Rainbowric

Must be one of your favourites John ... why else would you breed a bunch greater then 150 ... but then it must be a nice fish for you being able to find homes for them all. You are absolutely correct Antonio! I usually try to post a picture of the female .... especially since this species is quite nice .... a little less fin, and a little less red! Oh and BTW .... John is totally responsible for bringing this species into Alberta (I saw him get them from Gary Lange).... and I believe since I have shipped a number down east to some established breeders who had never seen them before, probably for bringing them into Canada! Cheers Rick

Well it has been a long time waiting for this species. It will be interesting to see if I get many replies on this thread! Just over a year ago I was bugging geleen to breed more then just a couple dozen fish at a time. I explained to him that they do raise up much nicer if you have a larger group of fry to work with. I was suggesting 50 or 60 of them, not 150 of them! A few of us out there has raised that many fish of one species and have experienced horror of trying to find homes for them all. Anyway I helped geleen out and we sold 6 packs here in Calgary and geleen in Edmonton, and on AA here of unsexed fish. I sent another 20 or so down east to some breeders in addition to selling many here in Calgary, oh and must not forget Jayba in Red Deer. Many still hit the auctions and we were successfull in getting them out of John's and my tanks and into some homes. Below is a link to the first ad on AA that geleen placed when trying to find homes for all these fish .... "geleen's AA ad" This is a wonderful species of Rainbowfish, thought it was pretty much developed in 8 or 9 months but today at just over a year old, I believe there is still a lot of development to take place. They are close to 4 inches now and they still act and fool around like a 2 inch adolescent. They were producing lots of eggs when at 2 inches and were a lot of fun to breed! A good starter species for someone who would like to start breeding fish as they are so prolific. Even though you may not be interested in breeding as I am right now they do make quite the colorful display in a planted show tank. These ... like all bows love a planted tank, and it was only recently that I was able to get mine out of a grow out and into a planted tank. Melanotaenia splendida splendida "Deepwater Creek" at just over a year old! There is a number of different species or strains under the M. splendida splendida .... they list another under the International Rainbowfish Group as M. splendida splendida "Kuranda" and I see another being posted on the North American Rainbowfish Forum as M. splendida splendida "Boyne River" ... and I am sure like the M. trifasciata over in Australia there is probably 50 or 60 different variations of this species M. splendida splendida. Of all my favorite is the "Deepwater Creek" Quite a submissive fish as I have 3 pairs of them in one tank and none appear to have any torn fins or wounds on them after well over a month in this new tank. It is difficult to get a pic of them in a flare as they are so submissive. Usually when I approch the tank with a camera they appear to think that I might have some food for them and they start bouncing up and down like a dog begging for a treat. Hope you have enjoyed these pics .... Regards Ric -------------------------------- "Melanotaenia boesemani from Lake Aytinjo" The Aytinjo variant does have stronger colours!

