Are these pretty rare in the hobby??? MelanotaeniaIn sexlineata

[Magnum Man]

I think I can do another 2-3 Rainbows in my tank that has them, and I’ve been seeing these

available right now from several sellers…
Anyone else have them??? Real pictures of yours??? I’m sure this is a “pin-up model” picture… but they are supposed to have pink to red lips, and some of the same color on their throat…

 

[GaryE]

I had them. Mine had tb though, and didn't do well.They were here long enough for me to really like them. They have a subtle beauty that is really something different.
I've only seen them in a pet store once. They are around in rainbowfish trading circles, and I know of one very good Indonesian farm that lists them. But you don't see them often.
That photo shows the camera flash in the green, but washes out their nicest feature, the red/brown patterning on their sides and the yellowy body. It's a pretty fish.

 

[Colin_T]

They are rare in Australia but you should be able to get them in the USA. Gary Lange (Google him or look on Facebook) is the guy to talk to about rainbowfishes from New Guinea and he regularly goes there to collect them and bring them back for the hobby. However, the last time I saw his tanks he had a disease in it that might have been Fish TB so be careful about where you get rainbowfishes from. They regularly carry TB and there are only a few suppliers and most of them have it in their tanks.

If you want to go on holiday to PNG, you can find some very nice fish there and if you ask the locals when you first get there, they will usually let you take some fish from their waterways.

Melanotaenia sexlineata is a lovely little fish but don't show much bright colour until they are mature and showing off. Even then, they aren't M. boesemani or M. lacustris, but they are nice fish.

The pictures of M. sexlineata in the link below is closer to normal colouration for an adult male. Females are similar in colouration.

Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae

A website dedicated to Rainbowfishes of Australia and New Guinea

rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au

 

[Magnum Man]

I had, what I assume was TB in my yellow axlerodi’s and they are all gone now… so this has me missing that color in the mix…this has made me very cautious about rainbows in general, the couple sellers that have them are some of the best around here, but they are listed as aquarium bred, assuming that just means not wild caught, and could be farm raised???

 

[GaryE]

There was a time when I was going to stop keeping most of my killies and go head on into rainbows. I kept a few species, bred a few species, and spent a fair bit of money exploring the group. Now, I have my infertile wanamensis (4th generation here, but I can't get eggs), and a few Aytinjo boesemanis. All the rest are gone. Why? Tuberculosis.

I love these fish. They are beautiful, active and interesting. Plus they're fun to breed. But the levels of TB have driven out of the rainbow hobby. One of my favourite fish is one Colin would see as common around where he is - Melanotaenia duboulayi. I find them beautiful. But every time I got them, they were rotten with Mycobacter. No more, never again.

 

[Colin_T]

Melanotaenia sexlineata won't be bred in a fish farm, they aren't colourful or common enough for that. They will be bred in someone's home aquarium. They might be free of TB (hopefully they are) but they might not be, and that's the problem. If you could identify the disease by looking at the fish, it would be great, but you can't. It's just luck of the draw, you either get disease free or infected fish. And infected fish can live for several years before developing symptoms and dying.

M. sexlineata are nowhere near as yellow as M. herbertaxelrodi and only grow to half the size of M. herbertaxelrodi.

I'm like Gary, I love rainbowfish and had 60+ species and over 80 varieties (river systems) before I lost them to TB. I won't touch anything now that I haven't caught in the wild. Having said that, you already have a range of fishes from Asian fish farms (or that have passed through Asian suppliers) so you might already have TB in your tanks. If you are happy with that, get the M. sexlineata and enjoy them. If you're paranoid about Fish TB like me, don't get them.