Dueling Bosemani Rainbows - Suggestions Please

[Andrew Tan]

Hi,

Until recently I had 3 Bosemani Rainbows (2 male & 1 female) and they lived in relative harmony. Recently the female died and since then the 2 males have really started displaying to each other which has resulted in stands offs and a bit of chasing each other round the tank. At the weekend I put in some new plants and re-arranged the tank slightly and since then they've been at each other all the time. They just circle each other attempting to shred the other ones fins or swim off a way and them ram the other one side on. I can see this is going to result in one of them being killed.

I'm wondering whether to try to get some more females, but I'm not sure if the will make the boys worse or help to calm them down a bit.

Alternatively, I do have a small tank I could move one of them to, but it's only 30 litres and houses my betta. I'm not sure this would be a good combination!!

Suggestions appreciated

Andrew

 

[Breeze7050]

Hello!
Some more information would be very helpful. How small is your tank? What else is in there?
Rainbows are schooling fish so a group of 4+ would be ideal. But, I wouldn't add anymore until you figure out if you even have room. Please give us the extra info needed. Thanks!

 

[Andrew Tan]

Hi,

The tank is 155ltr, so probably about 130ltr water capacity and the other occupants are:
4 x Blue Speckled Platy
2 x Blue Wagtail Platy
1 x Panda Corydora
2 x Peru Gold Line Corydoras
5 x Neon Tetra
1 x Clown Plec
1 x Albino Bristlenose Plec
2 x Ghost Shrimp
5 x Amano Shrimp

I don't think i've got too much room left, but if i could squeeze in a another couple of the rainbows that would be great.

Thanks.

 

[DarkEntity]

Ive got 5 Boesman Rainbow fish in my 125 Litre and there is definately a pecking order. Since your female died its possible that the 2 males are fighting for supremacy. Not knowing what your filtration is like or much else id say you might be able to add another 1, but as already mentioned 4 or 5 would be better if you have the space and filtration required to maintain them all.

 

[Breeze7050]

Let me start by saying Im not good with Litres LOL. We use gallons here! So, truthfully Im not sure if you have the room or not!
If you don't, would it be possible to move some of the other fish to the smaller aquarium? That way you could hold a few more Rainbows? The more the merrier with those guys. If there are too few, they will def. fight and you don't want that! It is possible that you could just seperate them, giving them each there own tank. But, ideally you want to keep them as a school to keep them happy. Good Luck!

 

[Andrew Tan]

I think it's around 40 US gallons, not too sure. Yeah i'm going move some of the smaller fish to the other tank and get a few more rainbows.

Thanks guys

 

[Breeze7050]

I think thats a great idea!
Let us know how it goes!

 

[Andrew Tan]

Well we got 3 females this evening and so far so good. There were a few brief arguments shortly after introduction, but things seemed to have settled down for now. Project for the weekend is to decide which of the other fish to move over to the other tank and sort that out.

Thanks for your advice guys.

 

[Breeze7050]

Good Luck Andrew!!