Rainbow Fish Territorial

[Olycius]

Hello, I recently redid my 125G scaping, and I noticed that after the move one of my rainbows began taking a spot at the bottom by a fern.

I noticed he would stick his head in a little bit and shake his body. Any fish besides females and the gouramis(they are bigger) he will chase away. He seems to have become very alert all of the sudden compared to being very relaxed prior to moving things around.

I have two videos here of him in the area.

My question is if he is just being territorial or is he trying to breed? It's to far for me to see if maybe he already bred and is protecting the area. What are your guys thoughts?

 

[Colin_T]

The male is the red fish (Glossolepis incisus) and he is breeding with a female G. incisus (the bronze coloured fish next to him). They are scattering eggs into the plant. He also chases the bigger male G. incisus away from his girlfiend and the plant they are spawning in.

Rainbowfish are serial spawners and breed over a period of time. Females release a few eggs each time they spawn and can produce up to 50 eggs per day, depending on species. The breeding season can last for months and during that time the fish can produce thousands of eggs.

After they breed in the plants the parents swim off and show no parental care of the eggs or young.

You can take the plants with the eggs in, and put them into a bucket of tank water with an airstone bubbling away gently, and keep it warm (26-28C), and in about 1 week there will be fry (baby fish) on the surface of the water. The fry are small and need a very fine powder food or infusoria, rotifers or green water for the first few weeks. Then they can be fed newly hatched brineshrimp.

If fed well the fry will be about 2 inches long in 3-4 months.

 

[Olycius]

The male is the red fish (Glossolepis incisus) and he is breeding with a female G. incisus (the bronze coloured fish next to him). They are scattering eggs into the plant. He also chases the bigger male G. incisus away from his girlfiend and the plant they are spawning in.

Rainbowfish are serial spawners and breed over a period of time. Females release a few eggs each time they spawn and can produce up to 50 eggs per day, depending on species. The breeding season can last for months and during that time the fish can produce thousands of eggs.

After they breed in the plants the parents swim off and show no parental care of the eggs or young.

You can take the plants with the eggs in, and put them into a bucket of tank water with an airstone bubbling away gently, and keep it warm (26-28C), and in about 1 week there will be fry (baby fish) on the surface of the water. The fry are small and need a very fine powder food or infusoria, rotifers or green water for the first few weeks. Then they can be fed newly hatched brineshrimp.

If fed well the fry will be about 2 inches long in 3-4 months.

Should I wait a little more to pull the plant out? This just started yesterday, and if they are going to be doing this for a while, should I just wait to have better chances of getting more fry? My logic here being more eggs laid on the plant gives a better chance at increasing the amount of fry.

Also, do I just take it out of the tank like normal or use a net?

 

[Colin_T]

If you have snails and shrimp in the tank, they will eat the eggs if they find them. Other fish will also eat the eggs if they find them. However, if the male is guarding the plant, and they usually do because it's where he is enticing his lady friends, the eggs should be fine while he continues to use it.

I usually leave plants or mops in the tank for a week and then remove the adult fish. But that doesn't work in a community tank so wait a week then lift the plant out and put it in a container of tank water with an airstone bubbling away gently.

Rainbowfish eggs have little hooks on them that catch on the plants so when you pick the plant up, the eggs should stay in it. The eggs can also tolerate being removed form water for a short period of time so you can simply pick the clump of Java Moss up and put it in a bucket of tank water.

When you take the plant out of the tank, you can shine a torch on it and usually see the small clear round eggs. If the eggs are a few days old you will see small black things moving inside them.

If you replace the plants you take out, the fish will continue to breed in the same spot. You can make artificial spawning mops and rainbowfish readily use them. Or just add a new clump of Java Moss.

Make sure any new plants are clean and have been quarantined before adding to the tank. And check the plants for Planaria (cream coloured flat worms) and snails.

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Do you have any other species of rainbowfish in the tank? It looks like there is a female Melanotaenia boesemani in the top video.

Rainbowfishes will cross breed and produce viable young. Normally I don't keep eggs from community tanks due to the chance of hybrid young. However, if the male G. incisus is not showing any interest in the other species of rainbowfish, then you should be ok. But you will need to look for any young fish that don't look exactly like the parents.