Just a pair of Red Irian Rainbow?

[FishBR]

Hi everyone,

I am setting up a 55g Southeast Asia tank. Most likely it will have schools of Odessa barbs, Harlequin Rasboras, and Forktail Blue-Eyes. I know that the Red Irian Rainbowfish (Glossolepis incises) is a schooling fish that needs to be kept in groups of at least 5. However, has anyone kept just a pair of them in a tank that size or larger? Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Mauro

 

[Colin_T]

Glossolepis incisus grow too big (4-5 inches for males) for the other fish you want in the tank. They also need hard water with a pH above 7.0.

The Pseudomugil furcatus and Odessa barbs usually do better in water with a pH above 7.0 and the harlequin rasboras do better in water with a pH below 7.0.

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If you keep rainbowfish in pairs (1 male & 1 female), the female usually gets bullied by the male. He won't normally kill her but the females do get knocked about and can be hurt quite badly. If you have a group of rainbows, including 2 males that are the same size, the males will spar with each other and won't get hurt because they are the same size. And they won't pick on the females all the time. Any aggression from the males will be spread out over all the rainbows in the tank.

If you have a pair of rainbowfish in a tank with barbs, the male rainbows will display to and sometimes argue with the male barbs. Barbs that are similar size to the rainbows will be fine, but small barbs might get hurt by the big male rainbowfish.

Always try to keep rainbowfish in groups of at least 6 or more, and have males in even numbers and the same size (eg: 2 males & 4 females), (4 males & 6 or 8 females), (6 males & 10 females).

If you have uneven numbers of males (say 3), the 2 bigger males will pick on the smaller male.

 

[FishBR]

Glossolepis incisus grow too big (4-5 inches for males) for the other fish you want in the tank. They also need hard water with a pH above 7.0.

The Pseudomugil furcatus and Odessa barbs usually do better in water with a pH above 7.0 and the harlequin rasboras do better in water with a pH below 7.0.

--------------------
If you keep rainbowfish in pairs (1 male & 1 female), the female usually gets bullied by the male. He won't normally kill her but the females do get knocked about and can be hurt quite badly. If you have a group of rainbows, including 2 males that are the same size, the males will spar with each other and won't get hurt because they are the same size. And they won't pick on the females all the time. Any aggression from the males will be spread out over all the rainbows in the tank.

If you have a pair of rainbowfish in a tank with barbs, the male rainbows will display to and sometimes argue with the male barbs. Barbs that are similar size to the rainbows will be fine, but small barbs might get hurt by the big male rainbowfish.

Always try to keep rainbowfish in groups of at least 6 or more, and have males in even numbers and the same size (eg: 2 males & 4 females), (4 males & 6 or 8 females), (6 males & 10 females).

If you have uneven numbers of males (say 3), the 2 bigger males will pick on the smaller male.

Thanks for the reply. I have given up the usual rainbowfish, who are too large for a 55g tank. I am getting instead 6 Melanotaenia Maccullochi, a type of dwarf rainbowfish that reaches no more than 3 inches.

 

[ClownLurch]

Cheers there Colin. That’s my mind made up: no rainbowfish. There’s enough to think about without worrying over even numbers and doubling the amounts of females.

 

[Colin_T]

Thanks for the reply. I have given up the usual rainbowfish, who are too large for a 55g tank. I am getting instead 6 Melanotaenia Maccullochi, a type of dwarf rainbowfish that reaches no more than 3 inches.

M. maccullochi are nice fish, there are a few others too including: Melanotaenia nigrans, sexlineata (look similar to maccullochi), exquisita, Glossolepis maculosis & ramuensis, and Rhadinocentrus ornatus