Fishes / Habitat
The turquoise rainbowfish carries an even, iridescent blue-green sheen across its body, without the sharp two-tone split of the Boesemani, giving it a more understated, uniform look. Its natural range
The turquoise rainbowfish carries an even, iridescent blue-green sheen across its body, without the sharp two-tone split of the Boesemani, giving it a more understated, uniform look. Its natural range is even more restricted than the Boesemani's: it is found only in Lake Kutubu and its outlet river in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, one of just over a dozen fish species found nowhere else on Earth. It reaches around ten to twelve centimetres.
As with the Boesemani, this narrow range has made the species vulnerable to overfishing for the aquarium trade, compounded by oil development and logging around the lake since the 1990s, and it is now listed as Vulnerable to Endangered by the IUCN depending on the assessment consulted. Almost all fish reaching the trade today are commercially bred.
A group of six or more suits a tank of eighty litres or more, with open swimming space and good water flow. It tolerates a broad range of water conditions, including typical Indian tap water, making it one of the easier rainbowfish species to keep from a water chemistry standpoint.
As with other rainbowfish, moderate to bright lighting and a mix of open water and planting shows off its colour and natural shoaling behaviour.
An easy omnivorous diet of flakes, pellets and occasional live or frozen food suits it well. It is peaceful and active, and does best in a proper shoal of six or more rather than a small handful, since a larger group visibly settles and colours up better.
It mixes well with other rainbowfish species, tetras, barbs and similarly calm community fish.
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