and I thought this was going to be my last breeding of bows ......... it is geleen and Jayba's fault ...... they insisted we go for it ... so we all partnered up and made a run for the USA! Well they are here .... thought it would be at least another year before we would see these fish here in Canada. In fact not only are they here, but they are producing eggs here in Canada already. geleen took a mop of eggs home from the Chilatherina alleni "Wapogo" last week! Breeding group of F1's .... Chilatherina alleni "Wapogo" And of course we also picked up some of Gary's new Red Lazer, Rainbowfish ..... yes we thought they were going to be called a stripped praecox, however the DNA is not even close to that of the praecox ... so it appears so far to be a new species. Breeding group of F1's ... Melanotaenia spec. "Wapogo" Lazer Interesting they found both fish in the same body of water ... what a great idea for a show tank ... C. alleni and Red Lazer! Mark N. figured since we were making a run for the border that he would contribute to the haul and send up some Psuedomugil mellis. The first bunch to hit Canada, this is a sweet little blue-eyed species that grows just a little more then the Psuedomugil gertrudae. A group of these will be nice to see in the smaller tanks with the shrimp. Psuedomugil " mellis " Also a little video of this sweet honey blue-eyed rainbowfish .... Click here for video of the P. mellis The last species is one that has not been released yet in the USA! It has been released in Europe and the Germans are loving them! Gary was not going to released this species here in North America until next year, but was getting concerned about border crossings and thought if there was a chance to get it up here, then better take it. It did make the cover of a aquatic magazine in Europe, and was said to be the most prettiest species of the Chilatherina Genus. Gary argues with the Germans about which is prettiest, however he does say that pictures does not say it all with regards to the Chilatherina alleni "Wapogo" and the Chilatherina spec. "Upper Tor". Below is a link about this new species with a number of pictures from different collectors in Europe. Also note the coloration changes from different enviroment and food, which is common with many species from the Chilatherina Genus ..... Rainbowfish.info - C. spec. " Upper Tor" Now let see if I can get this right .... The C. alleni "Wapogo is a new variation to the C. alleni species, as the C. spec. "Upper Tor" is a new species to the Genus of Chilatherina which has not been officially named yet, why it has spec. in it's name. Similar to the Melanotaenia spec. "Wapogo" and Gary has called them the Red Lazer however it has not been officially named. and a picture from Gary Lange of the Chilatherina spec. "Upper Tor" River I just pulled a mop from these guys tank and it is full of eggs as well! I guess I will need to change the topic tag now on this thread and say they will be available soon in Canada! Special thanks to my partners in acquiring this bunch of great fish .... geleen & Jayba ! Regards Ric -------------------------------- "Melanotaenia boesemani from Lake Aytinjo" The Aytinjo variant does have stronger colours!

I believe you thoughts are correct .... Cories & BN ... I don't understand why you must use goldfish and why you can't go with a fish that you would like to look at! I run the long finned BN .. Silver tip and albino with cories in all my grow out tanks and they do a great job in keeping the bottom of my tanks clean, and if you don't overfeed young rainbowfish you will be keeping them forever before they are large enough to sell. I do have a few Sailfin Plecos as well but if your tank gets really dirty they can grow quite fast. But in my show tanks they do not grow that fast. However with either of these choices for clean up, if your bows are throwing eggs it will be hard to find them. In addition the BN is not difficult to breed.

Hi eddie ... to me it looks like you are doing just fine in setting up your first new 10 gallon! Just need a little more patience .... like AA member geleen will say ....patience grasshopper! You question is ... is how long and is there anything I can do to speed up the process? Other then seeding .... no not really, but how you are going will get you there the fastest! Good catch on the location Jay! However being able to go anywhere in Alberta and get good water to use off the tap, any time of the year, that you could trust, would be a dream come true. Eddie or anyone starting up your first tank .... if you really wants to be sure about the water you are using I would let it age (min a day, 2 better) and in addition treat it with Prime or another reputable declorinator. How much Prime? Be careful as 5 ml of prime will treat 50 gallons of water or 1 ml to 10 gallons of water. That is not much more then a few drops even if you are double doseing. My tap water has been good and bad all spring and summer long this year... I fill up my 100 gallon reservoir and the fumes coming off it is unbelieveable at times. I would never trust it with just a few days of ageing! Yep water changes are good, especially when a few don't do them or do very little to begin with. How much water changing should I do? To much and you can wash out the new bacteria that is forming, thus take longer to cycle. You have not got a lot of bioload... 4 pgmy cories in a 10 gallon with plants! Also a pat on the back for learning to test your water.... keep testing and you will learn about water, declorinators, and accelerators. I might start by doing a 10 to 15% change every other day for the next week and see what your reading look like. Get yourself a 5 gallon water bottle, put in 3 gallons of water and leave a good air space in the bottle, use it for water changes. 3 gallons will do 2 water changes. The water in the bottle will sit and get a number of days to age in the bottle. Are you treating the water in your tank or the water you are adding to your tank? Maybe give your tank a small dose if your test numbers are getting higher but if not, no need to treat your tank with Prime. Seachem did not make there money by selling products that don't work! How many members of AA use declorinator? Well Jay can tell you how many lbs. he brought in of Seachem's Safe when he managed a group order. Stability .... well I do find it hard to believe that it contains good bacteria, however I think that with the enzymes in it, it will help in speeding up the process of cycle...... but not to the degree they suggest on the bottle. In the last couple of years I have started up hundreds of tanks, and most of them in 24 hours, and I felt they were safe to put fish in. Great to have bacteria to seed with and also biofiltered water from other tanks, however I have used and still do use Stability on start ups and find, that with seeding, in 24 hours the tank is in better shape for adding fish then without. I believe that the organic waste from the seeding feeds better with the enzymes found in Stability or another cycle excellerator, but more expensive, Cycle. Unfortunately in a new tank you will not find much organic waste so the excellerators will have little to no effect. But it will not hurt using them and as waste builds, the more it should help. All in all ..... doing everything right you are still looking at close to at least 4 weeks on a new tank. If up and cycled in 1 month ....congradulations! as I have seen many that have been up for months and are not cycling. Cheers Ric

