Chequered Rainbowfish Mary River

Melanotaenia splendida inornata (Mary River)

General information: The brood stock for this chequered rainbowfish was collected in the Mary River where it runs past the Mary River Roadhouse near the Pine Creek entrance to Kakadu National Park. The traditional people who own the country in the southrn parts of Kakadu have brought the Mary River Roadhouse and are running it for the benefit of the Traditional Owners. The Werembin Association have given Aquagreen permission to collect fish from their land and we will return to them a percentage of the farm gate sales of this fish to help them with their business ventures and to care for their country. The Mary River at the Roadhouse is a small river with some long quiet pools and small riffles, it has steep banks overgrown with large stands of native bamboo. The Kakadu Crocodile experts have put a satelite tracking device on a 5 meter crocodile that regularly passes that location so the beware of crocodiles sign is not a joke.

Cultivation notes : Chequered Rainbowfish is a little more tolerant of lower dissolved oxygen levels in thickly planted billabongs than some other rainbowfishes. In the Mary River they are much more cmmon than the Banded Rainbowfish. It likes to be in a planted aqiarium but prefers a little current and an open swimming area. The water quality in the Mary River where the collected in the month of June was pH 7.4, Alkalinity 90ppm, hardness 80 ppm and temperature was not measured but estimated to be about 26 degrees C. The water they are cultured in is between 26 and 32 deg, hardness 50ppm, alkalinity 60ppm, pH about 7. Diet in the wild would be ants algae other aquatic and terrestrial insects and micro crustaceans. A captive diet should contain between 30 and 50 % vegetable matter. The chequered rainbowfish is probably one of the most vegetarian of all the rainbowfishes and if it is not given some vegetable matter in its diet may start to eat the plants in the aquarium.

Distribution : The chequered rainbowfish is found across the top of the Northern Territory and Cape York, Qld.

Selling details : Sold as individuals at 3 cm or larger.

Reference: Allen, Midgley and Allen (2002) "Freshwater Fishes of Australia"