Ramu Rainbowfish - Glossolepis ramuensis

The Ramu Rainbowfish was scientifically described by Allen in 1985. Its scientific name is Glossolepis ramuensis. The species was first found by Allen and Steene in 1983 in the middle Ramu Valley.

Description
The Ramu Rainbowfish can exceed 7 cm (2.75 inches) in length. The male fish is greenish-brown or purplish on his back, while the lower half of his body is mauve or whitish. The side of this body is decorated with narrow orange striping.

Geographical distribution, habitat and conservation
The Ramu Rainbowfish lives in the northern part of Papua New Guinea. It has been found in the Ramu Valley and in tributaries of the River Gogol. The typical Ramu Rainbowfish habitat is narrow creeks surrounded by densely grown rainforest. The water is normally clear and aquatic plants are scarce. The bottoms will normally consist of gravel.

Keeping Ramu Rainbowfish in aquariums
Since the Ramu Rainbowfish is so beautiful, it has turned into a popular aquarium fish even outside Australia. It is an active swimmer and should not be kept in small or crowded aquariums. Ideally provide it with a 100 cm (3 feet) aquarium or bigger. It can be kept in a species aquarium or be combined with peaceful species of roughly the same size. It is important to decorate the aquarium in a way that creates a lot of hiding spots, because the males can be really aggressive against each other and need hiding spots where they can relax and stay out of each others sight. In a well decorated aquarium, injury is very rare. Rocks and pebbles are ideal, since this fish is used to a rocky environment in the wild.

Keep the water temperature in the 24-29 degrees C (75-84 degrees F) range. This species will normally tolerate a pH-value from 6.0 to 8.0, but it will do best in alkaline water. Try to keep the pH-value in the 7.4-7.9 range.

Keep your Ramu Rainbowfish on a nutritious and varied diet. You can for instance use dry prepared foods as a base and supplement with frequent servings of live meaty foods.

Breeding Ramu Rainbowfish
If you want your Ramu Rainbowfishes to breed, they must be provided with a suitable spawning medium. You can for instance give them spawning mops or densely grown java moss. The adult fish might eat eggs and fry and it is therefore safer to raise the offspring in a separate container. Move the spawning medium with the eggs promptly, and make sure that water chemistry and temperature are the same in both breeding aquarium and rearing container.

If you keep the temperature in the upper part of the recommended range, the eggs will normally hatch within 10 days. You can feed the fry infusoria and finely ground flake food until they are big enough to eat newly hatched brine shrimp and nibble at whole flakes.

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Other New Guinea Rainbowfishes

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Bleher’s Rainbowfish
Bulolo Rainbowfish
Higlands Rainbowfish
Silver Rainbowfish
Barred Rainbowfish
Lorentz’s Rainbowfish
Sentani Rainbowfish
Red Rainbowfish
Spotted Rainbowfish
Sepik Rainbowfish
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Lake Wanam Rainbowfish
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Serong Rainbowfish
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Yapen Rainbowfish
Lake Kutubu Rainbowfish
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Mayland’s Rainbowfish
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Ogilby’s Rainbowfish
Oktedi Rainbowfish
Parkinson’s Rainbowfish
Lake Kurumoi Rainbowfish
Pima River Rainbowfish
Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish
Fly River Rainbowfish
Red Striped Rainbowfish
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