The blue-red Boesemans rainbow fish has not disappeared from the aquariums since its aquaristic discovery in 1981. For a time, it was so sought after that it was caught on a massive scale for export; these animals went almost exclusively to Japan, where were paid insane sums for them. There were even fears of overfishing of the animals, which occurre only in a very small area, and therefore an export ban was imposed. All animals on the market are bred ones for decades, so overfishing of the natural stocks has long ceased.
Melanotaenia boesemani Red is a breeding selection that does not occur in the wild. They are beautifully coloured fish and the perfect starter species for everyone who wants to try rainbow fish for the first time, because neither the care nor the breeding are difficult. However one should consider that these fish are very long-lived and easily reach 10-12 cm, also 15 cm are probably possible. One should therefore have sufficiently large aquariums (from 120 cm edge length) available for them, because in too small aquariums they cannot live out themselves properly.
For our customers: the animals have code 427313 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
