They have iridescent scales above the lateral line and just below the dorsal fin, and these can be either red or a metallic light blue.

An example of the geographic variation in colour is that a golden-yellow morph is found in the Key Hole Lakes system on Stradbroke Island,[4] while another population on that island had distinctive black stripes on the flanks which created an overall dark colouration.

[5] The ornate rainbowfish is found in subtropical freshwaters in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.

[4] In these habitats the ornate rainbowfish prefers to be in cover among submerged woody debris, in grassy banks and reeds; and within waterlily roots.

[6] This species congregates in small schools, especially where the habitat is clear, slow, shady streams over sands.

[3] This omnivorous species feeds mainly from the surface, and its diet consists of crustaceans, aquatic and terrestrial insects, pollen, algae and organic detritus.

When breeding, the males develop a red nuptial stripe which runs from the snout to the second dorsal fin.

These populations are also fragmented within their own geographic areas, and they are threatened by the invasive Eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki.

[8] The ornate rainbowfish was described by Charles Tate Regan in 1914 from types collected on Moreton Island.

These subpopulations have evolved in isolation over the last ten millennia as the rising sea levels have cut each population off from those in neighbouring coastal streams.