Yes indeed we have all started to pay a little more for bb eggs since Dave H. from the CAS stopped bringing in cases from Brine Shrimp Direct BSD. Even bringing in the case load ... the cost for the shipping was getting pretty high. A number of connections I have had over the years have stopped bringing it in because of shipping costs and instability in the market, thus the LFS are making a good buck for a few ounces of eggs. Yes I have seen some sell .... eggs and salt mixed ..... and even though it makes it pretty simple to hatch out some brine, if you figure the amount of brine you end up with, it is certainly more expensive then buying a 1 lb can from Angel Fins for which I have been doing now for about the last year. I go through a 1 lb can of eggs about every 2 months. I believe Angel Fins has the 80% hatch rate eggs in stock again for $55 a lb. 80 % is by far a higher hatch rate then any eggs you will ever buy from any of the LFS. The brand that Angel Fins is stocking is Artemia International GSL ....different then BSD, but what was most commonly sold here in Canada was OSI brand, which I found was not near the egg that Artemia sells. Ken's Fish.com sells the Artemia GSL eggs as well and you can see on his web page the comments he gets from his USA customers about the GSL eggs. .... http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/fish-food-feeders/brine-shrimp-eggs.html I have in the past even purchased from Jehmco in the USA. Choked down the shipping costs, but last time they warned me that fish food was occasionaly getting stopped at the border..... so we can't promise delivery! So Angel Fins is charging $9 a can more then Ken's , however take in exchange and shipping.... 9 bucks won't get you far. One last comment .... I am having a second package being shipped tomorrow from Angel Fins with not shipping charges. Want a can .... hurry up! Link to Angel Fins brine eggs ..... http://angelfins.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=1159 Cheers Ric

They get along fine .... the only small issue is temperature. Melanotaenia species start to burn out after 82 degrees .... Glossolepis you can push up to 84 degrees. I suppose if you could run at 82 which is low for discus. Many people do run them together.... check this thread ...starts off with pics of bows but as you get near the end of the thread there are lots of pictures with bows and discus. http://www.rainbowfish.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=63 Ric

Thanks Jay ... hope I got most of it correct. I am sure I will hear from Gary if not ! Not much information available on this species out there and not many collectors have them. An awful lot of confusion as well. I was quite confused myself until Adrain made corrections to his web page just recently. Cheers Ric

Thanks Vince ! hope to post some more later. These amigos are getting cockier every day, taking shots at my 3 year olds that are sharing the tank with .... boesemani & parkinsoni .

