Agression Between Rainbows

[trojannemo]

i used to have two very beautiful rainbows before, Turquoise and Boesemani...though both of them had much stronger colors and hues than any others i've seen since. those two got along famously, and would once or twice flash at each other but they liked each other's company, because i never saw any actual fighting.
those two passed away unfortunately when I introduced another rainbow that i believe was carrying several different diseases...within a week of introducing that rainbow i had lost 12 fish, including all of my favorites at the time (rainbows + angels).

anyways, i just got the courage a couple of days ago to re-acquire the dynamic duo...so i got another Turquoise and another Boesemani. both males like before. the only difference is this time i think the boesemani is smaller than the turquoise, which was reversed with the previous pair.

unlike the other two, however, these are always fighting. the turquoise wont let the boesemani alone for even 5 minutes. sometimes the boesemani goes up to the turquoise and flares. what worries me is that this time the turquoise is actually biting or at least continuously attempting to bite the boesemani and i'm afraid he's going to get injured.

what can i do to stop this behavior? i can't add any more fish now, should i remove the turquoise? or will they eventually settle their issues? i'd rather break them apart than have one of them die you know

thanks!

 

[Colin_T]

Male rainbowfishes will often argue and display to other males. They are a schooling fish and should be kept in groups of 8 or more consisting of 4prs. Unfortunately you don't have space or don't want more fish in the tank so you have two choices. Leave them to sort it out, or separate them. When the boesemani gets to the same size as the lacustris (turquoise rainbow) they should be more evenly matched. And rainbowfish don't normally do any real damage to each other when displaying so I would leave them together for a few months and see how things go. If it gets too bad then move the lacustris into another tank for a few weeks and then put it back in with the boesemani. This might help.

 

[trojannemo]

thanks for the tip. i'll keep an eye out fo rthem. they're settling in and getting their colors...what a difference from a LFS setting to a home setting, how they change!

anyways. i'm aware that they would be best in bigger groups. when my fish started dying i considered doing an all-rainbow tank since I'm so fond of them (dont just love their big eyes?) but then i found out the cause of my deaths was probably that axelrodi rainbow...and that changed my mind. so at least for now, only these two. let's hope they work out

 

[Sanj]

Hi there,

as mentioned these guys are shoaling fish and a bit like many barb species need enough numbers in order to behave more naturally. It is possible to mix them if they are of same genus and will shoal that way. However you really dont want hybrid babies from them, well actually no harm as long as you keep them in your own aquarium. Also as fish mature they can become more aggressive than when juvenile.

I share your appreciation of the rainbows, my aquarium is dominated by them, have seven species along with denisoni barbs and loaches, but it is quite a big aquarium.

Certainly look better in groups though.

I think one of your first points illustrates the importance of quarantining or knowing that your lfs has had the fish in the shop for some months gives you some confidence in regard to their health.