Searching for the lost enthusiasts

[Toadfish]

Hey I just want to put out a call to make sure there are still rainbow enthusiasts out there. There seems to be so little info or interest in the forum. So please post pictures stories questions, and get responses from other enthusiasts.

 

[Toadfish]

Well to get things started have any of you seen this new cross breed, isn't it amazing. I'm told (and it sounds right) that it's a red boesemani (Glossolepis incisus x Melanotaenia boesemani).

 

[Lateral Line]

There is a forum here for the discussion of hybrids where people won't get flamed for producing them.

With the ease with which rainbows hybridise, and the drastic pressures on their home range, many of which are very small, keeping pure lines would seem to be the order of the day, not producing hybrids.

 

[Opcn]

I tend to agree with LL on both counts

 

[Toadfish]

sorry guys about posting the hybrid but I only have a pair the rest are pure lines (other than the probable selective breeding that was done on most aquarium fish). I won't get into debates on whether these fish are hybrids or whether the rainbows would interbreed like this anyways but I just thought that this was an interesting colour and was hoping to attract any rainbow enthusiasts.

 

[Opcn]

Hey don't worry about it, so long as they don't breed back into the parent gene pools it is as if it never happened. I'm sure the hybrids forum would love to see them.

 

[fishman 1]

I have seen this variety a couple of years ago in a shop in Oxford. I was unsure as to whether the fish had just been coloured. Having stood and looked at them for a while i decided that they were not all what they seemed and did not bother wasting good money on them.

The majority of the rainbows are over looked. I think this is because the melanotaenia are slow growing fish and are only at their full glory after a couple of years. I used 2 pairs of m. trifasciata to cycle my 6' tank when i first set it up. The last one died about 2 months ago after a happy and healthy life at the age of 6 years. When i first got them they were 1.5" in length and cost about £4. They attained 5" and the males were bright red.

Now-days i keep pseudomugil gertrudae. Which is a much smaller variety of rainbow to the melanotaenia.

I tend to try to get natural strains rather than cross bred strains. I find them more benificial to the hobby than mixed up rubbish what ever the species. A classic example is the balloon molly..... what a complete waste of time that is!

Still each to their own i suppose.

 

[silver]

I LOOOOOOOOOVE RAINBOWS!!!!!!!!

I think they are very special and very fun to watch. Mine have become so tame and friendly. Right up to see me at their "window" to our world every time I lean down to tap hello!!!!


I think they are GREAT!!!!!

 

[Toadfish]

Hey I'm glad there's somebody that likes rainbows out there asa much as I do. It's great to watch the full grown species race around the tank.

 

[MAM]

i'm a recent rainbow convert. i loved weneris (sp??) (threadfin/featherfin) and bought a group of 6. unfornately, i lost three and have been on the hunt for more ever since. i've also fallen in love with pseudomugil varieties (blue eyes), because they stay small, but have such interesting finnage. its finding them in a lfs thats impossible. once temps warm up here in the states, i'll have to just order some.

 

[Lateral Line]

Iriatherina werneri was one of the first rainbows I bred. Small mouthed fry and slow growing, so tricky to raise. What I did find was the females tended to die off after the spawning season. The males courtship behaviour is very elaborate - great to watch.

 

[MAM]

i only have the one female, or i think its a female, i'm not sure. but the males are indeed fun to watch. they actually "flare". the one is particularly large and has really nice fins. i've only seen him full out flare a few times, but i love it. now if only i could get my hands on some more

 

[Lateral Line]

The females do not have the long extensions on the fins or the elongated anterior dorsal fin which the male flicks up and down whilst courting.

I found in the tank where I kept the males, they would "court" pretty much anything that was roughly the right size.

 

[Toadfish]

Ya I'v been interested in the featherfin rainbows for a while but I don't have the place for them. Their to small to be with my larger angels and rainbows (but I'm sure my eel would love the snack). Oh well I get to watch them at the LFS where I work (sorry its in Canada not the US).

 

[silver]

Does anyone have a picture of the featherfin variety??

Also,
here is a picture of the two Rainbows I have now. They were $25.00 for the two of them and I have NO idea what kind they are. Closest I could get was that this is what they are................

Link to Rainbow that could be mine..

Here is a picture of mine, they are very gorgeous! Very vibrant!!

Any thoughts?