Rainbow fish !

Hi everybody!
Who has rainbow fish and what kind?

i was going to get some Dwarf Neon rainbows but i got harlequin rasboras instead
anyway those are cool
i also like the Madagascan rainbowfihs

I don't have any rainbows atm, but I used to keep praecox and kamaka.

Regretting a bit on not doing a rainbow tank for my 75

Crispii said:

I don't have any rainbows atm, but I used to keep praecox and kamaka.

Regretting a bit on not doing a rainbow tank for my 75

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i kind of want to have madagascan rainbows for 75g
not sure if pearl gouaramis r gonna fight them

Went to my LFS last week:

Sgooosh said:

i kind of want to have madagascan rainbows for 75g
not sure if pearl gouaramis r gonna fight them

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Well, like my mom used to say
"No Fighting !!!"

Sgooosh said:

i kind of want to have madagascan rainbows for 75g
not sure if pearl gouaramis r gonna fight them

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Madagascan rainbowfish do best in hard water with a pH above 7.0.
Gouramis come from soft water with a pH below 7.0.

Madagascan rainbowfish have soft bodies and don't travel well. If a shop gets some in, get them to hold the fish for 2 weeks before you get any. Monitor the fish during that time and if they are good after a couple of weeks and none have died from weird circumstances, then get a large group of them (10+).

If you have any type of rainbowfish (including Madagascans) and they look unwell, check the water quality, do a huge water change and gravel clean, and add some salt (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres of water). Keep the salt in there for 2 weeks or until you know what the issue is.

Colin_T said:

Madagascan rainbowfish do best in hard water with a pH above 7.0.
Gouramis come from soft water with a pH below 7.0.

Madagascan rainbowfish have soft bodies and don't travel well. If a shop gets some in, get them to hold the fish for 2 weeks before you get any. Monitor the fish during that time and if they are good after a couple of weeks and none have died from weird circumstances, then get a large group of them (10+).

If you have any type of rainbowfish (including Madagascans) and they look unwell, check the water quality, do a huge water change and gravel clean, and add some salt (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres of water). Keep the salt in there for 2 weeks or until you know what the issue is.

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local petsmart keeps them fine but there is never 10, only 2 or 3 at a time

For people interested in rainbowfishes, the following link was written by Adrian Tappin, one of the more knowledgeable rainbowfish keepers in Australia and the world. It has all the known rainbowfish from Australia and New Guinea, but does not include the Madagascan rainbowfish.

Sgooosh said:

local petsmart keeps them fine but there is never 10, only 2 or 3 at a time

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they need to be kept in a group. maybe ask the store if they can order 10-20 in for you.

Colin_T said:

they need to be kept in a group. maybe ask the store if they can order 10-20 in for you.

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ok then ill ask lfs. Petsmart says that they just get random fish from their hq

they should be able to request more of a species if a customer wants some.

8 Pseudomogil gertrudae juveniles

Colin_T said:

For people interested in rainbowfishes, the following link was written by Adrian Tappin, one of the more knowledgeable rainbowfish keepers in Australia and the world. It has all the known rainbowfish from Australia and New Guinea, but does not include the Madagascan rainbowfish.

Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae

A website dedicated to Rainbowfishes of Australia and New Guinea

rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au

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Thanks!
I think I'm going to finally bump myself up to a 50-ish gallon and I'm trying to research rainbow fish
of course I want a large group and I'm trying to figure out what size I can manage. My local fix store has several varieties in right now and like you suggest I'll be watching them for a couple weeks.
I usually do that anyway

Here are some pictures of some of the ones they have .
Time to do some research

Celebes:

Red:


Turquoise:


Yellow:


Bosemani:

Celebes rainbows are either good or bad. If you get a good batch they do well. If the fish are not good, they all die. They need hard water with a pH above 7.0 and a bit of salt.

The red rainbows don't look like Glossolepis incisus and could be a hybrid or G. multisquamatus. If the shop doesn't have a scientific name for those fish, then be careful buying them because lots of breeding cross breed fish.

The turquoise rainbows (Melanotaenia lacustris) look ok and are usually a true species (not hybrids).

Yellow rainbows (Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi) can be hybrids but not always.

The first picture of Melanotaenia boesemani has a fish in the top left corner that looks like a female Glossolepis incisus. Most of the other fish in the tank look like male M. boesemani. Females don't have any yellow.

You can mix rainbowfish species together and they hang out together. I had 3 or 4 species in each tank and they all showed off and displayed to one another. When I wanted to breed them, I moved the fish to breeding tanks for a week before putting them back in the main holding tanks. Just try to keep species together that grow to the same size. You can have 4-6 M. boesemani with 4-6 M. lacustris and 4-6 M. herbertaxelrodi together in a 4ft tank.