the males of axelrod's rainbowfish are bluish-grey to greenish-brown in colour on the dorsal part of their body and silvery-grey to whitish on the ventral part. there are around 10 short bars along the centre of flanks, spaced roughly two scales apart and these merge to form a more or less solid blackish stripe along the caudal peduncle. the lower part of the body has about 6-10 faint dusky bars with those on side of abdomen more obvious than the others. on the back and upper flanks there are a number of bluish stripes while the lower part of the body is marked with faint yellow stripes which border each longitudinal scale row. the dorsal, anal and pelvic fins are yellowish while the remaining fins are translucent. the females are less colourful than the malesd and are a silvery colour with no markings. the males are larger and have deeper bodies than the females. the males can gorw to a maximum standard length of while the females are normally less than . there are 6-8 spines in the dorsal fins and 113 soft rays, there is a single spine in the anal fin with 19-24 soft rays