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Rare aquarium fish

Reserve or join the waitlist

Alongside shrimp and plecos we keep small groups of fish that are hard to find in chain stores: Apistogramma dwarf cichlids, killifish, pure-strain Endler's livebearers, Corydoras, and nano species such as the scarlet badis and celestial pearl danio. Several are rare or protected in the wild, which makes tank-bred stock matter.

Why buy locally bred

• Pickup in Groton by arrangement, or shipped in insulated boxes Monday to Wednesday.

Winter in New England

All of these are tropical fish. Read our guide to keeping tropical fish through a New England winter, including heater sizing and what to do in a power cut: winter tank guide.

Varieties

• Apistogramma cacatuoides (cockatoo dwarf cichlid): Upper-Amazon dwarf cichlid, bred in double-red and orange-flash strains.
• Apistogramma agassizii: Amazon dwarf cichlid with many locality colour forms.
• Apistogramma macmasteri: Small Colombian dwarf cichlid with a very restricted range.
• Endler's livebearer (pure strain): Tiny Venezuelan livebearer, now Endangered, whose pure stock is hard to find.
• Nothobranchius rachovii (bluefin killifish): Annual killifish whose eggs rest dry for months.
• Aphyosemion australe (lyretail killifish): Classic West African killifish in gold, orange, chocolate and albino strains.
• Fundulopanchax gardneri (steel-blue killifish): Nigerian and Cameroonian killifish with many locality forms.
• Corydoras sterbai (Sterba's cory): Orange-finned spotted cory, one of the easiest to spawn.
• Corydoras adolfoi (Adolfo's cory): Black-banded cory found only in a small area of the Rio Negro.
• Pseudomugil gertrudae (spotted blue-eye): Tiny blue-eyed rainbowfish from northern Australia and New Guinea.
• Betta macrostoma (Brunei beauty): Large wild mouthbrooding betta, Vulnerable and protected at home.
• Scarlet badis (Dario dario): One of the smallest percoid fish; males glow red with blue bars.
• Celestial pearl danio (Danio margaritatus): Gem-spotted nano danio from Myanmar, discovered in 2006.
• Boraras brigittae (mosquito rasbora): Tiny red-orange rasbora from Borneo's peat swamps.