Melanotaenia goldiei Well I think it is time that I did a thread on M. goldiei. When ever you hear of the goldiei in the Rainbowfish circle it is usually quite a rare species. There has been quite a bit of confusion about this species over the years starting with the thought that it was just another species related to the trifasciata. Back then DNA was not available and there for it wasn't determined that it was a different species. Today there are a number of variations, different collections points of this species and there for it is quite important that the location point be added to it's name. The original goldiei from "Laloki River" was almost extinct in the hobby. Today only 2 collectors in North America and only a few in Australia have fish from this collection. A few years back a collection from "Loloipa River" was made and up until recently it was named incorrectly as "Lake Tapini". This collection was distributed in Alberta back in 2011 when Gary Lange came to Alberta and did presentations at both Calgary and Edmonton Spring workshops. Even though I picked up a group of this species, never got a good enough photo of it to present. Really through my searches the best photo I was able to find of it was a photo of a young fish taken by a collector in Germany ... Christophe Mailliet Melanotaenia goldiei "Loloipia River" About the same time Heiko Bleher collected what is believed to be another variation of this species from the Aru Islands. Yes ... from the same collection that the Pseudomugil gertrudae Aru II came from. I believe it still has not been formally named and still goes by Melanotaenia "species" Aru II. I also had this variation in my collection for a couple of years and it is still quite available in Eastern Canada today. I was also able to get a few nice pictures of it. Melanotaenia "species" Aru II Shortly after the collection that Heiko Bleher made at the Aru Islands, Gary Lange did a collection at a creek in Dekai. Yes just "Dekai" and it became quite popular in 2012. I never did have this fish in my collection. Photo courtesy of Gary Lange. Melanotaenia goldiei " Dekai " Perhaps the most rarest of all goldiei, the original first as I indicated at the start of this thread is the one from "Laloki River". It is the most rarest fish of my collection. I raised this fish from an egg and it is now close to 1.5 years old. Still very prolific and when I raised up 60 of them there was not a sign of inbreeding. It came from Jeff Birch in London, Ontario along with other great fish like the G. wanamensis, M. boesemani "Lake Aytinjo" , DNA tested M. herbertaxelrodi, and M. lacustris from Heiko's first collection for which it is believed extinct. Melanotaenia goldiei " Laloki River " young at about 5 months .... at about 1 year old .... and today at about 1.5 years old ... It does take time for this fish to really show it's stuff ... maybe why many never collected it.... Okay I know .... I didn't have the camera in focus ... but I thought it was still a great shot! You do see M. goldiei sometimes advertised as Goldie River ... goldiei. Careful if you should buy this fish as none were labeled "Goldie River". For more information about this species of fish as there is very little available you can go to Adrian Tappins website @ Home of the Rainbowfish Hope you have enjoyed this article on the M. goldiei .... Regards Ric -------------------------------- "Melanotaenia boesemani from Lake Aytinjo" The Aytinjo variant does have stronger colours!

Yeah I had some come in a couple of years ago ... lost the fins on them with burns. They lived okay, didn't swim the best, but did spawn for me. Time was not that long .. the cup may be a little shy pending condition of water at start and how stressed out the fish are. Females do stress more when bagged. Should talk to Spencer about it. If he is sold out ... it is the first time I have seen them available in Canada. In the USA Wetspot carries them all of the time. If you are down for a weekend they will ship to your hotel room. Hope she makes it ! Ric

I sent off some of your pictures to a few breeders I know in the states. I tend to agree with them now as it makes sense. A couple have this species ... however what the consensus is you are going the right way by adding Melafix. Most believe since they were just shipped ... "ammonia burns". Make sure you ammonia levels are as low as possible in the tank! How did the water look that they were shipped in? How long in the water? How much water did they have in the bag? However I believe Spencer just got these in, maybe they were burnt on his trans ship? Have you spoken to Spencer? I think I would hold off on further medication for now and see if it worsens. Separation is still good but make sure the tank they are in is free of ammonia!

