# Dwarf Rainbowfish rare & new



## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

Below are a few pictures of some of my *Dwarf rainbowfish!* Rainbowfish that are somewhere between 2 to 3 inches!

The first one is new strain but not a new species! praecox have been around for a long time, unfortunately it has been quite inbred and has lost a lot of it's brilliance. Gary Lange went out and did another collection of these in 2007 from Pagai. Gary has in his collection a group of wild caught and I was fortunate in obtaining a mop of eggs from him for which I hatched out close to a hundred of these. There are a number of breeders of the Pagai strain in Alberta now and even though there may be many F2 and now F3 around, they are as nice as this F1 of mine pictured below!

*Melanotaenia praecox "Pagai"* ...male!...F1



*Melanotaenia praecox "Pagai"* ...female!...F1



This next one below is relatively new and about the same size of a praecox .....Melanotaenia sexlineata! My wife calls them Sexy Anna's as they have red lips! There has been a couple of collections of this species, from different locations, one from Kiunga and the other from which this one comes from "Tabubil"!

*Melanotaenia sexlineata "Tabubil"*



Below....another one that has been around for a while but is quite rare, actually I have seen this a number of times in the LFS this year. I do have some concerns as some of the ones I have seen in the LFS have red on the fins and are quite large. They appear to have been crossed and I don't think that they will remain under 3 inches.

*Melanotaenia kamaka*



These have been a real hit in Alberta this last year! You may have seen the Melanotaenia maccullochi [Harvey Ck, Russell River] strain for many years but it to has become quite washed out through inbreding. A new strain introduced lately is the Melanotaenia maccullochi [Skull Creek]. I bred out again well over a hundred of these last year and many went to breeders in Alberta. I get inquires about this fish almost every week. It is a little smaller than the praecox, very prolific and fun to breed. Pictures do not do this fish justice. To learn more about it and see all the different pictures of it on the web, google Melanotaenia maccullochi [Skull Creek]

*Melanotaenia maccullochi "Skull Creek" *



This one is probably the largest of the dwarfs pictured above. It may get up to 3 inches but usually around 2.5 inches. It has been around for many years but was not distributed to a great extent. This fish can really get bright orange, you might almost think it was a saltwater fish!

*Melanotaenia parva *" Kent Webster & Gary Lange"



These are just some of the dwarf rainbows available....where you don't need a large tank to keep them in! Never a dull moment in a tank with these high energy little fish!

Hope you enjoyed and I would like to hear which ones you like!

Sincerely 
Ric


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

Wow, stunning fish! I love that "Melanotaenia kamaka"!


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## JohnnyAppleSnail (May 30, 2010)

I like the "Skull Creek" best very unique Markings,I have 4 species of Rainbows which do well but for some reason I dont have luck with the Dwarf Neon Rainbows? My Water Parameters are perfect? PH around 7.2-4, It leads Me to wonder if they stress out easier by being surrounded by more Robust/Larger Rainbows? They last a few months then slowly dwindle to none. Tank 125gal. so lots of room and 2 large W/C's a month.


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

i have a group of 15 dwarf rainbows schooling with a large group of emeralds, red irians and bosemani ... all seem very happy and active 

spectacular fish ... i need to set up a 150gallon now ... 

group buy anyone lol


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## FishFreaks (May 15, 2011)

kamaka is stunning


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## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Hard to pick a favorite!
All so nice!


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## Flygirl (Jul 23, 2011)

Hey Rick,

As it's getting to be expected from you - once again stunning pictures and gorgeous fish! I thought I could pick out a couple, but nope, they're all amazing.

Can you recommend any dwarf rainbows (4 inch max) that would be happy in softer water with a ph around 6.8?

Thanks,
Louise


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

great Pix indeed! Great looking fish as well! they are all beautiful , I think I like the Melanotaenia kamaka the best, but once again they are all beautiful!


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## djamm (Sep 25, 2010)

Melanotaenia kamaka is amazing...would love to see a school of these!!!

Cheers

Drew


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## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

Interesting that most of the replies were in favor of the M. kamaka! *djamm* I was never really liked the kamaka until I raised a bunch of them! In a tank with a large school of them it is pretty wild to watch them. However that is when I start to like a species the most is when there is a group of them. I believe the praecox popularity came from that as when you see them in the LFS in a large group they are wild! I don't think that I know of anyone that has a larger group of them than myself haveing 6 in one tank, but I think it would be nice with all the contrasting plants, substract, and backgrounds. Most collectors feel that you need at least a group of 6 to really see and learn everything about that rainbow species. So the winer of this thread so far is the M. kamaka....



Unfortunately the focus was out a little on the female here, but it will give you an idea of the size and what the female looks like!

Many of the species of rainbowfish the female does not look near as nice as the male, but not with the kamaka!



