Melanotaenia sp. Kali Tawa: The Perfect Aquarium Fish?

[@vikkirountoit497]

Beautiful - love how some fish just instantly spawn when released into a great set up.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Indeed, happens frequently. I was super happy about the Tawas... mission accomplished, instantly!

[@CorinneLangford]

I LOVE these so much, I never get tired of watching them. I love how even when the lights are off they stand out as their silver bodies reflect the light. I agree with you on the size of the tank, mine are in a 125 and they actively use every square inch of the tank. They are so entertaining!! Hmmmm, I added a dozen red Neo shrimp that I thought would be safe due to the Kali's smaller mouths. But haven't been able to find a single one, I guess that answers that mystery. Darn!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

They are mesmerizing, the more I watch, the more colours I see reflecting, very cool fish! I've been trying to get good pictures and videos of the little panduros too. I really lose track of time watching those guys, there is quite the hierarchy established with the queen bee still on top.

[@itslukkeee]

Wish we could get these in Australia, wow !

[@stubbsaquatics6080]

They are stunning.... Great find and well worth the drive from Edmonton to Calgary

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Ya, they are a fantastic fish. Totally worth the time on the road!

[@dudusiagata3117]

Witam serdecznie dziękuję za pokazanie super piękne rybki pozdrawiam z Polski miłego wieczoru życzę

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks for checking it out. Hello back from the Great White North!

[@robertbaker3174]

Getting my first ones today!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Nice. Great fish, you love them!

[@DashDrones]

Wow, i need some of these. Amazing fish

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

You won't be disappointed. Much more mesmerizing in real life.

[@byz513]

Yup i love mine from Dan's

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

His fish look great. Dan's was my backup plan after nosing around in Canada. I got to the point of contacting them and figuring how I would ship them from the US, if all else failed. They were super helpful. Will have to order from them at some point as I appreciated their level of service. I've been eyeing his coral red pencilfish for a while... just need some space, lol.

[@LushSaltyAquariums]

Cheers from my fish room channel in Chicago! Fantastic video essay - TY! Tell me what is the carpeting plant in this tank? It looks like cultivated algae :0

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks! Good eye. Its hair algae over rocks, which I initially hated, but it grew on me, lol, literally. Doesn't show up that well in the video because I moved the light closer to the front for filming, but it makes for a real natural look that I can't say that I hate on its own, but I don't particularly love it alongside the anubius and crypts. I think that it would actually make a really cool scape if the whole tank was rocks covered in it... algae scape! I'm a little torn about what to do with it as I've never had hair algae grow like this before and I do give it a weekly trim/grooming which has pleasing results. I thought it may be due to high nitrates, but it isn't, the nitrates in the tank are zero and the tawa's are thriving. I've been in an if it's not broke don't fix it state for a while, lol. Not perfect, but the fish like it. I chose what the fish liked in one of my other tanks and it turned out fantastic... not initially to me, but over time it developed into something unique, that I really like. This one is headed in that direction... need to think on it a bit, leaning towards softening the abrupt edge with the crypts. Regardless, it will be a bit of an experiment!

[@10snyper01]

Thank you for sharing this amazing story. As an Edmontonian myself following Gary Lange's story, it's quite amazing to see these fish so close to home. If there is by any change you have some extras that you'd be willing to sell, I'd happily take them off your hands. Once again, thank you for sharing!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Sure, I have 4 male and two female that I was saving for a lady that ghosted. Are you going to see Gary in Calgary in May?

[@10snyper01]

@@AguabonitaAquatics Gary is coming to Calgary in May?! Are you able to send me a link to the details? I'm assuming he's coming the CAS? I chatted with Curtis and he's got quite a few down there, so I'll pick some of them up from him.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@10snyper01 Sounds good. www.calgaryaquariumsociety.com/events/

[@10snyper01]

@@AguabonitaAquatics Thank you for this. I have bought a ticket! Are you located in Edmonton? Happy to pick up those Kali Tawa off your hands if they're still available. Thank you!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@10snyper01 In Red Deer. Unfortunately they got scooped on ya. They are pretty easy to breed, I'll start another batch soon.

[@RafaelLopeztattoos]

Hi when do they start to have full coloring like that with the blue shimmer on the body? Mine still looks a bit translucent Understanding that the males usually are the ones with prominent coloring. Ive had mine for roughly a month and theyre approximaately 1 inch

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

At 4-6 months when they reach maturity

[@johnnybest6386]

I love these fish likewise ur selve but i am thorn because i only have to tanks 20 long &10 gallon but i dont know if a 20 long is suitable to house them in and if so how many can i keep in a 20 long?

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Six in a 20 long would be OK for breeding, but I'd say long-term keeping would be best done in a 30 gallons plus. They seem to be doing great in my 40 breeder.

