The Australian Rainbowfish Catalogue Edition 4

The
Australian
Rainbowfish
Catalogue
Edition 4-15
www.guntherschmida.com.au
The concept, text, lay-out and all images
contained in this publication are by
Gunther Schmida
and protected by copyright.
This volume contains images of most
known species of Australian hardyheads,
all rainbowfishes and blue-eyes,
and most of their currently known forms.
This preview shows only the introduction in actual size,
all other pages are much reduced, each image shown in
this preview representing a full screen page in the
finished volume. This also contains the
common and scientific names, places of origin ( or
ancestry, if captive bred), and actual size of the fish in the
images. (This is important, as body forms change as fish
mature, especially in rainbowfish.)
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Change pages by using up or down keys on keyboard.
Tablet users just need to scroll the pages.
Ornate Rainbowfish Rhadinocentrus ornatus Seary’s Creek - red form.
Gunther Schmida
The
Australian
Rainbowfish
Catalogue
Edition 4-15
2
Specimens courtesy of:
Gerald Allen
Glynn Aland
Steve Baines
Glenn Briggs
Danny Brown
Amy & Steve Brooks
Adrian Dawson
Daryl Franks
Dean Gilligan
Michael Hammer
Bruce Hansen
Leo O’Reilly
Ken Shaw
Glenn Leiper
Robert Pulvirenti
Dean Sampson
Jason Sulda
Adrian Tappin
Graham Walker
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Dave Wilson
This volume could not have been created without their help.
Hardyheads - Rainbowfishes - Blue-eyes
Hardyheads (Family: Atherinidae), Rainbowfish (Family: Melanotaeniidae)
and Blue-eyes (Pseudomugilidae) are freshwater representatives of the
global and largely marine order of silversides (Atheriniformes).
Hardyheads have a global distribution, the other two families occur mainly in
Australia and New Guinea, with a few species also in Madagascar. There
are currently 15 described species of hardyheads, 14 rainbowfishes and 7
blue-eyes known to frequent Australian habitats.
Hardyheads are mainly plain silvery fish, and some were once just thought
to be one wide ranging species. Most Australian species are found in
freshwater, but even those from the inland waters are very salt tolerant.
Rainbowfish in particular, are known to be very variable and at least some of
these forms may in fact represent as yet undescribed species. All occur in
freshwater only.
Some blue-eyes are also very variable, or may be different species. Several
blue-eyes also occur in brackish and even marine environments.
Hardyheads are between 4 and 10 cm long, whilst Australian rainbowfish
attain total lengths from 4 cm to 16 cm, with Australian blue-eyes ranging
from 2.8 cm to 6 cm in total length.
Their attractive colours, interesting behaviour, easy maintenance and
breeding, have made rainbows and blue-eyes popular aquarium fish world
wide. It was this interest of fish keepers that has led to the discovery of a
host of new species, especially in New Guinea, in the past 40 years, and is
still leading to new discoveries now.
Most Australian hardyheads, and all Australian rainbowfishes and blueeyes, with most of their forms, are shown on these pages.
As the way we see their colours depends on many factors, for instance, their
condition or mood, their surroundings, the angle of the fish to the light
source and many more, all were photographed in the same way.
Most rainbowfish and blue-eye males are more brilliantly coloured than
females and look best when in breeding mode, when they often spar with
each other for dominance, and the right to mate with females. Most images
here show sparring behaviour of males, or their courting with females.
All were taken in specially designed tanks with, as natural as possible,
recreated habitats, because only under these conditions will they behave as
they would in the wild.
In the aquarium, breeding behaviour can be induced by a simple partial
water change.
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Crimson-spotted Rainbowfish Melanotaenia duboulayi Sparring males Richmond River - N-NSW - Type locality
Spotted Blue-eye Pseudomugil gertrudae Cardwell - N-Qld
As in the other ‘Pictorial’ volumes in this
series, the text is kept to a minimum.
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Only common and scientific names, as well
as place of origin, either of the fish in the
image, or their parents (if captive bred) are
given.
Because many rainbowfishes change their
shape as they grow, especially the males,
the sizes given in centimetres (cm) indicate
the size of the fish in the image, not the size
the species may reach.
The sizes given usually refer to the largest
fish in the image.
Sizes are also given in standard length (SL),
measured from the tip of the snout to the
beginning, not end, of the tail fin.
Because males are usually larger in size,
possess larger or more elongated fins and
are more brilliantly coloured than females, it
is these that are predominantly shown in the
images.
Although most Australian species are shown
on these pages, there are many more
varieties which may be added once suitable
images have been taken.
Habitats
Hardyheads
-
Genera Atherinosoma - Craterocephalus - Leptatherina
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Remnant waterhole in the Finke River - C-Australia
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Typical habitat in eastern Queensland
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ggg32@bigpond.com
Thank you for taking the time to view this
condensed preview of
‘The Australian Rainbowfish Catalogue’
If you find it useful and wish to support its continuing
expansion and updates, you can do so by purchasing
the FULL SIZE pdf version for a
fee of only $20.00.
Just return to previous window and click
BUY NOW button, then follow the links.
The 96 page guide to Australian freshwater fishes by
this author:
A Wild Australia Guide - Freshwater Fishes
is available in all good book stores,
or by contacting the above e-mail address.