A nice close up video is the culmination of finally getting a healthy and stunning example of a fish that up until a month ago was unknown in the hobby. We are speaking of course of the fabulous rainbow basslet from Nicaragua, Liopropoma fasciatus, a close relative of some of the most sought after basslets such as the candy and golden basslets.
This species is beautiful, bold, hardy, affordable compared to other highly sought after Liopropoma but two factors make the rainbow basslet an excellent aquarium fish video subject. The bold inquisitive nature of the rainbow basslet means that it is always out and about in the aquarium, and the installation of a dedicated quarantine aquarium ensured that this fish was the star of its own glass box.
As you can see from the video of this rainbow basslet, this species is colorful with an interesting pattern that is flattered by camera flash, but can also stand out on its own with just the typical broad spectrum lighting system. In our case we used a combination of a halogen spotlight and a small LED striplight with both white and red LEDs.
The feature of the rainbow basslet that stands out for us most is the beautiful pink face which is crossed with a dark stripe and adorned with several smaller yellow lines. Also, under some angles the eyes of L. fasciatum can be either blue or lavender as if it is wearing eyeliner. The light blue edging to the caudal and dorsal are also very nice touches on this near-perfect aquarium fish which we hope will become more common and widespread in the hobby.
