Klasio rainbowfish

Melanotaenia klasioensis

Also known as Klasio Creek rainbowfish

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 75–84°F (24–29°C)
pH: 6.8–8.0
Adult size: 4.2 in (10.6 cm)
Minimum tank: 42 gal (160 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Klasio Creek, Bird's Head Peninsula, West Papua, Indonesia
Family: Melanotaeniidae

Overview

Keep this Bird's Head rainbowfish in a peaceful school of six or more with clean, well-moving water, which is what these vigorous creek fish are used to. It is peaceful with other calm, similarly sized community fish. Feed it well on flake and granules with frozen bloodworm, daphnia, and brine shrimp, and a little green food. A group needs a tank of at least 160 liters with swimming length. Because it comes from a single threatened creek, keeping and breeding it is worthwhile, so spawn what you keep to help hold the line.

In the wild

This rainbowfish is known only from Klasio Creek on the Bird's Head Peninsula, a narrow karst spring that runs a few kilometers before vanishing into an underground outlet, clear water rich in dissolved limestone. Recreate that with neutral to alkaline, moderately hard water at a pH of 6.8 to 8.0 and 24 to 29 degrees Celsius, with steady flow, plants, and open midwater.

Good to know

Melanotaenia klasioensis, family Melanotaeniidae, was described in 2015 as one of eight new rainbowfishes from the Bird's Head Region, and it reaches about 10.6 centimeters. It is a single-creek endemic, and breeding is of medium difficulty in the standard rainbowfish way of daily egg-scattering onto plants or mops, with fine fry to raise.

Did you know

Its one home creek is already under threat: the water was badly polluted after a concrete works was built upstream, leaving this fish endangered only a few years after it was first named.