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EDIT on 1/16 - Rainbow just will not eat in this tank. I just tried thawed frozen bloodworms - his absolute favorite. He just took a few in his mouth and spit them right back out. Its been almost 24 hours since the transfer. Ideas?

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:88) - It's done. The wee guy - all 2.5 inches of him was transferred to my 20 long community where he is the king of the tank. He is definitely longer than any other fish, other than my 3 cories, but they sleep all day anyway.

He transferred quite well. I expected him to be pale and breathing hard a lot longer, but it never happened. In fact, he colored up quickly in that tank as he explored. I actually think the other fish are serving as "dither" fish for him and making him relax. He seems to like the company. Keep in mind, the wee rainbow has never seen, or been with, another fish.

Hopefully, it is still smooth in the coming days. I'm always nervous after netting. I had to make sure all my holes were plugged. Haven't lost anyone yet, but I figured he could be the first

Cory_Di attached this image:


Last edited by Cory_Di at 16-Jan-2005 15:30[/font]

Great im glad hes doing well for you. To bad you cant find anymore as hes a beuitiful fish. Good luck with him.

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I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you Di.

Is he "colored up" in that pic posted above? If so, as 2.5 inches, I think he may be a she???????? And if so, you may never find out what kind of Rainbow she is.

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There is always a bigger fish...

what a cutie!!! i'm glad the change went so well!

The pottery that growls!

Acid - that is what he or she looks like most of the time. The camera actually captured the real thing. The blue hue seen in earlier photographs, was only seen from certain angles and rarely, at that.

But, I do get a bright, sea green irridescence under tank lights, almost with a hint of brilliant, light blue hue in a portion of the fins under certain lighting. Now I know how these fish came to be known as Rainbowfish. I had no idea.

I'm very attached tho and have grown exceptionally fond of rainbows. This fish has such an elegant way about movement, unlike what I see in my other fish - it is so graceful. That 125g planted community I wanted with a very large school of tiny fish, may very well have a small school of rainbows to help the shoalers school. I mainly want a big tank with tiny fish, rather than a big tank with big fish and I think that might be a good blend, especially for a showy planted tank.

I'm not sure I follow on why you think it may be a female, unless you are convinced it is near full size. Have you looked at the link I provided of the HerbertAxelrodi agove? It is strikingly similar.

[font color="#BF791F"]EDIT: Oops! That was a different thread. Here it is again. Please check this pick out and tell me my fish doesn't look like this:[/font]

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/stats/rainbow_stats/stats_rainbow2b.html


Last edited by Cory_Di at 16-Jan-2005 08:44

Last edited by Cory_Di at 16-Jan-2005 08:44

It could be, but just a few things I noted, are that at that size, the fish is a little more than half grown for most all Rainbows. And, usually they are showing more male distinction by that time. On that little bugger, three things make me think it is more likely a female. First, the slope of the head. As the females will remain more straight appearing, and the males will usualy by the size, have an indentation or sharp angle starting to show. Secondly, the dorsal by this size, usually will be showing more of an overlap than that one appears to be showing. And thirdly, males are usually showing more color by that size.

Now these are not all always things, as your fish still has some growing to do. And, your fish was raised by itself, and this could have some input on its colors as well as its maturing rate. However, I have found that usually males, raised by them selves, tend to mature faster, as if they are dominant males in the wild, because there are no other males around to be dominant over them. But this also cannot be taken as exact and definite either, as all fish are different.

As for your little buddy there looking like the pic in the link, I can see some resemblance. But, there are many Rainbows in the hobby today, that have a shaddy past when it comes to their genetic linerage. As, almost all lines of all the different Rainbows in the states, have all come from just one or two colonies of wild fish. And in some cases, they have all come from just one wild pair. Personally, I would not fully agree that the pic in the link you have posted is actually an M. herbertaxelrodi, or at the least may be a female and not a male. As it does not show the chareteristics as much as those I have seen and know of. Here is what a show quality M. herbertaxelrodi will look like;


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There is always a bigger fish...

Beautiful pics. Thanks for the detailed info, Acid. Good thoughts. I wish I could remember what month I brought him home and I would have some idea how old he is give or take a few weeks. "She" was actually, just coming out of the larval stage and had developed the earliest signs of two dorsals when I took her on. I have no idea what he ate in that frog tank - maybe infusoria that developed from the food.

My latest challenge is feeding. He has a thing about going to the surface when the tank light is on. I thought I had it fixed before I transferred him. But he went back to his old ways of staying at mid-surface while freeze-dried brine shrimp was on the surface. I figured the other fish "attacking" the surface food would have been the dinner bell, but it wasn't. Then, a few minutes later he went up and picked at one or two, but then spit it out just as quickly. It is one of his favorite foods too . Maybe it will just take a little more acclimation - I hope.

I wish I could remember what month I brought him home and I would have some idea how old he is give or take a few weeks.

It seems like you first posted about "her" around the middle/end of October. I bet if you went back through the threads you could find it pretty easy.

She is turning into quite a pretty fish.

Steph

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West