[@Fishnkitts]

Beautiful video and fish!! Are they peaceful with slower fish and do they feed relatively up top? I want to add them to a river tank with stiphodon gobies and want to make sure they will get along with the gobies and not gobble all the food at the bottom 😅 thx for any insight!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

They are fierce competitors, I would suspect they would acquire virtually all the food fed from above. It may be possible to feed the gobies larger pellets and have them receive an adequate amount of leftover food, but you may end up with some real chunky kali tawa. In my experience raising them from fry with large cories, they eventually outcompeted the cories for food, so much so, that I had to separate them. The cories could get some leftover pellets, but basically no frozen foods and just small amounts of baby brine shrimp. It may be possible, but I would say it would be difficult as you may have to target feed the gobies while the Kali Tawa are distracted with other food. Kali tawa are next level, ravenous feeders and don't seem to have a problem with taking food from the bottom. A just as beautiful alternative is the furcatus blue eye (forktail rainbowfish), they are heavy feeders, but aren't nearly as food crazed and only half-heartedly go after pellets on the bottom. Pictures don't do them justice, when people see them in my fishroom, they want to keep them more than any other fish I have!

[@Fishnkitts]

Thanks for your insight! My plan would be to feed them up top with their own food, the gobies would get sinkable algae wafers and repashy. But Yeah my biggest concern is whether the tawa would gobble everything up after they ate no matter what. It sounds like that’s the case? :( If that’s the case i will pass on them and wait till I have no gobies, the gobies are sweet slow little guys 😭 Can furcata handle flow? My tank has moderate flow for the gobies and the furcata have teeny fins 😂❤ If they can I’d love to have them!

[@Fishnkitts]

Maybe I should do the glowlight danio… 🤔

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@Fishnkitts I would think furcata would love the flow, they are a sturdy fish. Make the lid is closed though, they are good jumpers too.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@Fishnkitts they are a nice fish too and I liked them even better as they slowed down with age and you could see just how pretty they are. When young they are lightning fast!

[@byz513]

I assume you bred at 72 so you wouldn't get majority females at higher temps? Great vid. Thinking of breeding mine but have about 50 boesmani aytinjo fry I'm raising.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks. The majority were bred at 76 and raised at 70-72 and I ended up up with about 60% males. They do breed at 70-72, but I never kept the eggs as I had tanks full of blue eyes, cpd's and cories at the time. In Garry Lange's Amazonas article he indicated raising them over 80 resulted in more females so I took his lead and raised them at the lower temp which seemed to result in a good ratio. When I talked to JoJo in Hawaii he had acquired a batch there, where you expect higher temps, and he ended up with about 70 females and six males once they colored out. He said he was going to do some renegotiation with his breeder to rectify the situation, lol. The one thing you'll love about them is that they do grow quite fast for a rainbow.

[@byz513]

@@AguabonitaAquatics yes, sir! Thanks for the info. I wish I knew how to ship all these future fry n

[@BenlshTracker]

Thank you for your video! Im still in the process of hunting down some kali tawa in Singapore :)

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Good luck. Totally worth the effort, they are real show stoppers!

[@BenlshTracker]

​@@AguabonitaAquaticsjust got some today! But they're tiny juveniles that are hard to sex, hope I got a good mix!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@BenlshTracker Awesome, you'll love them. Hopefully, you'll have a good mix! Mine started sexing out at about 2.5 months and I was totally confident by about 4 months. They are quite quick growing for a rainbow. Feed them up, change the water regularly and you'll have yourself some really fine fish.

[@BenlshTracker]

@@AguabonitaAquatics 2 smaller ones have developed nice red tails and started flashing at each other while the sightly bigger but duller one I'm guessing is a female! Can't wait for them to reach breeding size

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@BenlshTracker Sounds like you could be in for some fry. Mine were laying eggs at 5-6 months.

[@NinniAquariums]

Just found out that these might be available now where I live, and started to search for info about them. Thanks for this video! Tomorrow I have to call a fish store that probably can help me get them and ask what they would cost... I guess they're expensive, but I really do love rainbows and want something not too big in my new 53 gallon optiwhite-glass aquarium... Of course it will be some rainbowfish, the only question is which one :D Already have the praecox and the luminatus.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

You won't be disappointed with Kali Tawa... they are gorgeous fish, stay small and are super easy to take care of and breed. Two thumbs up, way up!!!

[@NinniAquariums]

@@AguabonitaAquaticsHow many would you recommend to get? Do you think that they like the same type of water as the praecox? (don't plan to mix them, just knowing that the praecox seem to do fine here) I've been looking at the madagascar rainbow as well, and the skull creek (sahulensis), but now founding these... They're really special! I need more aquariums 😂

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@NinniAquariums I would go with 6-10 to start and breed a few to add to the colony. I have 20 in my 40, which makes a nice display and there is plenty of room for them to race around. They really seem to like flow, so try to provide good flow with a powerhead or slightly oversized filter. I would expect that water parameters where praecox are doing well in would also be agreeable to Kali Tawa. Mine are kept at pH 7.8 and conductivity approximately 270 ppm at temperatures from 70 - 82. I can honestly say, I've never tried them outside these parameters, but do expect they would be adaptable; they seem quite hardy. I've had a number significantly injure themselves, bouncing around the tank while I was scaping (they are not at all spooky, but when they do spook they move fast and hit objects at high speed- ouch!) and they have all recovered none the worse for wear.

[@NinniAquariums]

@@AguabonitaAquaticsThank you so much for all this information! I got to know now that they will be extremely(!) expensive, so at the moment I can't afford them :( However, a friend of mine knows a guy who works in a fish store, and he will try to get them for a bit more affordable cost for me... I haven't given up yet...

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

No problem. Good luck, if you can get some eggs, they are quite easy to raise. I use the same method as my blue eyes, except they are smaller and really benefit from a longer time feeding on paramecium.