Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish

[dani20116]

Hello,
Last week i bought what i thought were 2 dwarf neon females, i thought one of them didnt look right and it was being quite aggressive towards the other fish in the tank so i took it back to the shop today and was told it was in fact a baby boesemani rainbow. The lady in the shop offered to swap it for me and she gave me back 2 male dwarf neons instead. I've just added the males to the tank but the original female which was left in the tank doesn't seem to like them at all and rather than schooling with them she just seems to chase them and tries to bite them if the come near her. I'm a bit worried that she is actually going to end up killing one of them so im not sure if i should take her back to the shop tomorrow and maybe get another male instead. Ive kept dwarf neons before and never had a problem with them, in fact they are some of the most peaceful fish ive ever had. Should i take the female back? Or is she just getting territorial since shes been in there the longest and maybe she will get used to them and leave them alone? Or is it because there are more male than females (although i dont really want to go and buy more females if it isnt going to solve the problem since theyre quite expensive)?

 

[Westwood]

You could try removing the female fish for about a hour, then putting the female back in. This sometimes works for cichlids, so it could work for your rainbow fish, it is worth a try before a trip to the lfs.

 

[drobbyb]

Rainbows can and will show aggression if they are kept in too small of a group. Ideally you want at least 6 individuals with at least 4 of them being female.

 

[dani20116]

ok,i tried taking the female out for a while but she still kept chasing and nipping at the males when i put her back in. I ended up taking her back and swapping her for another male but now one of the males keeps chasing the others although it doesnt seem to be nipping them, just chasing. might have to go and buy some more. i knew they were meant to be kept as a group but the lady in the shop said id be ok starting with just a few and adding more. do you think it would solve the problem having a bigger group of them?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

drobbyb is regarded as a Rainbowfish guru by many on here, including myself.

A ratio of two or even three females per male in a 6+ group tends to work well for most Rainbows. Unless you have your Dwarf Neons in a small tank, or you fear you are verging on overstocking (list your fish community for us), their normal skittishness would normally be resolved if you got a total of 10.... Not to mention they would look great!

 

[drobbyb]

Yeah, rainbows are like any other schooling fish, they NEED a minimum number of individuals. Of course your LFS will tell you different, but since when do they know much of anything. It's kind of like getting 3 tiger barbs and then taking them back because they are too aggressive. The problem in that situation is that the fish keeper didn't get enough individuals to compensate for their aggression. The same goes for rainbows.

 

[ChilliPepper]

I would second that Rainbows do much better in groups. I started off with 6 Praecox, and love them so much I have increased their numbers to 14. They are sooo much more active in a bigger group, every time I add more they act like kids at Christmas!

I have also recently added 4 Lacustris, who are also fantastic, and they school with the Praecox. I will be getting a bigger tank in the New Year (fingers crossed) so will add more then. For now they are happy as anything, and both types display and look fantastic.

The other thing with Rainbows is they need weekly water changes of 50% and prefer an over filtered tank, as they love flow.