# Melanotaenia trifasciata Rainbowfish



## jayba (May 15, 2010)

I currently have 3 pairs of Melanotaenia trifasciata from 3 different collection locations. "Wonga Creek" "Goyder River" and "Running Creek". The males see each other as competitors for the females. They are always showing off to each other, flashing and sparring. My 3 males are of similar size, and no one seems that much more dominant than the others, and that makes for plenty of showing off to each other. They are stunning. I have been told that some feel that a tank of M. trifasciata is as stunning as rainbow tanks get. I'm pretty lucky







Let me know what you think. And yes I know the glass is dirty...... :bigsmile:


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Gorgeous fish. Thanks for posting.


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## Brendan (Apr 21, 2010)

Very nice fishes. Thanks for sharing! Btw where did you buy your fishes?


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

Amazing photos, stunning fish!


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## shaobo (Apr 21, 2010)

Great shots, love em, thanks for sharing


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## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Show-off!! 

seriously tho, absolutely gorgeous!!

I have a lone rainbow, but I still like him/her, as the personality is fun.... he wants to school with my angels, but they aren't talkin the same language, and the angels just don't know what to do ... entertaining!!!

Where can I get more rainbows in the next week? anyone on BCA have any, or a LFS?

--Thanks for sharing!


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## djamm (Sep 25, 2010)

Great looking fish! My 6 Melanotaenia trifasciata are from “Myall Creek”. I got them from Gary Lange when he was doing a Talk about collecting rainbows...

Cheers


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## anessa (Apr 26, 2010)

My hubby and I love rainbows. We have had several different kinds and people are always surprised at how big they get. When they advertise "large rainbow fish" in the store, they are definitely not large!


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## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

Beautiful, you don't see fish like that evey day


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## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

I noticed a familiar face here already. But he is from Alberta as well. Actually aquired his rainbows from me. A budding photographer, tough to get action shots like these. Jayba took a contract building a hydro facility useing windmils shortly after he started this thread. Disappeared from the Alberta Aquatica forum for some time as well, but has finally returned. It was to much work for his wife to maintain all his rainbows for him while he was away and he ended up finding new homes for them. Last I heard from him he had purchased some more very professional photography equipment but has turned into a plecoholic! Hopefully we will see some great pictures from him of plecos!

trifasciata is a great fish to photograph. I heard years ago from some of the older collectors that if you ever wanted to build a show tank of rainbows... use trifasciatas!

trifasciata belongs to the Melanotaenia Genus of Rainbows, and really the species should not be capitalized, but the Genus is. The location of that species is capitalized. There are many fish in the trifasciata species group. I have heard up to 50 of them, but I only going to mention the four that I have, and probably the most popular ones today.

So the first fish to mention is the *Melanotaenia trifasciata "Wonga Creek"* Probably the second most popular in the USA.
One of my young. Sold the dad to Jayba.















I attached one of my M. trifasciata.... *"Goyder River"* to my introduction but here is another shot of him. This guy is a shzzz disturber:lol: Typical for a Goyder River tri, probably why it is the most popular of trifasciata.









And another of my M. trifasciata.... *"Running Creek"* This tri loves to show off! He is pictured also in my intro all lite up chasing a female down!















A new fish, still has not been formally named, is called now M. species "Aru II" So far the DNA is indicating that it to belongs to the trifasciata species.

hmmm I guess will have to put him into another post as it is telling me that I am only allowed to put in 5 pictures!

This is truly a nice trifasciata, so watch for it!

Until next post,

Ric


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## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

I know that you are going to want to see this one, so I will post him!

M. species "Aru II" Believed to be a trifasciata and DNA is indicating it as well!









Here he is flashing a few more of his colors!









Growing to be a very popular fish!

Ric


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Beautiful species, so vibrant! I am sure in an exact biotope setting these guys would amazing! Nice shots, thanks for sharing!


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Great Rainbow shots! Very healthy fish and hard to find!


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## Rainbowric (Feb 11, 2012)

Heard from Jayba the other day. He wants to fill up his 75 bowfront with rainbowfish again. I believe we will get him into a group of 6 C. alleni and a group of 6 C. fasciata "Faowi Village" So hoping we will see some more rainbowfish shots from him as he does have a little better camera equipment than I.

Anyway I posted this picture of one of my older *M. trifasciata "Goyder River"* on the Rainbowfish forum. I got a lot of comments from many collectors saying *"Now that is a real Goyder River!"* Check out the dark blue in this fish and dark red which gave him the name of the Royal Regal rainbowfish!



Best!
Ric


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