[Immortal1]

I am forever amazed at the coloring of various fish. Many have ok or typical coloring like my Panda garra's - they are nice but not impressive. When I got these rainbows there coloring was kinda cool, but after 1+ years the male colors are just amazing now. Even without the lights off the iridescent colors still show.

If I remember correctly, GreggZ has a large grouping of Rainbow fish, some around 9 years old! I also remember him saying it took some time before the true colors were reviled - guess he was right.

Curious what other "Amazing Colors" are out there.....

 

[Greggz]

That is a very interesting Rainbow. What type is it? As you noted above, I have kept Rainbows for many years.

Can't say I have seen that one. It's a spectacular example of whatever it is.

And yes, it can a long time for Rainbows to fully develop. That guy will probably keep growing and get better and better for awhile yet.

I have close up photos in my tank thread if you would like to see the Rainbows that I keep. Link is in sig.

 

[Immortal1]

Desert Rainbow (Melanotaenia splendida tatei)
From what I can tell Greg, the above name is what I have. Got 5 from LFS that gets them from Florida.
Was going to find your video and show the owner of the LFS as he really likes rainbows (he has owned store for 30+ years)

 

[Greggz]

Interesting. I thought it was a Spendida, but have not seen that variation. There are quite a few different Splendida’s, and they all have different color schemes. I do like the colors on your Tatei, and he is putting on a very nice display. May have to look more closely at these some time.

And by the way, a really nice picture too.

Here’s a link to my video for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftK0-DTsqY8

 

[Betta132]

wild male longear sunfish. Handsome fella's gonna get all the ladies.

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi Immortal1,

Wow, that is a beautiful specimen!!!

I too love the rainbowfish species. I keep Melanotaenia lacustris, Melanotaenia boesemani 'Lake Aytinjo' (from Gary Lange eggs), and Pseudomugil gertrudae Aru II (also Gary Lange).

Melanotaenia boesemani 'Lake Aytinjo' juvies

Pseudomugil gertrudae Aru II

 

[Immortal1]

Betta132 - Very nice looking fish there. Can only imagine what he will look like under good lighting.

Seattle_Aquarist - Thank you for the comments. When I fist started researching Rainbow fish I was supprised how many differnt types there were, both in body style and color. Someday my older daughter wants to get some threadfin rainbows for her tank. And your Aru II is very colorful - definitely could imagine a bunch of them in a tank.

 

[Nordic]

Good luck with the bluegill poop. You may as well keep geese on the tank.

Used to catch tonnes of them in the river as a kid, they are a pest here.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

wild male longear sunfish. Handsome fella's gonna get all the ladies.

If I ever get a pond in my back yard there will be some sort of Sunnies in it.

Tommy

 

[Betta132]

I didn't keep the longear, they're very timid in aquariums if you get them when they're too old. I have one that started out as a tiny baby, and it has some nice colors, but unfortunately they don't have that incredible color unless there are females to display for, and I somehow managed to get all males in my batch. Eventually I'm going to set up a tank large enough for a longear colony. For now, I just have one with mostly just blue-and-red colors on its body rather than five different colors.

 

[Noahma]

Betta132 - Very nice looking fish there. Can only imagine what he will look like under good lighting.

Seattle_Aquarist - Thank you for the comments. When I fist started researching Rainbow fish I was supprised how many differnt types there were, both in body style and color. Someday my older daughter wants to get some threadfin rainbows for her tank. And your Aru II is very colorful - definitely could imagine a bunch of them in a tank.

Threadfins are amazing little bows. I had a large group of them in a 36 bowfront years ago. it is an amazing sight when they start flaring at each other. I'm getting ready to start my third bow tank lol. Amazing creatures, and well worth the effort and time