An indoor hobby of mine is keeping aquaria. I have two main tanks - a 55 gallon freshwater, and a 120 gallon saltwater reef.
My freshwater tank is 55 gallon glass aquarium. In this tank, I’ve been concentrating mainly on rainbowfish from New Guinea. Rainbowfish often have muted colors in the crowded tanks at the fish store, and are therefore overlooked by shoppers. But get them home in a non-stressed, well-maintained aquarium environment, and their colors really begin to show.
This
pretty fish is melanotaenia lucustris, also known as the Lake Kutubu
Rainbowfish (or sometimes, simply the “Blue Rainbowfish”). I have two males.
This species was originally found in a lake in the highlands of Papua New
Guinea. I wanted one of these for years before any became available near me.
This
one, melanotaenia boesemani (“Boeseman’s Rainbowfish”) is probably the
best known and most widespread at pet stores of all rainbowfish species. The
brilliant coloration is hard for the fish to hide even in stressed fish store
conditions. I have two males and a female. The species originally inhabited
lakes in the Vogelkop Peninsula area of northern New Guinea.
This
has been a mystery fish for me. It was sold as a melanotaenia maccullochi
(“Macculloch’s Rainbowfish”) but its markings aren’t quite the same as other
pictures I’ve seen of the species, it is larger than it would be if that was
correct, and the red tail is wrong. It is almost certainly melanotaenia
splendida australis, the Western Rainbowfish, but is sold under many
different (and incorrect) names. This species is from Australia, and my
only non-New Guinea rainbowfish. He’s a tough fish: I once had a CO2 system (for
fertilizing aquatic plants) be berserk in the middle of the night. I awoke to a
tank full of acidic water and fish floating upside down and not moving. Except
this one – he seemed completely unfazed. A massive water change and a lot of
baking soda (to neutralize the carbonic acid and raise the pH) amazingly brought
all but one of the rest of the fish back to life.
Melanotaenia praecox, the “Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish. I'll try to get a picture up soon. These may be one of the most beautiful fishes anywhere. I have several adults and have a batch of fry I'm raising.
I’d like to accumulate some other rainbowfish, but haven’t seen them available lately in fish stores. Among my wishes:
Chilatherina bleheri (“Bleher’s Rainbowfish”).
Iriatherina weneri (“Threadfin Rainbowfish”)
Melanotaenia angfa (“Angfa Rainbowfish”). I won’t hold my breath on this one, it probably hasn’t been kept in captivity anywhere. But with its bright yellow coloring, would be a hit.
Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi (“Lake Tebera Rainbowfish”). This one is gorgeous, and I probably have a decent chance of finding one if I look hard enough.
Melanotaenia parkinsoni (“Parkinson’s Rainbowfish”). Another pretty one I hope to find soon.
I really only know of four English-language books devoted to rainbowfish, and I have them all. They are:
Breathtaking Rainbows (AQUALOG Special)
In my opinion, this is the best in-print book available on rainbowfishes. The photography is wonderful, and the information is the latest available. It comes with a big color poster of various rainbowfishes that is very handy. The English translation (from German) is a little quirky in places, but the big is a winner nonetheless.
This is a much smaller book on Rainbowfish, but has information on species I've not seen in other books, and the photography is really good. It is a very inexpensive book, and well worth picking up.
Rainbow
Fishes : Keeping & Breeding Them in Captivity
Here's another small book on rainbowfishes, similar in format to the book above. More great photography, and great species information. This one is also very inexpensive.
Rainbowfishes
In Nature and in the Aquarium by Dr. Gerald R. Allen. This is the
authoritative reference on rainbowfishes, written by the person who first
discovered many of the species! It is a thick volume (178 pages). Unfortunately,
it is out of print, but with luck you might find it at a used book store. I
found my copy on Ebay. Get one if you can. If you find a copy for sale somewhere
and don't get it for yourself, let me know, and I'll buy it, since my copy is
getting worn!