Blue Neon Rainbows

[foley69]

once i have sold my convicts and their fry i am gonna get some neon blue rainbows so i was wondering what would be the pefect amount and at what ratio M and F would be best ?

 

[helterskelter]

Are u on about the large blue rainbow Melanotaenia lacustris
or the dwarf Melanotaenia praecox

Praecox are great little fish and you can easily have a groups or 10-15 fish only the alpha male develops the main colour but all the fish are nice largest fish are ony 2.5 sometimes 3 inches in size. Relativity easy to breed too.

Melanotaenia lacustris Stunning fish, males devlop an electric yellow forehead when spawning which changes colour instantly. Groups of 6-8 fish though as they can get 6-8 inches.

As for ratio's 50/50 is fine. These are not to bothered with ratio's to be honest.
However their happier in groups of 4+

 

[Colin_T]

It depends on the tank size but all rainbowfish should be kept I groups of at least 6, preferably 10-12.

Have even numbers of males and females, ie: 3m & 3f. Males have red fins and females have yellow or orange.

 

[foley69]

i am on about preacox and they will be going in my 25gal

 

[Colin_T]

I would put 8-10 praecox in that size tank

 

[foley69]

are you sure that wouldnt be too many as i will be putting a rainbow chichlid,sajica and a BN plec in aswell i was thinking more 5-6 of them

 

[Colin_T]

if you are adding other fish then drop the number of praecox down to 6.

I'm not sure the tank is big enough for a rainbow cichlid and a sajica.

 

[foley69]

well its 32" long and about 12 wide so i figured it might be

 

[Colin_T]

try them out and see what happens. If they fight you can take one out.

 

[foley69]

yea i was gonna do that any way the sajica will be around 1.5" when i get it and the rainbows are no more than 2" so wnough room for now th tank will be nicely planted and have plenty of places to hide so hopefully no problems will occur so how many you think then about 6 3M and 3F

 

[jennybugs]

You won't be disappointed with your dwarf neons. Lovely fish!

 

[foley69]

i know have seen them swimming around in my LFS and they look good cant imagine how stunning they are in my tank