Fish As Vivid As The Rainbow
A family of small, colourful, freshwater fish, rainbows are normally found in northern and eastern Australia and New Guinea, in the Southeast Asian Islands, and otherwise found in a variety of aquariums across the world (including mine). Not only are they gorgeous, but also peaceful, hardy, and undemanding, making them ideal for the community aquarium.
What I have, is a pair of neon rainbows - the male has an irridescent neon blue body which shimmers in the light with red fins, while the female is slightly duller with yellowish fins. When young, you’ll find the bodies extremely sleek and streamlined but as they grow older, the male starts becoming almost stoutish with pinched in faces.
Both of these fish are extremely fast, which is very good considering that my paradise fish is constantly chasing them.
Dwarf Rainbowfish are classical omnivores, quite equally adapted to eating animal and plant matter. They should be fed a high quality flake or pelleted food. I feed mine a mix of flacke and freeze dried worms, and they seem pretty happy.
For breeding, set up a planted tank, and introduce the fish - try and maintain a two female to three male ratio. Males will be seen displaying to the females, and after the
females have produced eggs, the males will display and direct the female to the spawning site, spawn, and then rest. Spawning normally takes place in the morning.
Spawning females produce between 20-50 eggs each day for several days. Eggs adhere to fine-leaved plants or among the roots of floating vegetation. Hatching occurs in about 7 to 8 days at temperatures between 24-28° Celsius. Feed the fry infusoria or a liquid fry food until they are able to eat microworms or baby brine shrimp.
Fishy Facts
Common name: Neon Rainbow, Dwarf Neon Rainbow
Scientific name: Melanotaenia praecox
Adult Size: 2″ (5cm)
Origin: New Guinea, Irian Jaya
Care: Intermediate
Lifespan: 3-4 years
Tank Level: Top, Mid dweller
Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallon
Tank setup: Peaceful planted tank with shaded areas and open swimming space.
Social skills: Community tank
Temperature: 75-82 F (22-28 C)
Feeding: Omnivore - flake, small granular foods, supplemented with live or frozen foods.
Sexing: Males are more colourful with bright red fins, females are silvery with yellow-orange fins.
Breeding: Egglayer
Filed under: Fishes