It is not ick .... much worse! Looks like a major skin parasite infection, chilodonella, costia or trichodina...... All can be treated the same way. You can add some salt and malachite green. Salt levels normally need to be high but rainbows tolerate it well. But even as a temporary treatment to slow the disease down you can add 1 heaped tablespoon of rock salt or sea salt for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Leave the salt in the water for at least a week, preferably 2 weeks, and then do 10% water changes every day to dilute the salt level. Most petshops should carry a basic treatment for these diseases and any basic treatment with malachite green should do the job. *NB* Malachite green is poisonous so try not to get it on your skin and wash your hands well after using it. Also do a complete gravel clean and clean the filter before treating the tank. And remove any carbon from the filter before treating so it doesn't absorb the medication. My best guess ... thanks for the pics ... they help. Good luck Ric

I believe that you will really enjoy this grow out tank. Did John tell you how much fun he had with his 75 gallon with well over 100 splendida "Deepwaters" in it growing up from fry? A couple of video's from a friend of mine .... just to let you know what you are in for! C. paleatus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmkbvjbYzhQ C. panda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMj2g8fMIZg Rick

It has been close to 8 months since I posted in this thread. I don't know why as if the wife got her wish and I was to keep only 5 species of Rainbowfish, this species would be near the top of that list of 5. Of all the trifasciata's this one... "Goyder River" ..certainly covers all the colours of the Rainbow! Even the ones you see today in the LFS ... washed out ... orange rather then the deep red they once were ..... lights up and adds excitement to any bow tank. The ones posted 8 months ago were about 7 months of age. Today I am going to post some pictures of the same fish now getting close to a year and half old. Funny as I have been for the last 9 months advising many people on how to make there Rainbows look there best, when this group I tucked into one of my bottom grow tanks in my fish room, light coloured substrate, and no plants. They really did not show me what they really had until I took them out and put them into a 100 gallon planted tank. It started a couple of months ago when a breeder from Eastern Canada found out that I had this strain of Goyder River. At that time I was the only one to have this strain in Canada. He had a strain of the best Melanotaenia lacustris ( Turquoise Rainbowfish, Lake Kubutu Rainbowfish ) I have ever seen and I have been bugging him for the last 3 years for some eggs from them. So I brought out a trio of these Goyder Rivers and set them up in a breeding tank. Even then ... well they were moved to a 25 gallon tank .... dark substrate .... no plants and looked nice but still was nothing special. I sent a mop full of eggs down East and I also auctioned off a mop of eggs at our Calgary Aquarium Society meeting. I hope that you were able to hatch them out ok Gerry? I also hatched out a mop for myself along side of a mop of the M. lacustris that was sent back to me. Both species are doing very well and there should be 2 excellent species of bows available in a couple of months. Think I might call these males the 3 amigos ..... Yes .... thought they were fully mature but every week this group shows more! Can't show much more red and blue! Endless energy in this group, flashing at each other all day long ..... but I have said to many that 3 pairs really do show much nicer then 1 pair or even 2. The females are even quite pretty with this species and when the girls are ready to spawn the action even gets better! What is also impressive about this strain of Goyder River is how old it is. Gary Lange brought this strain back from Germany in 1997 and has been maintaining it for now 15 years in North America. Still very prolific and I see less signs of inbreeding issues then I have in F5 and newer stock. Hope you have enjoyed these pics .... Regards Ric -------------------------------- "Melanotaenia boesemani from Lake Aytinjo" The Aytinjo variant does have stronger colours!

I have had 2 of the Hiblow HB 20's now for well over a year. Indeed they are so quiet I forget that I have them. Have never run out of air again. The other thing you will notice after you have had them for a while is they have been maintenance free!

I have to agree with you Barb, don't have a nice adult to take a picture of with my new camera, so I had to use one of my old shots. There is not many pictures out there that do this fish justice! Here is one I got one from Gary that shows his sexy group and all there bright red lips. hmmm if they make you feel sexy John ... I will indeed have to get you some! Thanks Jay. Best regards Ric

I can spare you a little of the Sera Micron Eugene.

Melanotaenia sexlineata is another dwarf Rainbowfish similar in size at to that of the M. parva, not much more then 3 inches. It is a very rare Rainbowfish and I believe that I may be the only person in Alberta at this time to have them in their collection. There may still be some in Regina. There were two collections of them back in the early part of 2000, one from Kiunga and the other from Tabubil. The photo's that I am displaying are fish from Tabubil. Melanotaenia sexlineata "Tabubil" Cute name for them as the males often show red coloured lips giving the appearance that they are wearing lipstick. Most people call them sexies! Females are a subdued version of the male with lesser-defined markings. Also note the shorter fins on the female. Female M. sexlineata "Tabubil" Hope you have enjoyed these pics .... Regards Ric -------------------------------- "Melanotaenia boesemani from Lake Aytinjo" The Aytinjo variant does have stronger colours!

