(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
I have reviewed all of the Anderillium Cephalopod Inks, the Lepidopteran series, and the Avian series, so I’ve been eager to check out their Ichthyoformes series too. They were so popular that every time I saw them at a show, one or more of their inks were sold out! I managed to get most of a sample bottle set from Anderillium at the Philly Pen Show and had to get a full-size bottle from Darail PenZ to complete the set.
The 8 inks in the Ichythoformes series (named for various fish) are as follows: Anglerfish Deep (Brown), Betta Fish Purple, Lionfish Red, Moray Eel Green, Piranha Red, Sockeye Salmon, Swordfish Blue, and Whale Shark Grey. Anderillium Inks are available in 1.5 ounce (44ml) sealed glass “jam” jars, and are also sold in sets of 0.5 ounce (14.5ml) “sample” bottles.
Pack of 1 full-size bottle and 7 sample bottles from the Anderillium Ichthyoformes Series.
I like that there are fish stickers on top so you can tell the ink color. The regular size bottles have stickers on the boxes, but not the bottles. (I also put a white Avery circle sticker on the cap of the jam jar, then dab some ink on it.)
As usual, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring and Wearingeul Instant Film Color swatch cards using a Kakimori steel dip nib and writing samples were done primarily with a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib and a TWSBI Go with a Medium nib. The notebooks used for writing samples are from an Endless Recorder and Odyssey Notebooks, both with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times for the Vista are shown with “(V)” and the Go will be shown below that with a “(T)”. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on more absorbent papers like Rhodia, copy paper, Cosmo Air Light, or with drier or finer nibs.
Anderillium Ichthyoformes Series on TR 68gsm paper.
Swatches from the Cephalopod series (left) with the Lepidopteran series (right).
Swatches from the Avian series.
Anglerfish Deep is a dark brown ink that is fairly similar coming out of both the Vista and Go. There is some shading with cursive, less so with print, and no sheen.
Anderillium Anglerfish Deep swatches on Wearingeul (top) and Col-O-Ring cards.
Anglerfish Deep writing sample.
Both writing samples are similar in color and saturation, with the Vista (top) showing off just a bit more shading than the Go.
I’m always amazed at how the chromatography of a dark brown ink like Angerfish Deep, can show so much pink and even a bit of yellow and turquoise up top.
Inks similar to Anglerfish Deep: Kobe #3 Kyu-kyoryuchi Sepia and Kakimori 09 Mukuri were the most similar in person, despite the picture of Anderillium’s Atlas Moth Brown looking like a dupe. Anderillium’s Cuttlefish Brown is too dark and not warm enough, Bungubox Espresso is a bit too warm, and KWZ Dark Brown is close but a bit too dark.
Betta Fish Purple is a beautiful royal purple ink that has some shading with drier pens and no sheen in writing samples.
Anderillium Betta Fish Purple swatches, showing a bit of green sheen that doesn’t show up in writing.
Betta Fish Purple writing sample.
Both of the writing samples are showing up much darker than irl, where it is a royal purple (trust the swatches for the real color). It is a fairly saturated ink with some occasional shading from the Vista (top).
Look at Betta Fish Purple’s bright magenta chromatography topped with turquoise!
Inks similar to Betta Fish Purple: Bungubox Imperial Purple (touch too dark), Robert Oster x CA Pen Show Golden Coast Amethyst with gold shimmer (probably the closest match, followed by the Bungubox), Wearingeul Frankenstein (too blue), Troublemaker Doña Victorina (too bright, too blue, and also a stainer), Sailor 50 State Colorado (a bit too dusty), Robert Oster Deep Purple (too dark and too blue).
Lionfish Maroon is a rich maroon ink, which is not just dark red, but a red with brown undertones.
Anderillium Lionfish Maroon swatches, showing a bit of green/brown sheen that sometimes shows up in wetter writing.
Lionfish Maroon writing sample.
While both pens showed off the dark red/maroon color, the writing from the slightly drier Vista leans more dark red, while the Go results in a darker and richer color where you can almost see a hint of brown.
Lionfish Maroon’s chromatography starts off at the bottom with a blue grey before moving up the strip with pastel pink, magenta, and then more pink and coral tones!
Inks similar to Lionfish Maroon: KWZ Maroon is the closest match I have, followed by Diamine Writer’s Blood and Diamine Bah Humbug. My other inks, including others with “maroon” in the name, tended to be too red, too burgundy, too purple, too wine-y, too pink, you get the picture.
Moray Eel Green is a murky, olive-y green ink that is a lovely shader, even with wetter pens.
Anderillium Moray Eel Green swatches, with a bit of brown in the wetter parts of the swatch.
Can you spot the moray eel? (Taken during one of my scuba diving trips to Hawaii back in my triathlon days, and yes, scuba was one of the many hobbies.)
Moray Eel Green writing sample.
The writing sample from the drier Lamy Vista (top) shows off the yellow tones of this ink, while the wetter Go leans greener. Both are lovely and would look perfect in one of the Pelikan White Tortoise pens. Despite the lovely shading, they both had decent flow and average dry times.
