''Melanotaenia affinis'', the North New Guinea rainbowfish, New Guinea rainbowfish, or red-finned rainbowfish, is a species of

rainbowfish The rainbowfish or Melanotaeniidae is a family of small, colourful freshwater fish found in northern and eastern Australia, New Guinea (including islands in Cenderawasih Bay and Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia), Sulawesi and Madagascar. The lar ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

(

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

). It grows to

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...

. Of the three known varieties, the so-called standard variety has the widest range. It is commonly found in the

Markham Markham may refer to: It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873. Biology * Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia * ...

Ramu The Ramu River is a major river in northern Papua New Guinea. The headwaters of the river are formed in the Kratke Range from where it then travels about northwest to the Bismarck Sea. Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries ...

, and

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Sepi ...

Rivers; their preferred habitat includes clear rainforest streams, swamps, pools, and lagoons abundant in vegetation and submerged logs.

In the aquarium

The New Guinea rainbowfish is a peaceful and adaptable rainbowfish species that grows to 14 cm. It favors a pH of 7.0, hard water: (100–150 mg/L) and a temperature of 21–28 C (70 to 82 F). It will eat small live foods and prepared diets. Just like related species, it should be kept in shoals.

References

* Encyclopedia of Aquarium and Pond Fish (2005) (

David Alderton David Alderton is an English writer specialising in pets and natural history topics. Growing up in a home surrounded by pets, he originally trained to become a veterinary surgeon. An allergic dermatitis acquired in his final year of study forced ...

) * Anon. (2001). Fish collection database of the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution). Smithsonian Institution - Division of Fishes. * Allen, G.R. (1991). Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of New Guinea. Christensen Research Institute, Madang, Papua New Guinea.

External links

''Melanotaenia affinis''
* Ryan Junghen
Aquarium Fish Experts
affinis Endemic fauna of New Guinea Freshwater fish of Papua New Guinea Freshwater fish of Western New Guinea Fishkeeping Fish described in 1907 Taxa named by Max Carl Wilhelm Weber {{Atheriniformes-stub