A number of Melanotaenia parva has been showing up recently and I just realized that I have not done a thread on them yet. Melanotaenia parva has been around in the hobby now for close to a decade now but is considered a rare Rainbowfish. It is nicknamed the Sunshine Rainbowfish and is classified as a dwarf Rainbowfish. It should not exceed much more then 3 inches in lenght. Even though small it does look after itself in a community tank of larger 4 inch plus bows. Yet it will go nicely with the little blue-eyed species of Rainbowfish like the P. furcatus. Recently it became more popular as it was listed on the C.A.R.E.S. Preservation Program as a ... Species facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium term future. A number of clubs in Eastern Canada is taking this program quite seriously and I have had a number of calls from the eastern Canada looking for some. AA member geleen has been breeding them and possibly AA member Jayba in the near future! I just finished breeding a bunch of 36 and shipped them to Eastern Canada with a fellow hobbiest from the Durham Aquarium Society. This fish is extremely photogenic! The pictures that I am posting here was done with my old camera, wish I had some with my new camera to post but hopefully Jayba will post some pics of his as they get a little older, in this thread. Melanotaenia parva You would almost think that this fish is a salt water fish. Certainly sticks out in a tank when it is displaying. The female which has quite less color, however if you don't have one of these girls in the tank chances are you will never see the beautiful colors that this fish displays for his girl. For information about the C.A.R.E. Preservation Program follow this link ..... C.A.R.E.S link. Even though I will not be breeding this species for some time I believe we will see more of this colorful dwarf Rainbowfish around! Hope you have enjoyed these pics .... Regards Ric -------------------------------- "Melanotaenia boesemani from Lake Aytinjo" The Aytinjo variant does have stronger colours!

Yes indeed they are nice pics. Nice job on the breeding John. Looking forward to see some young boesemani "Lake Aytinjo" from you Jay.

Yes this is correct ..... I am giving a presentation on Rainbowfish. Promise I will be there this time. Fred and I were trying to come up with a title for the presentation the other day. Already did an Introduction to Rainbowfish. A number of people have been asking me how do I get my fish to look so good. Well there are a number of little secrets that you can do so I am going to tell you all of them. The title that we have come up with is ...... Introduction to Rainbowfish II: Finding and Raising Nice Rainbowfish in Alberta So I am also going to tell you where you can find some nice rainbowfish in Alberta ..... besides from me! There are quite a few good breeders out there now. But is this enough? Telling you how to raise them and find them. No I will also give you some tips on how to get eggs from them. The reason for this is I am going to be auctioning off several nice breeding pairs of Rainbowfish at the end of my presentation. Then so you have to stay to the end and listen to my presentation. What fish are you auctioning ... well I am reducing some of my future breeding groups so they are going to be the best breeding specimens available. From my last group of M. boesemani "Lake Aytinjo" I wanted to save the best 3 pairs and was stuck with 4 pairs, so one has to go. Oh BTW all of these fish that I am auctioning off .... the proceeds will be donated to the Calgary Aquarium Society. So a great deal! you get a nice pair of fish plus you make a donation to the club. This is one of the fellows that I will be auctioning off ..... Not much bigger then a praecox now ... but producing eggs! You can ask geleen as he got some eggs from him. Next I thought I might put up a nice trio of M. praecox "Pagai" F2. F2's are becoming quite rare and surprising there are not many nice praecox available. F3's are still a good catch! Another nice pair of Rainbowfish that I thought I might put up would be a pair of M. splendida splendida "Deepwater Creek" These fish are getting more colorful each day! They are one of the easiest Rainbowfish to breed and a lot of fun to breed! Enough about some of the fish I will be auctioning off and giving you all kinds of good tips on how to breed them or just how to have them looking fanstastic in your fish tank. Well is that enough reasons to come to the Calgary Aquarium Society next meeting. ....... Well maybe I will do a Gary Lange trick to get people to show up. How about some eggs? Well Gary told me that he never tells people what eggs he is bringing to a presentation as the fish may not comply. however ... My new M. trifasciata "Goyder Rivers" .... no one owns this strain in Canada yet! They are real, true RED and BLUE "Royal Regal" Goyder River. They are spawning like crazy for me so I am pretty sure there will be a bunch of there eggs up for auction. I am pretty sure that there will be a number of my breeders that will also be providing some eggs as well. So you see there will be lots to talk about. Where to find some nice bows, how to make your bows look the best, how to breed your bows to get eggs, and how to hatch those eggs. Might even find some time to pass on a few photography tips that Gary has passed on to me. In addition .... another reason for me doing this post is .... Is there anything else that you would like to me to cover at that meeting .... if so please let me know! So until next Tuesday night! Cheers Ric -------------------------------- "Melanotaenia boesemani from Lake Aytinjo" The Aytinjo variant does have stronger colours!

