Re: [RML] Rainbow Size Frustration -- Melanotaenia praecox
Gary Lange (rainbowfish4u2 at yahoo.com)
Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:49:14 -0800 (PST)
Hi Eileen,
I don't think you'll see 3 inches listed for boesemani on Adrian's page. Also remember he has SL listings, which is from the tip of the nose to the BASE of the tail fin, caudal peduncle. You might get another 1/2 inch out of that tail. And a half inch is a lot to add to a dwarf fish. In a well planted 10 gallon tank I don't think 4 praecox is really too much. Six might even work, just depends on if you're an overfeeder or an under changer of water. Praecox can get to three plus inches and almost as tall (really ugly) in the hands of people that really overfeed. I guess I would pretty much ignore almost everything you read on the forums. I don't remember who started the "brackish water" and <most> rainbows but that is typical of the sort of misinformation that usually comes out from forums. It's usually put out there by people with 1-2 aquariums, who by answering a lot of questions and are now "experts". You really need practical information. BTW even though many of these
rainbowfish come from very soft and low ionic strength water, trying to reproduce these conditions for Melanotaediae is a disaster waiting to happen, unless you're performing daily 100 % water changes. Unless your water is over 450 ppm GH with an equally bad KH don't try to change that either. Good water changes (50% at least every 2 weeks), live plants and quality foods is one of the best things you can do for your rainbows. I, like Ron Bowman, also let at least one day go by each week without feeding them, to help clean out their guts. If you keep your fish happy, they'll let you know by showing their colors. And you'll have them around at least 5 years. One last thing. I did see M. australis and praecox crosses a few years ago in the US. If your fish start pushing 3 inches and show stripes in them then they are probably one of the crosses. The stripes are pretty obvious. We don't have any of the "striped" praecox in the US for those that are going to point out the pics
in Aqualog.
cheers,
gary lange
Eileen Kortright <eileen at spamcop.net> wrote:
Frustrating! The variances in stated max sizes for most commonly
kept rainbow fish is astonishing. Boesemani is usually quoted as
being a max size of 3", yet people here have some that are 5-6".
Mine are pet shop purchased. They are 2.5" and aren't fully grown
yet. ARGH!
These fish, Boesemani and praecox, are becoming more and more common
in pet shops. Praecox is usually called "Neon Dwarf Rainbow" in the
pet trade, and not "Neon Rainbow". People buying them take
that "dwarf" label seriously and assume they don't get that big. Pet
shops are pushing them because they are "dwarf" sized.
Someone posted recently in one of the forums that their local pet
shop sold her 2 Melanotaenia praecox and wanted her to stock 2 more -
- in her 10 gallon tank. That's way too small a tank imho, but I
can't seem to find any sites that agree on the praecox max size! The
sizes seem to range from under 2" (common) to 3" (unusual)
(Rainbowfish Home), with the most common being 2.5".
It's difficult to advise anyone with this varying info, so, can you
guys tell me, please:
1. What are the max sizes for Melanotaenia praecox and Melanotaenia
boesemani? At what age are they considered adult?
2. Are they a "slow" growing fish? Ie: clown loaches can grow to
14"+, but they live 50 years and it takes them a while to get to
that size.
Whew!
Sorry for the mini-rant, but I love rainbows and think they should
*all* have the best environment :( It's hard to advise people when
the information is so disparate.
Eileen Kortright
(Roan Art)
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