Axelrod's Rainbowfish

About

Axelrod's Rainbowfish (Chilatherina axelrodi) is one of the more obscure members of the rainbowfish family, known from a single location, the Yungkiri Stream in Papua New Guinea, which makes it a genuinely rare fish in both the wild and the hobby. Like most rainbowfish, males display the group's characteristic deep-bodied, laterally compressed profile and shift into more vivid coloration when competing for female attention or sparring with rival males. Females tend to be plainer, which is pretty typical for the genus. Given its restricted natural range, this species has a small wild population, so captive specimens almost certainly trace back to a limited number of breeding lines. Worth keeping in mind if you're sourcing fish. At under three inches fully grown, it fits comfortably in a moderately sized setup, though it appreciates room to swim and the company of its own kind, as a small group brings out the best behavior and coloration in the males. Being an omnivore, it accepts a varied diet without much fuss. It sits at an intermediate care level, less about being difficult and more about matching the warm, slightly hard water conditions it comes from in its highland stream habitat.