With the warmer weather I see Gary Lange has been auctioning off some of his new collection on Aquabid. Unfortunately he will not, like many other breeders, including myself will not ship, even though it is legal, across the border. I am just going to post the links for now to the closed Aquabid auctions which will give you some information about them and how much they are going for now in the USA. This first one ... well there was a legend that someone many years ago had seen a red stripped praecox. Well Gary went looking for it and thought that he had been able to get some. After a week of struggling through the jungle he came back with 2 pairs of this fish that were about 1 inch in length. He had it DNA tested and funny it was not a praecox! MELANOTAENIA SP WAPOGA RED LASER This was the highest bid ever recorded for 6 young fish on Aquabid! Next ... well we have had the Chilatherina alleni "Siriwo" up here in Canada before however this one was collected from a different location. CHILATHERINA ALLENI WAPOGA RIVER The bid on Aquabid is not showing the picture. Think I have one that Gary has posted.. Did well on this auction as well for 6 unsexed young fish at $251.00 This one is not quite as new as the other 2 as it was collected in 2010. MELANOTAENIA SP DEKAI -- THE GOLDEN RAINBOW To my knowledge we don't have any in Canada yet. I nice little dwarf rainbowfish that should no exceed 3 inches. Another from an earlier collection -- still no avail in Canada. MELANOTAENIA SP ( LUBAN VILLAGE) I believe that there are a few more that will be entering the hobby here in North America this year. I will post more as they come. It appears to be almost 3 to 4 years before these new fish arrive here in Canada. Maybe sooner as Gary does have some talks planned for next year in the East. I think the newest one in Canada, which I have is from his 2008 collection from Pagai. It is the Chilatherina fasciata "Pagai Village" which I aquired last year and which I am breeding now. Cheers Ric -------------------------------- "Melanotaenia boesemani from Lake Aytinjo" The Aytinjo variant does have stronger colours!

Just recieved a box full of them from Angel Fins today for one of the members of AA. From the group order that was placed last week. Free shipping! Angel Fins shipped them insured. Great lamp, switched some of my HO over last fall and wow! Will be switching out my other T5 HO lamps next order.

Excellent variety of good food! Should produce some excellent fish. The thing that makes this species so fun to work with is the hunger of this fish. Everytime I go by the fishroom I throw a little something .... different then what they had earlier .... in with them. Someone, somewhere disected a rainbowfish in the wild and found like 22 different kinds of food in it's belly. So basically you are replicating the growth of this young in the wild, by providing a wide variety of foods and them eating all the time. Well this can be a little difficult as time you have availalble may not permit. Some days mine will get feed only twice but some days they may get feed 5 or 6 times. My group are starting to get to a nice size for pictures .... so it will be fun to post some later. Drop by while you are in Calgary and I will give you a small bottle of the Arctic Copepods. Ric