Australian rainbows are also ideal for mosquito control. It is possible to cause the extinction of one of our rainbows by stocking your garden pond or farm dam with the wrong colour morph, even if it is the correct species as advised by authorities.

Click here to find out more, and how to catch your own colour morph for yourself.

A wide variety of Australia’s native fish are suitable for use as aquarium fish. Many of our Grunters, Gudgeons, Blue-eyes, and Hardyheads make ideal aquarium specimens.

The smallest of these are the Blue-eyes, ranging from a little over a centimetre to around 4 centimetre. The Grunters best suited for the large fish enthusiast. The Silver Perch being one of the best known of the Grunters in some parts of the world. However the Coal Grunter, a smaller species, known by a lucky few, usually only reaches about 15 cm in the aquarium. This fish shows a beautiful gold and black chequered pattern as a juvenile, gradually changing to a gold /black sandy appearance as it matures.

Commercial culture techniques for Australia’s aquarium fish are as wide ranging as the types of fish. Some fish will simply reproduce in small ponds, while others require hormone induction. Many of the Rainbows are quite co-operative and a small pond of around 10 by 20 meters will produce thousands of 5cm fish. Other varieties of Rainbows need to be spawned in aquariums, or a hatchery. The Grunters are the most difficult, most needing hormones to induce spawning. The beautiful small Blue-eyes will also breed in aquariums, but after some trial and error these too can be coaxed into reproducing in earth ponds. 

The Australian domestic market for these varieties of fishes is almost being meet. Soon those commercial producers will flood the domestic market. However there remains a vast, almost untapped market overseas for our unique "opals" of the fish world. Commercial operators have had the luxury of the high prices easily obtained within Australia to carry them through the developmental stages, (the learning time) of their specialised form of aquaculture. This has given the better operators the skills to cheaply produce some varieties in large quantities. Queensland has been one of the biggest centres of interest, and production of Australian Native Aquarium Fish, with a future in export for the, "opal" of fishes.

If you are interested in buying these fish see your local aquarium shop or contact your local ANGFA branch. Should you wish to purchase at farm-gate prices, you must be a bona-fide retailer or wholesaler. (please note distribution arrangements for Melbourne and Brisbane is through wholesalers only)  If you are from another country we are able to send to most countries. Minimum size orders apply.

Links to more pictures of the colour varieties we produce near the bottom of this page.