Malaysia - home to many amazing animals. But what about the fish? Often overlooked for more visible animals such as Tigers and Monkeys, Malaysia's fish are truely worth a mention. Malaysia is home to an surprising 614 known species of freshwater fish.

Discover five amazing Malaysian fish species and what makes them special.

1. Asian Arowana - Scleropages formosus

Asian arowanas, also known as Dragon Fish are now uncommon in the Malay Peninsula due to environmental destruction.

Now on the IUCN Red List they have been harvested heavily by aquarium collectors as Arowana can fetch tens of thousands of Ringgitt a fish. However, habitat loss is likely a greater threat than aquarium collecting.

2. Giant Snakehead - Channa micropeltes

Giant Snakeheads are massive & powerful predators and much admired by angelers.

Capable of growing to over 1 meter in length (3 feet) and a weighing over 20 kilograms (40 pounds), the Gian Snakehead is widely distributed Malaysia. Other names include Red Snakehead, Redline Snakehead and Ikan Toman in Malay.

3. Clown Loach - Chromobotia macracanthus

Clown Loaches are hugely popular aquarium fish and are known for their striking colors and loveable behaviour in groups.

Borneo's clear stream environments provide the optimal habitat for clown loaches, but biannual monsoon flooding forces the fish to move into flooded flood plains, or murky or blackwater rivers or lakes, for 7–8 months of the year, and clown loaches are commonly found in the flood plains of hilly areas.

4. Silver Shark - Balantiocheilos melanopterus

Another popular aquarium fish, Silver sharks are not true sharks!

The Silver shark occurs in the Mekong and Chao Phraya River basins, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo.

5. Clown Knifefish - Chitala chitala

The Clown Knifefish is an unusual looking fish and refered to as Ikan Parang in Malay - literally Knifefish. They can groe to about a meter (about 3 feet) in the wild.

The Knifefish inhabits swamplands and the moving waters of medium to large rivers.