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When young, they're silvery and not too colorful, but later when mature they're very colorful, making it worth the wait. This is also a very hardy fish.

Comments: This is a Premium Pet Fish, and we never see Premium Rainbowfish like these in any of the live fish stores or online fish stores that we visit.

Premium Pet Fish are more energetic, hardier, and have brighter colors with a beautiful metallic sheen.

Click here to learn more about our Premium Pet Fish.

Origin: Their ancestors originally lived in the Mamberamo and Wapoga River systems in northern New Guinea, Indonesia, but now Rainbowfish are now found living in aquariums throughout most of the world.

Maximum Size: In aquariums, male Rainbowfish can grow to be about 3.25" long, including their tails. Females are usually smaller and plumper when mature.

Usually mature Rainbowfish are smaller than 3.25" long, but rarely an old Neon Rainbowfish is bigger.

Behaviors: Most Rainbowfish are active swimmers and are rarely aggressive, but males do quarrel with each other.

Compatibility: Some recommended tank mates include, other varieties of Rainbowfish, Clown Loaches, Danios, Barbs, Gouramis, and many other medium size aquarium fish.

Click here to read more about compatible groups of pet fish.

Temperature: Rainbowfish can live pretty well from about 70 to 80 degrees F., but they're probably most comfortable at about 75 degrees F.

Click here to learn about aquarium temperature, aquarium thermometers, and aquarium heaters.

Feeding: Premium Fish Food Flakes when small and small Premium Pellet Food when larger.

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Water Conditions: Rainbowfish seem to be tolerant of a wide range of water conditions. Probably a pH of about 7.2 with moderate hardness is best.

Most water in the US is a little bit harder and has a higher pH but seems to be OK, so it's probably best NOT to adjust the pH or the hardness of the water.

Here in our facilities the water is hard and the pH is usually about 7.8. We ship them in this water.

Click here for a lot more information about aquarium water conditions.

Aquarium Size: It is probably best to house the fish in at least a 30-gallon aquarium, but bigger is better. Keep at most one Rainbowfish per 2-gallons, when they're small.

Larger Rainbowfish need about 4-gallons per Rainbowfish. Huge Rainbowfish need even more water per fish and will do better in a bigger aquarium, like a 60-gallon aquarium.

Decor: Rainbowfish do not need gravel, and a layer of gravel more than 1/4" thick will usually fill with bits of uneaten food that will contaminate the water.

Click here for more about aquarium gravel.

Live Plants are beautiful and improve the water quality.

Aquarium Filter: Bio-Wheel Filters are highly recommended. A Penguin 200B Filter in an aquarium with 20 to 30-gallons of water is OK, but a Penguin 350B Filter is the right size for a 30 to 50-gallon aquarium.

Click here to learn more about aquarium filters.

The addition of Lava Rocks will keep nitrates in the ideal range. Click here to learn more about using Lava Rocks in aquariums.

Life Span: Rainbowfish live for several years with good water and good food.

Gender: It's not easy to tell the males from the females when they are young and sometimes, even as they mature.

Usually males will become bigger and much more colorful. Females are plumper and have less color.

Breeding: Rainbowfish scatter a large number of eggs on plants or special breeding mops made of nylon yarn.

Popularity: Rainbowfish were first available to fish famers in the early 1990s, and their popularity has been growing since then.

If you patiently raise them up, you'll be amazed by their colors.

Names: The scientific name of Goldie River Rainbowfish is Melanotaenia goldiei.

Variations: There are a couple of slight color variations of this species, and many other species of Rainbowfish with a wide variety of colors and patterns.

Click here for a lot more information about keeping and caring for Rainbowfish, including a picture gallery.

We hope you've enjoyed reading these comments.

DrTom - 07/14/2015