InkCraftFish Tattoo Ideas, Designs and Meaning
25 original fish designs drawn for InkCraftBy Uladzimir TumanauUpdated
Fish is the broadest subject on this site and that is the difficulty: a generic fish means nothing in particular. The species is what carries the meaning, so naming it before the drawing starts is most of the work.
Black and white Japanese fish tattoo design Try it on — Black and white Japanese fish tattoo design
Color traditional fish tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional fish tattoo design
Black and white illustrative fish tattoo design Try it on — Black and white illustrative fish tattoo design
Black and white minimalist fish tattoo design, outline stencil: the Ichthys fish symbol Try it on — Black and white minimalist fish tattoo design, outline stencil: the Ichthys fish symbol
Black and grey stick and poke fish tattoo design: the fish is Try it on — Black and grey stick and poke fish tattoo design: the fish is
Black and white tribal fish and koi tattoo design Try it on — Black and white tribal fish and koi tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork fish and skeleton tattoo design: a fish skeleton Try it on — Black and grey dotwork fish and skeleton tattoo design: a fish skeleton
Color illustrative fish and leaf tattoo design Try it on — Color illustrative fish and leaf tattoo design
Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork fish and koi tattoo design: its tail elegantly curved Try it on — Black and grey dotwork fish and koi tattoo design: its tail elegantly curved
Color traditional fish and bear tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional fish and bear tattoo design
Black and white blackwork fish and anchor tattoo design Try it on — Black and white blackwork fish and anchor tattoo design
Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design
Black and white geometric fish and pisces tattoo design, outline stencil: the Pisces zodiac sign Try it on — Black and white geometric fish and pisces tattoo design, outline stencil: the Pisces zodiac sign
Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork fish and koi tattoo design: a koi fish Try it on — Black and grey dotwork fish and koi tattoo design: a koi fish
Black and white linework fish and koi tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white linework fish and koi tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design: two koi fish Try it on — Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design: two koi fish
Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey Japanese fish and koi tattoo design
Black and white fine line fish and pisces tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line fish and pisces tattoo design, outline stencil
Color Japanese fish and koi tattoo design Try it on — Color Japanese fish and koi tattoo design
Black and grey illustrative fish and koi tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey illustrative fish and koi tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork fish and pisces tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork fish and pisces tattoo design
Black and white linework fish and koi tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white linework fish and koi tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and white fine line fish and pisces tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line fish and pisces tattoo design, outline stencil
Tap any design to see it on your own skin in the try-on — no signup.
This set of 25 fish designs, by the numbers
- Styles represented
- japanese asian (7), dotwork (4), illustrative (3), traditional (2), linework (2), fine line (2)
- Black-and-grey vs colour
- 84% black-and-grey, 16% colour
- Most often drawn with
- koi, pisces, yin yang, skeleton
Counted from the 25 designs shown on this page. Every one was drawn for InkCraft — none are scraped or reposted. Free to reference with a link to this page.
What a fish tattoo means
A fish is the oldest symbol of abundance there is, and it works because it is literal. A shoal is more food than one person could count, arriving without being farmed, and almost every coastal culture built a prosperity symbol out of that fact. The reading survives intact even where the fishing does not.
The Christian fish is a separate and much more specific thing. The ichthys — two crossing arcs — was in use as an identifying mark before the cross was, and its logic is an acrostic rather than a picture. Anyone who knows that reads it instantly; anyone who does not sees a fish.
Pisces adds a third reading, and the two fish swimming in opposite directions are the whole point of it. The sign is about being pulled two ways at once, so a Pisces piece drawn with both fish heading the same way has quietly lost its meaning, which happens constantly.
The species is where the specific meanings live. A salmon fights upstream and means persistence; a koi is the same idea formalised; a pike or a barracuda means something predatory; a goldfish means confinement or memory depending on who you ask. Asking for "a fish" gets you an average of all of these.
Where the design comes from
Fish are among the oldest tattoo subjects anywhere, and the Japanese tradition gave the west most of its vocabulary. Koi, tai and namazu were drawn in ukiyo-e and carried into irezumi with fixed meanings and fixed ways of rendering scales and water, which is why Japanese fish designs still look composed while western ones often look observed. Western flash contributed the sport fish — the marlin, the trout, the tarpon — which came out of maritime and angling culture and were drawn as trophies rather than as symbols. The Christian fish runs parallel to both and belongs to neither; it has been a pilgrim mark for centuries and is usually tattooed small and plain.
Choosing yours
- Name the species first. Every meaningful decision about the design — body shape, fin structure, whether it reads as persistence or as predation — follows from it, and an unspecified fish defaults to a generic bass shape that means nothing.
- Scales are the aging problem here, exactly as they are on a dragon. Individually drawn scales below about 15 cm merge within a decade, so a small fish should be drawn with scaling suggested along the flank only.
- Water is not optional for a fish in motion. A salmon or a koi fighting a current only reads that way because of what is drawn around it; without the current it is just a fish at an angle.
Size, cost and placement
How big, and what it costs
A simple ichthys is a shop-minimum piece under thirty minutes. A single rendered fish with scales and fins at 15 cm is two to three hours. A koi or salmon with water and current worked around it is a much larger commitment, often 15-20 cm minimum and five hours, because the water is half the drawing.
Where it sits, and how much it hurts
Fish want length and tolerate curvature well, which makes the forearm, the calf and the ribs the natural homes. A pair for Pisces needs a field where both can be seen at once, so a horizontal run works better than a wrap. Small symbolic fish work anywhere, including the wrist and the ankle.
What to ask your artist
- Which species, by name, and to work from photographic reference of that fish rather than from a generic shape.
- Whether the scales will still read at your size in ten years, and to simplify the flank if not.
- For a fish in motion, how much water is going in, since that decides both the meaning and the price.
Prices vary widely by city and artist — treat these as session lengths rather than quotes, and expect a shop minimum on anything small. The cost guide turns hours into money by size, placement and style.
Common questions
Is there one meaning, or does it depend on the species?
It depends almost entirely on the species. Abundance is the broad reading, persistence for a salmon or koi, faith for the Christian ichthys, duality for Pisces. A fish with no species chosen inherits none of these clearly, which is why naming it matters.
Why do the two Pisces fish face opposite ways?
Because the sign is about being pulled in two directions, and the opposing fish are the entire symbol. Drawn facing the same way it becomes a picture of two fish, which is one of the most common errors on this subject.
Is the Christian fish the same as any other fish tattoo?
No. The ichthys is two crossing arcs that overrun each other at the tail, with no fins, scales or eye, and it reads as a symbol rather than an animal. Adding detail to it turns it back into a fish and loses the reference.
See it on your skin before you commit
InkCraft places any of these designs on a photo of you — scaled, wrapped and shaded to the placement you pick.