Boesemani Rainbow Fish

[Futralistic]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased four Boesemani Rainbow Fish, and I love them. They are a beautiful blue to yellow. I have seen pictures of these fish and they were very vivid, much more vivid than the ones I have. I was wondering is there something I can do to make my Boesemani's color brighter or deeper? Is there a certain food or environment that helps with this?

Thank You

I hope this is the right place for this post.

 

[MoonstruckMuse]

I believe their color comes in brighter as they turn fully adult. Since you just purchased them recently, they'll probably develop the color more and more as the year goes on, and as they become more settled in your tank.
Mine seem to appreciate being in a planted tank, and I think foods that are high in spirulina generally bring out blues well.

 

[Feral123]

i heard that a darker tank substrate helps to bring out their colors.

but like Moonstuck Mouse said, as they get older the colors will come out

 

[loachman]

Mostly it's age related. Juviniles are always duller in rainbowfish species.

Other things that can help are a good color enhancing food, subdued lighting or plant cover, darker substrates, male/female mixtures, low stress environment, etc.

 

[BigC]

I have bred M. boesmani on many occasions, the colour will enhance with age given that they were bred form good stock initally. Males are more colourful than females.
The males are more fuller bodied and a bit larger, their dorsal rays in the first fin is longer and overlaps the second somewhat.
To show the fish at their best they need the correct water conditions medium hard water with a pH of around 7.8 and a little bit of salt added The temperature should be around 27'C The aquarium should ideally have a dark substrate and some plant cover on the surface. These rainbows can get quite large 9cms, given a balanced varied diet which would include live, frozen and flake.
I hope this was of some help
Regards
BigC

 

[Futralistic]

Thanks so much everyone!!! That was a great help. Ive been wanting to do something new with my substrate, maybe Ill go with a darker one. Thanks again