Nannaethiops is a genus of small African characins related to Neolebias, placed alongside the distichodontid group of the order Characiformes. The two atlas species, N. bleheri and N. unitaeniatus, are found across a broad swath of Central and West Africa, with atlas records from Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, and Nigeria. They are small, elongate fish - 1–2.5 in in the atlas - typical of characins adapted to slow, often densely vegetated forest streams and swamps rather than open river channels.
Nannaethiops unitaeniatus, the one-striped African characin, has a long if quiet history in the aquarium hobby as an easy, peaceful schooling fish for a planted community tank, valued more for its understated, hardy character than for bright color, and it breeds readily by scattering adhesive eggs among fine-leaved plants. N. bleheri, named for the aquarium collector and explorer Heiko Bleher, is far less commonly seen in the hobby. Of the two atlas species, one is assessed as Least Concern and the other has Not Evaluated status.