Care- This peaceful Rainbow is a schooling fish that does best in a planted aquarium with plenty of room to swim. The aquarium should have a gravel substrate that may aid in intensifying the colors of the fish if a dark gravel is used.
Feeding- Although Boesemani Rainbow have large mouths, their throats tend to be narrow. Foods fed should not be too large. The Boesemani Rainbow is an omnivore and should eat a mixed diet of prepared flakes, frozen, and live foods.
Breeding- Males display the best colors while spawning. They can tear fins and damage scales during the courting so it's best to have 2 males per female so not all the attention is heaped on the female (Males will chase each other as well as the poor female). They will rarely stress each other enough to cause any serious harm but care should be taken to check for Fungus and Childonella which can attack the spawning fish. Make sure you give them a suitable spawning mop or plant (Java ferns work well) and have a Fry raising tank ready after the egg are attached. Good water conditions, good tank current and the use of spotlights (Which also highlight some amazing colors) to simulate Dawn/Dusk will encourage spawning.
An egg layer, Melanotaenia boesemani spawns on moss throughout several days. The fry hatch after six or seven days and require small pieces of live food. We are offering juveniles of this species, and they are too immature to differentiate between the sexes.
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