real miniatures.


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## sithspawn

*The gobies*

Actually after looking at the 2 different gobies in my nano, I realised that their color is not anything like a bumblebee. Gonna take some pics soon. I'm gonna need a real good SLR and Macro lens for this heh.


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## Largesse

Sithspawn, your fish are tiny!! Do you know of any dealers that sell these types in Toronto, Canada? Thanks


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## benjavan

Heterandia foromosa is the smallest fish in North America and one of the smallest of the Livebearers. The adult female is a little over an inch in length. They are often available at aquarium club auctions.


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## Muirner

will Boraras merah, cross breed with Harliquin rasboras?


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## eklikewhoa

Muirner said:


> will Boraras merah, cross breed with Harliquin rasboras?


It's actually Boraras Merah so I am pretty sure they won't.


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## sb483

I was going to mention sparkling gouramis when I saw the thread title, but they're giants compared to the fish above. They stay smaller than neon tetras, at least.


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## sb483

donaldmboyer said:


> The smallest fish in the world lives in Sumatra acid pools. It is a type of carp and doesn't grow any bigger than 6.5 millimeters! But you can't buy them.


Here's a picture. The image caption claimed this was adult size.








Paedocypris


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## Script404

Sithspawn how are those danioella doing? I've seen them for sale in a lfs but didnt know anything more about them.


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## Largesse

Sb403,

That fish is really tiny. But those are not commercially available. Also, I think most fish buyers would worry that the colours on that little guy aren't aesthetically pleasing.


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## mrbelvedere138

Largesse said:


> Sb403,
> 
> That fish is really tiny. But those are not commercially available. Also, I think most fish buyers would worry that the colours on that little guy aren't aesthetically pleasing.


That and the fact it would be exceptionally difficult to reproduce their conditions, the article I read said they came from pH 3.5 waters.


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## sithspawn

Largesse said:


> Sithspawn, your fish are tiny!! Do you know of any dealers that sell these types in Toronto, Canada? Thanks


Sorry for the late reply. I live in Singapore and from what I heard from the shops here, many species are re-exported to other countries from here. The local shops sometimes get a hold of some of them if it tickles their fancy. Only two shops in Singapore had them. I managed to get most of em. Hee hee. There's been a new batch just in a few days ago.


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## sithspawn

Script404 said:


> Sithspawn how are those danioella doing? I've seen them for sale in a lfs but didnt know anything more about them.


Mine are doing great...all accounted for. My first batch of 10 from about 3 weeks ago are all fine. The second batch of 10 are much smaller in size and are about a week old. For the live food, I feed them daphnias, baby brine shrimp and also fry food like Sera micropan (I mix it around in the tank so it looks alive). All the tiny fish I have are in my 1ft shrimp tank. Fortunetly I have 2 shops that I regularly buy live food that stock adult Brine shrimp and worms as well. All my fish in my 6ft tank are fed with live food as much as possible as well. I find the fish more lively and healthy because of the huting they get to do more than nutrition value I think.


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## skincareaddicted

more on the smallest fish donald mentioned, i just found the article fun:










http://www.happynews.com/news/1252006/scientists-discover-worlds-smallest-fish.htm


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## sithspawn

These are crap pics of the smaller goby and the pipefish. I used a Nikon D70 but unfortunetly no macro lens so it's near impossible to get good pics of them. My next try is with a compact camera with a macro mode. I tried it and it can do the job so stay tuned...I'm adding a horrid pic of a 1ft tank with a wide shot of the glass fish, micros etc and the (gasp) purple shrimp.


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## sithspawn

coming soon ...real photos....hee hee


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## Left Coast DJ

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, FranksAquarium.com is a good start for small fish.

http://www.franksaquarium.com/nanofish.htm

I recently got some Scarlet Badis locally. They're about 1-2 cm. in size. But the methodical way they swim and hunt remind me of miniature Oscars.

DJ


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## eklikewhoa

I noticed Scarlet Badis locally as well but this hunting thing does not work for me.....I have shrimp. They look really nice though! Another thing that the LFS got was Chocolate gourami's which look kinda cool I guess.


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## Largesse

Sithspawn, don't hit yourself over your head for your photos. You have great fish. I wish they had that variety here in Canada (sigh). As for macros, if you're steady with your hands and have a removable lens, use your 50mm and reverse it. You won't have clear control of the lens, but you will have a massive macro. Those gobies are cute!


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## blackBRUSHalgae

Just a quick note for those you want to get into small little fauna. Other than avoiding mixing them with bigger fishes  you should also sponge wrap your filter intlet! These little beings would be easily get sucked into it!


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## T-Bone

Aren't white clouds pretty small? Never seen a micro rasbora or borara's, so I don't know size comparison. White clouds are a pretty nice looking fish, and are now bred in a couple diferent colors.


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## urbnbtta

i know this is an years old thread, but in case anyone reads this, do you know of a good source for any of these mentioned fish in NYC?

also, do any of these nano fish school?


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## spypet

franksaquarium will be your best bet for nano fish come spring;
http://www.franksaquarium.com/nanofish.htm
just be patient - he does not like to import/reship below 0c°
there's little market for nano fish and freshwater shrimp.
an LPS in Queens called H2OAquarium used to do this,
and subsequently went out of business in 2009.


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## urbnbtta

thanks for the info, i was sad to see everything out of stock, but your explanation makes sense. i see you're in queens. do you have any nano fish you breed or might be willing to part with?


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## spypet

If you can't wait till March when most online 
dealers will resume imports and reshipping,
nano stocking locals you can try are;
Win Tropical Aquariums, 169 Mott St, Manhattan
Coral Aquarium, 7503 Roosevelt Avenue, Queens
best to go after they get their weekly delivery,
before their filthy tanks kill their own livestock.
PM me privately if you insist on more guidance.


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