Moray Eel Green’s chromatography has all of the colors traveling way up the strip, starting with light pink, to coral/peach, yellow, and lastly, turquoise at the top.
Inks similar to Moray Eel Green: Ferris Wheel Press Goose Poupon (too yellow), Colorverse Brane (slightly too light), Robert Oster Khaki, ColorverseTaepyeong Seongdae, Wearingeul Path are also good options, and Robert Oster Melon Tea if you wanted something darker and less yellow.
Piranha Red is a burgundy red that has some dusty pink and brown undertones. It has some shading and no sheen.
Anderillium Piranha Red swatches.
Piranha Red writing sample.
The Vista (top) writing shows a bit of shading and pinker tones, while the Go gives a more saturated line and dark burgundy tones. With the minimal shading, I expected slower dry times, but it was the opposite - dry times for both were faster than the Moray Eel Green’s shader.
Piranha Red’s chromatography starts off with a dusty purple, moving up the pink gradient to a light brick red near the top.
Inks similar to Piranha Red: Both Robert Oster x Galen Leather Carmine and Diamine Oxblood are close, albeit a touch too dark. Diamine Red Dragon is too “red”. All my other reds were too red, too purple, too burgundy, too pink, etc.
Sockeye Salmon is a bright orange ink with a bit of a pink/coral tinge. There is a gold sheen that is visible in swatches and in writing samples. There is little to no shading.
Anderillium Sockeye Salmon swatches - the sheen is more visible in the Col-O-Ring swatches (bottom) than the Wearingeul one.
Sockeye Salmon writing sample.
Both pens laid down bright orange lines but the Go’s writing is slightly redder. Visible in person but not in pictures is the subtle gold sheen from the wetter lines. Sockeye Salmon was one of the wetter writers, with slightly longer dry times than the others.
Oh my goodness, look at that chroma! Sockeye Salmon has gorgeous shades of magenta, pink, orange, and yellow. Made me think of a popsicle!
Inks similar to Sockeye Salmon: Van Dieman’s Golden Nugget Pumpkin (too red), Taccia Benizakura (a touch too red, but similar golden sheen), Kobe 63 Higashiyuenchi Torch Orange (also a bit too red), Robert Oster Orange Zest, Colorverse a Ori, and Diamine Pumpkin are also similar but without the sheen.
Swordfish Blue is a dark blue denim ink that isn’t navy, dark teal, or blue-black. It is a moderately saturated ink with some shading in drier pens. There is little to no sheen.
Anderillium Swordfish Blue swatches.
Swordfish Blue writing samples.
Both pens laid down similarly toned denim blue lines, but you can see a bit of shading from the Go (top). Despite feeling wet and saturated, the dry times were fairly fast.
Swordfish Blue’s chromatography from grey to lavender to turquoise.
Inks similar to Swordfish Blue: Monteverde Blue Velvet Cake and Writing Labs Vintage Denim were the two closest. Lamy Pink Cliff (too dark and sheeny), Diamine Denim (too light), Sailor Souboku (too blue), and J Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs (too blue and too dark).
Whale Shark Grey is blue-leaning grey, so much so that I would almost say it’s a grey-leaning blue. It is a shading ink in drier pens, and there is little to no sheen.
Anderillium Whale Shark Grey swatches looking bluer than grey.
Whale Shark Grey writing samples.
Look at the shading from the drier Vista (top), which also makes the ink look greyer than the wetter Go writing which looks bluer.
Seeing Swordfish Blue (left) and Whale Shark Grey side-by-side, I can see more of the grey tones of the latter, but I’d still call it a greyish-blue ink instead of a bluish-grey ink.
I would never guess that Whale Shark Grey’s chromatography would have so much pink with that turquoise.
Inks similar to Whale Shark Grey: I didn’t really have any inks quite this color, but the closest were Wearingeul Macbeth and 24 Solar Term Rain Water #2, both of which were more grey. Montblanc Midnight Blue was too blue and not grey enough. I picked 3 other greys that also looked nothing like this one for comparison - Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun, Visconti Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman, Iroshizuku Kiri-same.
As with the other series, all of the inks behaved well, were pleasant to write with, and cleaned out easily though Piranha Red took a wee bit longer to get all the ink out (I suspect it could stain a converter, so ymmv). While some inks looked fairly similar from different pens, some of them really looked different.
If I had to pick favorites in the bunch, they would be Moray Eel Green because I love this murky olive color and because it reminds me of my scuba adventures, and Whale Shark Grey because it’s unlike many of the blues and greys I own. In my review of the Avian Series, I was hoping that “maybe the upcoming Ichthyoformes series will have a purple” and I love the color of Betta Fish Purple. Overall, the colors are nice and they are worth the purchase if you don’t already have similarly colored inks. I do think the inks are fairly “straight forward”, compared to shimmer, sheening, or chromashading inks.
Anderillium inks sell for $14.50 per 1.5 ounce bottle, or $50 for 0.5 ounce sample sets of all 8 inks. They can be purchased directly from Anderillium or from authorized resellers.
(Disclaimer: Thank you to Anderillium Inks for providing these inks for review. Anglerfish Deep was purchased at regular price from Darail Penz at the Philly Pen Show.)
