Celebes Rainbowfish

[Wills]

A few shops near me have some great adult specimens of the Celebes Rainbows and I've not seen them in person like this before - quite blown away really! They remind me of Cupid Cichlids with their iridescence but also a bit beyond that because of how the males display and fire up.

I've looked around for suggested tank sizes and I'm not sure if I could keep them or not. I have a 300 litre tank that they could be an interesting addition to but that might be a Central American biotope... which would leave my 28 gallon cube, capacity wise most profiles say its ok but not sure the dimensions are ok or not, the base size is 60cm by 50cm? I feel this might be a kind of minimum option for them rather than a good option for them? But would be happy for someone to say the 28 gallon would work well?

Wills

 

[Back in the fold]

The Celebes Rainbowfish is a fish I have always liked . Never seen one in person but the pictures are always beautiful . I envy you having actually seen them . Pretty sure @Colin_T will chime in on this and give the skinny .

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I've never kept Celebes. With the Aussie/NG species, I've found that most of them like a lot more space than the websites (even the beloved Seriouslyfish) would indicate. The threadfin/silverside types seem to be less active and require less space, though, so you might be OK with a 30G? SF says they like heavily planted habitats.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Wills. You're an experienced tank keeper. So, you'll figure out what's best for this fish. Small tanks just don't hold my interest as much as those that are at least 250 liters. Larger is always better as we know. But, even an experienced tank keeper will miss a water change eventually. So, that's why I keep larger tanks. Larger tanks will easily survive a missed water change. Especially, if you're in the habit of feeding less. There's little chance of a water chemistry problem with a much larger tank.

10

 

[GaryE]

I bred them for a while in a very hard water 33 gallon tank. Marosatherina ladigesi are from Sulawesi, Indonesia. They need hard water, as they are very coastal.

They are stunning. After I stopped breeding them, I decided I wanted them again, and they're the species I caught fish tb from...

 

[Back in the fold]

I bred them for a while in a very hard water 33 gallon tank. Marosatherina ladigesi are from Sulawesi, Indonesia. They need hard water, as they are very coastal.

They are stunning. After I stopped breeding them, I decided I wanted them again, and they're the species I caught fish tb from...

Clarify please . Did the fish bring TB into your aquariums or did you yourself contract this pestilence ?

 

[Sgooosh]

The Celebes Rainbowfish is a fish I have always liked . Never seen one in person but the pictures are always beautiful . I envy you having actually seen them . Pretty sure @Colin_T will chime in on this and give the skinny .

almost reminds me of aCoho salmon fry. They are so beautiful and the white fin appendages can grow very long.
This fish comes very close to that!

 

[Back in the fold]

@Sgooosh yeah it does look like a salmon fry . Aren’t they cool !

 

[Colin_T]

Keep them in a 3 foot tank or bigger.
Get a group of 10 or more (preferably 20+).
Make sure the ones in the shop are doing great because they either do well or die.
They need hard water (250ppm+ and salt (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres), and a pH above 7.0 or they die. If you don't want to add salt, get the GH over 300ppm.
They need a clean tank, like a bit of water movement, and look great in large groups of 30 or more.
They have 2 colour forms, white tip and yellow tip on the edge of the pectoral fins. They are often found together so unsure if it's just genetic variation or a couple of subspecies that lives with each other.
They are easy to breed if you get good ones. Have lots of plants (Java Moss & Water Sprite or spawning mops) and feed the fish well. They spawn regularly and you move the plants into a hatching/ rearing tank to grow the fry up.
Most are wild caught but they take all sorts of food.
If you get good fish they do great. If you get bad fish, they will all die. If they start to die, do a massive water change, jack the GH up and add a heap of salt. Then cross your fingers.

 

[GaryE]

Clarify please . Did the fish bring TB into your aquariums or did you yourself contract this pestilence ?

The fish had tb. I was sleeping 4 hours a night, caring longterm for a seriously ill family member and working full time. I was really run down and immune compromised from exhaustion, and I caught it from the fish, through a cut finger. Skin lesions along the lymphatic system, 6 months of antibiotics, and I'll always test positive for TB antibodies though it's well cured.

 

[Back in the fold]

@GaryE - certainly a lesson to be learned from your experience . I didn’t even know that was possible . A little bit spooky .