Bosemani's In A 30g? Too Small?

[Teelie]

I did a quick net search but couldn't come up with a definitive answer to this. One site said 50g but this seems to be an exaggeration. Another site says 30 gallons which seems more realistic. So what's the acceptable size for them? And while I'm discussing it, what are some other good Rainbow species to go in a 30g?

 

[The-Wolf]

it all depends on the length rather than the volume
I wouldn't put bosemanis in anything less than 30" long

if the tank is 24" long then I'd go with praecox rainbows
other than that you could look for the blue-eye species (psudomugil)
this is proberbly the best rainbowfish site out there
http/members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Contents.htm

HTH

 

[BigC]

Everything you need to know about Melanotaenia boesemani and much, much more.
http/members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Contents.htm
Scroll down to the species for details on specific genus.

 

[Bloo]

The-Wolf and BigC - that's an awesome website !
I'm no Boemani expert but have kept them and currently have one male left. He's in my community 47 US gallon with a couple of Red Rainbows mature males and have to say I feel my tank is too small (it's 3ft) - the Boesmani being the largest of the lot.
My tank is not overstocked. They are very active fish and they often "jump" up at great speed and hit the tank lid with a very loud thud. Not sure why they do this, but I keep thinking if they had more space, they may not do this.
I think 30 gallons is too small and agree with Wolf.

Here is a pic I took a couple of months ago to give you an idea of their size in relation to the tank (I have since rehomed a lot of the smaller fish to give more room for the Rainbows).

and just because I love this fish and think he's stunning, here's a full pic of him !

 

[The-Wolf]

Hijack alert, hijack alert

what stunning fish you have there Bloo
I love the second one, what a fine example
(need to do a bit of algae cleaning though )

 

[Bloo]

thanks I just wanted to give perspective as to how the fish look in a 3ft tank. And the last one was just for good measure. And yes, that was just before my weekly algae scrape (low light tank without CO2, hence algae growth!) so unfortunately got some green fuzz on the front glass

 

[Teelie]

I knew there were a lot of rainbows but that site put it in perspective. I'm going to look into some of the smaller Rainbows instead. The tank is just a standard size, not a long so it will be too short for them. Thanks for the suggestions, now to figure out which ones to get.