Favorite Rainbowfish?

[drobbyb]

M. kamaka

 

[drobbyb]

May as well post in this thread. Here is a short couple videos of my young rainbows. ID on the young ones wanted. The wanamensis is visible at the end of the first, the anal fin does look longer than normal but maybe not long enough? The supposed autralis is in the second one. The parva is so small its impossible to really see anything.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M5SCDvPpzQ
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUq7ZXNMxh8




PS. I have never heard of kamaka, I also couldn't really find many photos on google. Any other pictures?

The species I can identify include G. incisus, M. australis, M. boesemani, what apprears to be 2 M. lacustris females, and I'm not sure if that is actually a true G. wanamensis or not they are very rare in the hobby and usually command a premium price.

 

[Sanj]

M.kamaka are nice indeed. Smaller than M.lacustris when full grown and a more steal blue colour rather than the vibrant blues of M.lacustris.

I think they are easier to get hold of in the states than in Europe and certainly not easy to find in the UK (like most species).

 

[Sanj]

I did see Wanams at a breeders place, but they looked pretty shabby, may have been an old fish or tired line in need of some new blood. I do have G.kabia, but only a pair and so these are the number one priority to breed. At first glance they look similar to G.wanamensis, but they have shorter fins and have more blue in their colouration. I cant fully compare because minelive in a bare tank currently and so I cannot appreceiate their true colours.

 

[mikka23]

May as well post in this thread. Here is a short couple videos of my young rainbows. ID on the young ones wanted. The wanamensis is visible at the end of the first, the anal fin does look longer than normal but maybe not long enough? The supposed autralis is in the second one. The parva is so small its impossible to really see anything.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M5SCDvPpzQ
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUq7ZXNMxh8




PS. I have never heard of kamaka, I also couldn't really find many photos on google. Any other pictures?

The species I can identify include G. incisus, M. australis, M. boesemani, what apprears to be 2 M. lacustris females, and I'm not sure if that is actually a true G. wanamensis or not they are very rare in the hobby and usually command a premium price.

Thanks, that sounds about right. Can't wait to watch them evolve. As for the lacustris, the person in the shop wasn't sure if one was male or not but in the end claimed it was. Hopefully one of them is.

Strangely the LFS claimed the wanamensis would show blue fin colorings, whereas I thought they were mostly green?

 

[drobbyb]

Sounds as if the person who sold you those doesn't know too much about rainbows. I can tell male from female 80% of the time when they are only about 5 weeks old, and 99% when they reach 8 weeks.

The telltale sign of a male rainbow is they have 2 dorsal fins and with the males the first dorsal fin actually is long enough to overlap the second one.

 

[mikka23]

Sounds as if the person who sold you those doesn't know too much about rainbows. I can tell male from female 80% of the time when they are only about 5 weeks old, and 99% when they reach 8 weeks.

The telltale sign of a male rainbow is they have 2 dorsal fins and with the males the first dorsal fin actually is long enough to overlap the second one.

Is that the same with them all, not sure of the sex of my boesemani or incisus as well.

EDIT: Just took a quick look, seems as though one lacustris has a bigger first dorsal fin, same with my incisus (one with more color in tail fin). Not sure if it overlaps though.

 

[Squidward]

This is what worries me about buying Rainbows from the lfs.
They are all drab juvis. Are they actually going to turn out to be what they are supposed to??

 

[drobbyb]

If their genes are good and they are kept properly, yes. However, I don't wan't to take a chance with mine so I buy mine from private breeders.

 

[drobbyb]

bah double post.

 

[ChilliPepper]

This is quite common with shop bought praecox. Some people have found that those bred in the Czech Republic are relatively hardier relative to the captive bred specimens in Asia. In the past I have kept LFS praecox, but have not had great success with eaither stock population. The last I had was a group of 25, after 18 months there was only one surviving. Have to say he was a healthy strong coloured male, but I would not say 1/25 survival is symptom of healthy stock.

I currently keep F2 generation strain of "Pagai Village" praecox and they are hardy good coloured fellows. I will breed from these eventually.

What symptoms did yours show? Mine would be fine one day, then the next they'd get a bit bloated then start gasping, either at the surface or just going around. Towards the end they may get a concave stomach. I tried various treatments but nothing worked, and in the end we'd just put them out of their misery.

I absolutely love M. lacustris. Was considering getting some Bosemani, still might, but the Lacustris tempted me AGAIN so I now have 7. Love them

One of my boys:

One of my girls:

 

[Sanj]

Hi Chillipepper,

yup lacustris are gorgious and I think not apprecited enough. They are easily in the top 5 most beautiful rainbows. Thing is in rainbow world many of us loonies(im only an amateur loony )get excited about newer more rare species, but most of them are nothing on this dazzling blue species. In the last few years in my opinion only the Aru II rivals it for great colour.

The waisting away you describe on your praecox is the most common thing I witnessed sometimes associated with other skin conditions including lesions/ulcers. Suspect mycobacteriosis although it isnt always this. It is not easy to treat myco becuase of the tough cell membranes of the bacteria, but they are very slow growing. Many fish in the hobby are already infected, but healthy fish are often able to keep it at bay. Weaker specimens often succumb in a similar manner to what you describe. Thankfully at least the lacustris has proved pretty resiliant so far. Treating with medication often only kills of other bacteria in the tank that competes with Mycobacteria and so it is possible that you could end up helping myco instead of eradicating it.

BTW as long as your tank is big enough boesmani and lacustris look amazing together. I think you looked at some of my vids. The one on youtube called "Rainbowfish feeding" might give you an idea, if you havent seen it already.

 

[ChilliPepper]

Hi Chillipepper,

yup lacustris are gorgious and I think not apprecited enough. They are easily in the top 5 most beautiful rainbows. Thing is in rainbow world many of us loonies(im only an amateur loony )get excited about newer more rare species, but most of them are nothing on this dazzling blue species. In the last few years in my opinion only the Aru II rivals it for great colour.

The waisting away you describe on your praecox is the most common thing I witnessed sometimes associated with other skin conditions including lesions/ulcers. Suspect mycobacteriosis although it isnt always this. It is not easy to treat myco becuase of the tough cell membranes of the bacteria, but they are very slow growing. Many fish in the hobby are already infected, but healthy fish are often able to keep it at bay. Weaker specimens often succumb in a similar manner to what you describe. Thankfully at least the lacustris has proved pretty resiliant so far. Treating with medication often only kills of other bacteria in the tank that competes with Mycobacteria and so it is possible that you could end up helping myco instead of eradicating it.

BTW as long as your tank is big enough boesmani and lacustris look amazing together. I think you looked at some of my vids. The one on youtube called "Rainbowfish feeding" might give you an idea, if you havent seen it already.

Yeah I think I have seen some of your videos Are you on UKAPS? Seen your awesome tank

I am going to try my Lacustris in my 6ft in with my cichlids when they get a little bigger, to see how they get on. Would like to get some Bosemani, but my grow out tank is only 3ft and I don't want to get these potentially big fish if they can't go in the 6ft. However I see no reason why they wouldn't, you never can tell with fish