most underrated fish in your opinion

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
When you're a member of a fish keeping forum where "big" is the norm, then it's easy for a lot of the smaller species to get overlooked. For this reason I keep a hand in both, a big boy tank and a smaller fish com tank.

The smaller species I love at the moment are filament barbs. My group of six are colouring up and their streaming filaments have developed now and I absolutely love them.

Some of the rainbowfish species are stunning too, especially when the correct numbers and male to female ratio are adhered to so you can witness their courtship behaviour and colours first hand.

And of the really small stuff I think the odessa barb is a beautiful fish too. Again, a large group with well proportioned male to female ratio and watching them is fascinating.
 
I completely agree on the beauty of the Odessa Barb; I have always wanted some of these, and a few months ago I got a dozen for a fairly cool-water tank whose main focus was a couple of Gymnogeophagus species. The barbs were really just a sort of after-thought, but their colour and vivacity has really brought that tank to life. I know, they don't "belong" with South Americans, but I got over that quickly.

But Odessas aren't really under-rated, because I don't see them often and they tend to be highly admired by people who have them. To me, a fish is under-rated only if it is cheap and dirt-common and taken for granted, but you just know that if it were rare that people would be fighting to get them...either because of beauty, interesting behaviour or some other attribute(s).

Some examples of that would be Cardinal Tetras, Red-tailed Black Sharks, Sailfin Mollies, Angelfish (yes, plain ordinary freshwater Angelfish...), and many other gorgeous fish that we take for granted because they are always available for cheap. Imagine if the Cardinal Tetra (or Neon Tetra) had never been discovered before, and it suddenly hit the scene now. It would be a hot commodity!
 
Last edited:
I agree with Rainbow cichlids, and any of the amatitlania species being underrated, but the most probably has to be the regular convict. Seems like a lot of people almost look at them as being undesirable.
 
I think all native fish are under rated
For sure! I wish natives were as common in the hobby as tropicals! It's kinda weird they aren't more prevalent when you think about it. Ultimate Dream Fish on Instagram is a great place to see and learn about native fish. So many beautiful species there that I wasn't even aware of!
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com