Kamaka rainbowfish

Melanotaenia kamaka

Also known as Lake Kamaka rainbowfish

FreshwaterFish

Kamaka rainbowfish (Melanotaenia kamaka) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 77–86°F (25–30°C)
pH: 6.8–8.0
Adult size: 2.8 in (7 cm)
Minimum tank: 29 gal (110 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Lake Kamaka, Triton Lakes, West Papua, Indonesia
Family: Melanotaeniidae

Overview

A mid-sized rainbowfish that fits tanks the big species outgrow, easy to keep in a peaceful school of six or more. It is gentle and undemanding, good with other calm community fish of similar size, and rewards a settled group with constant midwater motion and dawn color. Feed the standard rainbowfish mix of flake and small granules with frozen daphnia, brine shrimp, and bloodworm. A group is comfortable in around 110 liters with plants and open water to swim through.

In the wild

The Kamaka rainbowfish is found only in Lake Kamaka, one of the remote Triton Lakes near the coast of West Papua, a clear lake with a muddy bottom and patchy plants ringed by forested limestone hills. Keep it warm, 25 to 30 degrees Celsius, in neutral to alkaline water at a pH of 6.8 to 8.0, with a soft substrate, some plants, and open swimming room.

Good to know

Melanotaenia kamaka, family Melanotaeniidae, was described by Allen and Renyaan in 1996 as one of three rainbowfishes from the Triton Lakes, and it stays around 7 centimeters, compact for its genus. Displaying males show steel-blue flanks and amber fins. Breeding is of medium difficulty, the fish laying adhesive eggs on plants or mops across several days.

Did you know

Its entire natural range is one small, remote lake in West Papua, yet most Kamaka rainbowfishes alive today were bred in home aquariums and have never seen it.