Salmon Red Rainbowfish

Glossolepis incisus

General information: The mature male Salmon Red Rainbowfish is stunning, its entire body and fins being bright red with a silver sheen along the flanks. The male is deep bodied with a high rounded back. The female fish have no red colour, the body being a yellow-olive colour with a golden iridescence and the fins are clear. The female is also more shallow in the body than the male. Juvenile fish are generally olive-green in colour although once the males reach 4-5cm in length their adult colouration may begin to appear, sometimes quite rapidly. The photos here are from Neil Armstrong and the map was drawn from below reference material by Dave Wilson. Males are capable of reaching 15cm while the female is a little smaller, reaching 10-12cm. If you only have a small group of fishes it is best to have all males, in a small group males tend to be a little aggressive toward the females. Salmon Red Rainbowfish are a lake inhabiting species where they will usually congregate around aquatic vegetation and other submerged structures. Temperatures between 29-32, pH of 6.2-6.8 in the lake.

Aquarium notes : It is recommended that a minimum size for an aquarium to keep a small group of adult fish is 90 cm. They are a schooling fish and are best kept in a group of five or more, with a ratio of two males to one female which will get the best colour displays from the males each morning. Lake dwelling species seem to do better in a slightly higher pH range even though the lake it comes from is reported to be slightly acid to neutral in pH range. They are best kept in a pH of 7.5 to 8 with some shell grit or other calcareous material in the aquarium substrate. The pH in the aquarium is higher than that reported in the lake. This pH difference for keeping is from many years of talking to the keepers and breeders of this fish, it seems they do better in the higher pH. It may be something to do with sometimes a lower pH in an aquarium is from bio filter by products. The natural diet of most rainbowfishes is algae, other plant material, insects, both terrestrial and aquatic and small crustaceans. In the aquarium they take most prepared foods offered, it is advisable to have a about a third or more vegetable matter in their diet and not use high protein terrestrial animal meat products as this leads to health issues as the fish ages.

Distribution : This species is endemic to Lake Sentani in the North East of West Papua.

Selling details : Sold as individuals at 3cm or larger total length.

Reference: Allen G.R., (1991) "Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of New Guinea". ANGFA database http://db.angfa.org.au. Tappin, A.R, (2010) "Rainbowfishes, Their Care and Keeping in Captivity".