Re: [RML] Sentaniensis

Gary Lange (gwlange at stlnet.com)
Thu, 25 Feb 1999 21:22:10 -0600

This is the information that was relayed to me via Phil Farrell. He
collected in Indonesia with Charles "Chuck" Nishihara. (That spelling is
wrong, Mach please help me here). Chuck collected them in Carwash creek
(that's a creek that flows into lake sentani) on information that he
obtained from Gerry Allen. I think that was actually before the article
came out in TFH. Phil obtained some soon after they arrived back in the
states and has been keeping them going for some time. After having kept
both species (meaning the fasciata that was originally obtained from lake
sentani as "senteniensis") I can see how someone could confuse them based on
color. They are sort of similiar that way. However the sentaniensis is a
real rocket fish, long, sleek and built for jumping (from your aquarium).
They are the best rainbowfish jumpers by far.
These guys never stop moving so it's been a chore trying to get a good
picture of them. They also change colors very quickly. I would say that
the color in Allen's book is the fish's color at it's worst (not a comment
on the photo, not all can be great shots but my opinion on how good a looker
this sleek bow is). I think one needs to start being careful from whom you
obtain these fish. There were some that we saw on the west coast that had
lost their sleekness and were quite broad looking. We wondered aloud if the
breeder didn't mix them up with some of the other fasciata that had been
going around at the time.

I had a group of six in a 20 long (2.5 footer) that used to do something
quite unusual that I would show to people that stopped by my fishroom. They
constantly laid their eggs on top of a mop float which was a 1.5 inch square
of styrefoam, which was about 1/2 inch thick. I would find more (fertile)
eggs on top of that float sometimes than I would find in the mop. There was
at most only a 1inch or so space between the float and the glass top so it
was a real effort to "get it on" up there. I actually saw/heard them twice.
Both times I had thought that the fish had freaked (as excitable as they
are) and was sure that they were trying to commit rainbowfish suicide as
only a bow knows how to do, by bashing it's brains out against the glass.
When I rushed over to try to sooth their mad thrashing I realized that
everyone was trying to jump on top of that darn float at the same time! I
backed away but that broke their concentration and then they were off
begging for food. I don't want to make a wild assumption for that entire
species but if someone were to find eggs just out of the water's reach at
Carwash creek I would bet that they would be sentaniensis. Every once in
awhile I have found an egg or two from other species on the side of the
float but none that consistantly covered the top the way that group of
sentaniensis did.

Gary Lange
gwlange at STLNET.com
Rainbowfish Study Group of North America
http://home.stlnet.com/~gwlange/rainbowfish.index.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Adrian Tappin <atappin at ecn.net.au>
To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au <rainbowfish at pcug.org.au>
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 1999 10:11 PM
Subject: [RML] Sentaniensis

>Can anyone tell me the history of the REAL Chilatherina sentaniensis in the
>hobby today. Is it still around and when and where were they originally
>collected?
>
>Adrian.
>
>
>
> Adrian R. Tappin
> "Home of the Rainbowfish"
> http://www.ecn.net.au/~atappin/home.htm
>