This fish is quite gentle, *Johnnyapplesnail* it is one of the few dwarfs that does "not bad" with larger species of Rainbowfish. They can hold there own and are a very healthy fish. With the big guys that you have other dwarfs would not do that well with them. Most new collectors of rainbowfish will have two tanks, one for the larger and one for the dwarfs. I have a 40 gallon show tank which I have all these species in. *All of these species are paired!* Which is another important factor in haveing your rainbowfish develope to it's best potential and live a longer life. If I loose one fish of one of the pairs, I look desparately to find another as I have lost many because of lonelyness. Within days you will see the colors and the life drop in the fish! Even if you have other dwarfs for them to play with!



Rainbowfish are excellent community fish, love and will not distroy plants, and will live in almost any water conditions....Johnnyapplesnail you water conditions are perfect, yet the water conditions in my dinning room show tank are very similar to what* Flygirl *has. I change there water with soft water and the PH is about 6.8 as well. I run my tank somewhere between 78 degrees in the morning to 80 degrees later in the day.

I have in my 40 gallon dinning room tank ...

a pair of M. kamaka
a pair of M. praecox
a pair of M. macculocchi "Skull Creek"
a pair of M. sexlineata
a pair of threadfins 
a group of 7 Psuedomugil gertrudae Aru II..... This is not my video, but you got to check out this little fish! Between me and another breeder we sold close to 300 of these fish around Christmas! Be sure to change the definition to 720P and go full screen to fully enjoy this video

Pseudomugil gertrudae Aru II.mov - YouTube

*Back to the inhabitants of this 40 gallon tank....*

3 rams ....a german, a gold, and an electric blue!
2 longfin BN plecos...one albino and one silver tip!
a flower shrimp, a vampire shrimp, and *9 cherry shrimp!*
3 fat corydoras that pig out all day on rainbowfish eggs!
and a couple of Zebra snails.

And they all get along great together....oh I forgot about *the two clown loaches that does make life miserable for the Zebra snails!*

These fish enjoy each other as best friends....



Oopps this is not a rainbowfish! ....but he was looking so nice for me, I couldn't help but take his picture!



My electric blue ram is always trying to get in front of the camera as well!



Well I better sign off before I get told that I have used to many links again!

I think that I have addressed all your replies and apologize if I haven't. Please feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

Best regards,

Ric

PS ...thank you all for the like votes that you have given me!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Have always liked Rainbows. Beautiful, colourful, peaceful and hardy. What's not to like. Your pics make me miss my old collection which I had to sell off because the wifey wanted a couch in the living room (of all things, humpf).


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## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

A few more dwarf rainbowfish to add! Finally was able to get around to catching these species.

First one I just recieved a couple of weeks ago...this fish in this picture is just over an inch long now but gets to be about 3 inches. Couple of collectors in Alberta over that last year have been telling me how beautiful this species is. I had no desire to obtain it as the pictures of it on the web, didn't do much for me. Now I know what these guys were talking about!

*Melanotaenia nigran *



He was a hard fellow to capture...very active..wouldn't still for me and had to catch him on the fly!



Another new one to the hobby, you can tell with the sp in his name, hasn't been named yet... so quite rare still. Collected by Gary Lange.

*Melanotaenia sp. "Suswa Village"*



Here he is with the female of the species.. not quite as colorful, but a pretty girl!



What do you think? Do you think that they will be winners? Should I breed up a bunch?

Best regards,
Ric


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Ric.

M. parva is also a beutiful species. Is this the same fish Gary calls a "Sunkist"? The "Kamaka" remind me of Lake Kutubu rainbows. Beautiful fish I don't have tank space for !

Best regards,

Stuart


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## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

CRS Fan said:


> Ric.
> 
> M. parva is also a beutiful species. Is this the same fish Gary calls a "Sunkist"? The "Kamaka" remind me of Lake Kutubu rainbows. Beautiful fish I don't have tank space for !
> 
> ...


Your right about the Sunkist fish for the parva, there are many that think it is the same fish as the Suswa Village, but DNA is saying different. The Kamaka like kabuta is banded and both has blue colors to it. Lake Kabuta, a location is referred to the M. lacustris or in the LFS "tourquise Rainbowfish."

Indeed tank space is always an issue!

Ric


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## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

Oh almost forgot this sweet little fish. It made it big in the fish magazine around 2005 as a new species collected from Batanta Island. Grows to about 2.5 inches max.

Today it is named ......

*Melanotaenia synergos*



Oh since I mentioned earlier in this thread a German ram...okay here it is to....



Thanks will try and get to your replys tomorrow about the Glossolepis!

Ric


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## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

Oh almost forgot this sweet little fish. It made it big in the fish magazine around 2005 as a new species collected from Batanta Island. Grows to about 2.5 inches max.

Today it is named ......

*Melanotaenia synergos*



Oh since I mentioned earlier in this thread a German ram...okay here it is to....



Thanks will try and get to your replys tomorrow about the Glossolepis!

Ric


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## JeanetteNash (Dec 2, 2017)

You have such beautiful photos!I also found an article about choosing a camera for traveling http://fixthephoto.com/best-travel-camera.html, this is important for me since I love to take pictures while traveling!


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

Are you selling these


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Thread is from 2012. Hopefully member breeder is still on the forum.


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