Melanotaenia identify

    • Hello and welcome to the forum.

      First of all: It's very difficult to identify rainbowfish from pictures alone because many species look very similar. You should be very careful not to misidentify the fish.Furthermore, unfortunately, you often find hybrids or at least mixed varieties of different locations in the trade. These are then impossible to identify anyway.

      The species "Melanotaenia bleheri" does not exist, the correct name would be Chilatherina bleheri. However, this fish definitely does not belong to C. bleheri. Instead, it is almost certainly a relative of Melanotaenia boesemani.

      There are a number of closely related species that look very similar to M. boesemani, e.g. M. fasiensis.. Whether it is a pure species, a hybrid, or something else entirely is difficult to determine from the picture alone.

      Where did you get the fish? That could help identify it. If it's from a pet store... then it'll be difficult.

      Regards,
      Gunnar

    • Hello Gunar,

      By mistake i wrote Melanotaenia bleheri, forgive me. I meant C. bleheri.
      A guy who quit from hobby shared some species with me and this was a big "enigma".
      I have no idea where this came from.
      Thank a lot for the welcome.

      Best regards,
      John