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Melanotaenia sp. Kali Tawa rainbowfish project


Emory
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I got ahold of the rainbowfish legend himself, Gary Lange via band app about a month ago and I bought 3 pairs of Melanotaenia sp Kali Tawa or “Tawa village” rainbowfish directly from him! I PAID for them haha, but from my understanding they are extremely rare, and considered one of the “holy grail” rainbows at the moment. I have successfully spawned and raised bosemani, turquoise, and Blythe river rainbowfish before, and I plan to try to spawn these beautiful fish asap. I am very excited about the project!

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On 8/17/2022 at 8:50 AM, Emory said:

I got ahold of the rainbowfish legend himself, Gary Lange via band app about a month ago and I bought 3 pairs of Melanotaenia sp Kali Tawa or “Tawa village” rainbowfish directly from him! I PAID for them haha, but from my understanding they are extremely rare, and considered one of the “holy grail” rainbows at the moment. I have successfully spawned and raised bosemani, turquoise, and Blythe river rainbowfish before, and I plan to try to spawn these beautiful fish asap. I am very excited about the project!

FB5E461F-E50A-4003-A110-18EA5C9267B0.jpeg

EACA25E2-1B65-4BAE-A741-9679570915A8.jpeg

7F1BF0A0-7A13-4655-B263-68363D427F3F.jpeg

5CBF314C-D18E-4EDE-B2A2-8BF06472F82E.jpeg

DDBB81E2-91C7-45BC-BB7F-E6856BBBEC13.jpeg

C103EFA8-9AF3-45FE-971C-387FEE4144D3.jpeg

😍😍

The ONE species that I want but I can't get!

Stupid import laws! If the import laws didn't exist I'd be pestering Gary for the whole of the ANGFA conference in October for him to ship me some!

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On 8/16/2022 at 5:50 PM, Emory said:

I got ahold of the rainbowfish legend himself, Gary Lange via band app about a month ago and I bought 3 pairs of Melanotaenia sp Kali Tawa or “Tawa village” rainbowfish directly from him! I PAID for them haha, but from my understanding they are extremely rare, and considered one of the “holy grail” rainbows at the moment. I have successfully spawned and raised bosemani, turquoise, and Blythe river rainbowfish before, and I plan to try to spawn these beautiful fish asap. I am very excited about the project!

FB5E461F-E50A-4003-A110-18EA5C9267B0.jpeg

EACA25E2-1B65-4BAE-A741-9679570915A8.jpeg

7F1BF0A0-7A13-4655-B263-68363D427F3F.jpeg

5CBF314C-D18E-4EDE-B2A2-8BF06472F82E.jpeg

DDBB81E2-91C7-45BC-BB7F-E6856BBBEC13.jpeg

C103EFA8-9AF3-45FE-971C-387FEE4144D3.jpeg

Totally not jelly you talked with him. Haha. Looking good! Excited to hear updates!

I've just dipped my toes into the rainbow world recently with pseudomugil furcata. I haven't tried spawning them yet but I hope to. 

Edited by Cinnebuns
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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi All,

Gary Lange is a rabid (in a good way) rainbowfish enthusiast.  He goes to Papua on collecting trips and finds new species and he breeds extraordinary fish.   Not only that he promotes the species speaking around the country at various aquarium clubs and conventions.  I had the opportunity to meet Gary and visit his fish breeding room in the St. Louis area in 2013.  When he has come to Seattle to do presentations for our local aquarium club, the Greater Seattle Aquarium Society (GSAS.org), he has stayed with my wife and I - and can he tell some great stores (fish or course).

Now if you live in the Seattle area and would like to hear Gary speak in person you will not have to wait long.  The GSAS speaker for September is none other than Gary Lange!  We are going to open both (yes both) meetings on Sept. 12th and Sept. 13th to vaccinated guests free!  Rumor has it Gary is bringing juvies and well as 'egg kits' for several of the species he is currently breeding to sell at our auction.  You will not want to miss this opportunity to see the man, the rainbowfish legend in person!  This coming Monday and Tuesday evenings at 7:30 on the Seattle Pacific University Campus, Otto Miller Hall, Room 109 (both talks), we start promptly at 7:30 pm.  -Roy

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Gary & I in his fishroom (one part of it) in 2013
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Edited by Seattle_Aquarist
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  • 3 weeks later...

Just to clarify, Kali means stream, so Melanotaenia sp Kali Tawa comes from the Tawa stream near the Village of Lobo. 

Although this species is not difficult to keep, the one note I would recommend when breeding them, is to breed and raise them at lower temperatures than most rainbowfish. This is because when Gary and I raised batches at 82f or above, we raised mostly females. Gary later shared that they were collected in water closer to 75f. We then raised batches closer to 75 to 78f and started to get an equal ratio of males to females. Apparently, Johannes Graf (in Germany) has the opposite problem where higher temperatures he was raising all males.

Let me know if you are looking for further information on them. 

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On 8/17/2022 at 12:50 AM, Emory said:

I got ahold of the rainbowfish legend himself, Gary Lange via band app about a month ago and I bought 3 pairs of Melanotaenia sp Kali Tawa or “Tawa village” rainbowfish directly from him! I PAID for them haha, but from my understanding they are extremely rare, and considered one of the “holy grail” rainbows at the moment. I have successfully spawned and raised bosemani, turquoise, and Blythe river rainbowfish before, and I plan to try to spawn these beautiful fish asap. I am very excited about the project!

FB5E461F-E50A-4003-A110-18EA5C9267B0.jpeg

EACA25E2-1B65-4BAE-A741-9679570915A8.jpeg

7F1BF0A0-7A13-4655-B263-68363D427F3F.jpeg

5CBF314C-D18E-4EDE-B2A2-8BF06472F82E.jpeg

DDBB81E2-91C7-45BC-BB7F-E6856BBBEC13.jpeg

C103EFA8-9AF3-45FE-971C-387FEE4144D3.jpeg

Good Luck with breeding them, keep us posted!

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  • 3 months later...
On 9/27/2022 at 6:23 PM, Hoon Aquatics said:

Just to clarify, Kali means stream, so Melanotaenia sp Kali Tawa comes from the Tawa stream near the Village of Lobo. 

Although this species is not difficult to keep, the one note I would recommend when breeding them, is to breed and raise them at lower temperatures than most rainbowfish. This is because when Gary and I raised batches at 82f or above, we raised mostly females. Gary later shared that they were collected in water closer to 75f. We then raised batches closer to 75 to 78f and started to get an equal ratio of males to females. Apparently, Johannes Graf (in Germany) has the opposite problem where higher temperatures he was raising all males.

Let me know if you are looking for further information on them. 

Where is the best place to find some? THX

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On 1/20/2023 at 11:36 AM, Emory said:

Update: I have successfully spawned them, and have 30ish healthy close to 1” juveniles growing out and on baby brine shrimp.

Congrats 👏

On 1/21/2023 at 8:45 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Shame for @Trailblazur! I live the colors on the Kali Tawa species, but I know finding them in Europe is a lost cause…😅

I can connect you with European breeders. I don't have a direct Swiss contact, but know breeders in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Turkey and Ireland who are currently working with them. 

Additionally, if you have a local source that can import from Maju Aquarium CV in Indonesia, they are now able to provide commercial export of M. Sp. Kali Tawa and many other rare rainbowfish species.

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