Melanotaenia lacustris
| Common Names: | Lake Kutubu Rainbowfish Turquoise Rainbowfish |
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| Family: | Melanotaeniidae |
| Category: | Rainbowfish |
| Distribution: | Indo Pacific; Lake Kutubu, Papua New Guinea |
| Main Ecosystem: | Lake; In the wild this fish enjoys clear lake waters, prefering areas of heavy vegetation, but is comfortable in open water too. |
| Temperament: | Active; A constant and athletic swimmer. Generally peaceful but sometimes boisterous with conspecifics. |
| Diet: | Ominvore; Especially fond of insect larvae , will also take a variety of vegetable foods and flakes, not a fussy eater. |
| Care: | A simple fish to care for as long as you dont skimp on size. An aquarium at least four feet long is desireable as they are active swimmers. They prefer planted aquaria with open swimming areas. Hides and substrate choices are relatively unimportant as long as there is sufficient plant cover, although bogwood is fine for general use.Lake Kutubu rainbows accept a wide variety of food, taking all manner of flake, live foods and vegetable fare. Females in breeding condition will often show eagerness to nibble at algae sources. This seems compulsive behavior and it is thought important for quality of egg production. During breeding it is therefore advised to provide algae wafers of leave the back panel of the aquarium uncleaned. |
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| Potential Size: | Male: 13cm (5.1") Female: 13cm (5.1") |
| Water Region: | Middle, Surface; prefers areas with heavy vegetation. |
| Activity: | Diurnal; Especially active at first light. |
| Gender: | Sexing this species visually can be diffucult except in older specimens, when the depth of the males body is much more ounced. There is little difference in colour , although the males are occasionally more vivid. Display behaviour is not conclusive as both males and females may display , and to either sex.It is more usual for males to display regularly and for females to act more subdued. |
| Breeding: | Rainbowfish males in particular can be sexually promiscuous, needing no excuse to display (typically to other males) and can often harrass females relentlessly in small aquaria, so for breeding a larger aquaria is advised. Maintain several animals , in equal numbers- a small shoal of 6 to 10 individuals to allow the stresses of breeding to dissipate equally in the group. Spawning typically occurs in the mornings after a brief courtship. These fish are open gravel spawners and eggs will be releas |
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| Comments: | Not for small aquaria or beginners not used to handling disease protocols, as with most rainbowfish, they are very susceptible to mycobacteriosis. That aside they are a vigourous long lived fish. Do not be put off by blandy coloured specimens in shops - they will often show their brilliant colour with age and suitable acclimation. |
| Main Colours: | Blue, Silver, Yellow |
| Markings: | Striped Horizontal |
| Mouth: | Normal |
| Tail: | Forked |
| Search: | Show similar species Find compatible species |
| Image Credit: | ;longhairedgit |
| Submitted By: | longhairedgit |
| Contributors: | ACIDRAIN, Fallout, longhairedgit |
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