A Gram-positive, strictly aerobic and heterotrophic, non-spore-forming actinobacterium (strain B2(T)) isolated from a recirculating aquaculture system was studied for its taxonomic position. Strain B2(T) formed a rudimentary substrate-mycelium that fragmented into short rod-shaped to coccoid cells (0.5 µm×0.5-2.2 µm or 0.5-1.0 µm in diameter). Colonies were yellow, smooth, circular and 1.5-2.0 mm in diameter after incubation on TSA for 3 days at 30 °C. Strain B2(T) grew at 20-40 °C (optimal, 30 °C) and pH 5.5-9.5 (optimal, 6.5-7.0) and in the presence of 0-9% (w/v) NaCl (optimal, 1%). The predominant menaquinone of strain B2(T) was MK-8(H4). The cell-wall peptidoglycan of strain B2(T) contained the amino acids ornithine, glutamic acid, alanine, glycine and aspartic acid. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and summed feature 9. Its DNA G+C content was 68.3 mol% (Tm). Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain B2(T) was related phylogenetically to members of the genus Ornithinimicrobium with highest similarity (96.6 %) to Ornithinimicrobium kibberense DSM 17687(T), followed by Ornithinimicrobium humiphilum DSM 12362(T) (96.3 %), Ornithinimicrobium pekingense LW6(T) (96.2%) and Ornithinimicrobium murale 01-Gi-040(T) (94.8%). On basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, it was concluded that strain B2(T) represents a novel species of the genus Ornithinimicrobium, for which the name Ornithinimicrobium tianjinense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is B2(T) ( =CGMCC 1.12160(T) =JCM 18464(T)).