Boesemani Rainbowfish – Melanotaenia boesemani

Boe­se­mani Rain­bow­fish — Melan­o­tae­nia Boe­se­mani are kept in envi­ron­ments that resem­ble their nat­ur­al habi­tats in the wild. Sand sub­strate with ele­ments of drift­wood and aquat­ic plants would help mim­ic their nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment.

Shaped like a typ­i­cal rain­bow, their bod­ies are long and fea­ture an arched back with a nar­row head. Their eyes are fair­ly large and have two dor­sal fins.

The back of the fish will boast fiery red with orange and yel­low high­light­ing. The front por­tion of these fish will be deep pur­ple or indi­go blue. The two col­ors come togeth­er at mid-point with a few green or black­ish ver­ti­cal stripes. The female will appear to have sim­i­lar col­or mark­ings but less bold in col­or with more of a sil­ver tone. Fins are opaque and yel­low with white out­lines.

 

More About The Boesemani Rainbowfish

 

Com­mon Names: Boe­se­mani Rain­bow­fish, Boe­se­man’s Rain­bow­fish, Bicol­or Rain­bow

Sci­en­tif­ic Name: Melan­o­tae­nia boe­se­mani

Size: 4 inch­es / 9 cm

Nat­ur­al Habi­tat: South­east Asia, Thai­land – in trib­u­taries and waters of Lakes Aya­maru, Hain, and Ait­in­jo. They live in shal­low, swampy areas that fea­ture veg­e­ta­tion and will feed on small crus­taceans, veg­e­ta­tion and insects.

Ide­al Tank: Boe­se­mani Rain­bow­fish — Melan­o­tae­nia Boe­se­mani are a very pop­u­lar aquar­i­um fish. They don’t require any­thing com­pli­cat­ed. They make a peace­ful com­mu­ni­ty aquar­i­um fish and would be per­fect in a plant­ed tank. In cap­tiv­i­ty, it is nec­es­sary to give rain­bow­fish a longer aquar­i­um with a vari­ety of aquat­ic plants. They are well known as jumpers so your fish tank should be a cov­ered tank.

Aquar­i­um Size: 50 to 60 gal­lon aquar­i­um is rec­om­mend­ed as rain­bow­fish are large and active swim­mers. For a good school of boe­se­mani, it would require a 150 gal­lon tank.

Tank Mates: Molly’s, Gup­pies, Platys and Tetras. Peace­ful com­mu­ni­ty fish.

Care Lev­el: Begin­ner+

Aquar­i­um Water Tem­per­a­ture: 23 – 32°C / 73 – 89°F

Aquar­i­um Water pH: Range pH 4.5 – 7.5

 

What Do I Feed My Boesemani Rainbowfish?

Omniv­o­rous. Rain­bows should be fed once or twice a day. Be care­ful not to over­feed. All the food should be con­sumed after a few min­utes. If there are any left­over foods in the aquar­i­um it needs to be removed. If it is left in the water, it will cause prob­lems with the water and fish con­di­tions in your tank. Using a fine mesh net would do the trick.

Flake food diet is a great base diet for the Rain­bow­fish. They are able to live on flake food alone, but live food makes the Rain­bow bet­ter nour­ished which makes them health­i­er and more vibrant. Live or frozen Brine Shrimp, blood­worms, fruit flies, microworms, mos­qui­to lar­vae, daph­nia and diced Earth­worms are suit­able foods for your Rain­bow.

 

Other Considerations:

While young Rain­bow­fish are stun­ning, they devel­op their real­ly vibrant col­ors as they grow. A rain­bow­fish aquar­i­um set up would make a beau­ti­ful con­ver­sa­tion piece in any room or office. Tru­ly a stun­ning, fun to watch fish!