Rainbowfish Questions

[Eridinus]

Hi guys (probably Byron lol),

Just wanted to know whether I can keep just female Boesmani? My partner and I aren't a fan of the males, but we love the females.

Also: Would it be advisable to keep a trio of female Boesmani, and then 1 male and 2 female Lucatris (Lake Kutubu, Blue, Turquoise)?

I've heard that if kept in Trios, rainbows will shaol/mingle with other rainbows. I'm conscious that a 55 gal will be overstocked if I do 6 of each.

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

You can mix different species of rainbowfish together and they will swim around together. They will also cross breed with each other (that's not recommended). If you want to mix species, keep ones that grow to a similar size. Melanotaenia boesemani and M. lacustris both grow to the same size and will be fine together.

Why don't you like male M. boesemani?
They are much more colourful than females.

To get the best colour from rainbowfish, have males and females so the boys show off to the girls.

 

[Eridinus]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

You can mix different species of rainbowfish together and they will swim around together. They will also cross breed with each other (that's not recommended). If you want to mix species, keep ones that grow to a similar size. Melanotaenia boesemani and M. lacustris both grow to the same size and will be fine together.

Why don't you like male M. boesemani?
They are much more colourful than females.

To get the best colour from rainbowfish, have males and females so the boys show off to the girls.

Tank is 101L x 41W x 50H (cm).

And I'm not a fan of the humps, which the lacustris seem to not have quite as pronounced. Same with my partner.

We love the colours, don't get me wrong! I have my eye on this single lone boesmani female (I showed you a pic asking for ID in another thread) and I'll then get either 1 male and another female or 2 females. Then I'd get 2 female lacustris and 1 male lacustris.

 

[Essjay]

Colin will correct me if I am wrong, but according to Seriously Fish a 101 cm long tank is too small for both M. boesemani and M. lacustris. SF says they both need a minimum length of 120 cm.

 

[Colin_T]

I kept rainbows in 3 and 4 foot long tanks. They will be fine in a 100cm tank.

If you prefer narrow rainbowfish, look for Melanotaenia affinis, exquisita, fluviatilis, goldiei, gracilis, nigrans, maccullochi, sexlineata and utcheensis; or Glossolepis maculosis and ramuensis; or Pseudomugil signifier from Townsville or Ross River.

If your only getting 3 of each fish, get 2 females and 1 male of each species.

 

[Eridinus]

I kept rainbows in 3 and 4 foot long tanks. They will be fine in a 100cm tank.

If you prefer narrow rainbowfish, look for Melanotaenia affinis, exquisita, fluviatilis, goldiei, gracilis, nigrans, maccullochi, sexlineata and utcheensis; or Glossolepis maculosis and ramuensis; or Pseudomugil signifier from Townsville or Ross River.

If your only getting 3 of each fish, get 2 females and 1 male of each species.

Thanks for confirming - I'll probably end up getting boesmanis and turquoise. Any suggestions on what else to go with them? Already getting corys.

 

[Colin_T]

6-10 adult rainbows and 6-10 corydoras will probably be close to the tank limit. You could add a bristlenose or some other small suckermouth catfish or something similar but I wouldn't add too many fish.

My 3ft tanks were 3ft long x 14 inches wide x 18 inches high and had around 10-12 adult rainbows in and they were about 4 inches long. I did a 75% water change and gravel clean each week and they got fed pretty heavily.

 

[Eridinus]

Still haven't decided what I'm doing.

Tempted to just go with 6 turqouise rainbows!

The 55 gal is up and running, and I added 6 new bronze corys a few days ago. I then added our 2 older bronzes, and the new ones immediately were nuzzling them and made them feel safe and happy. Woke up the next day to about a 100 eggs in random places around the tank, most of which were fertilised!

 

[Colin_T]

so remove the adults and leave the eggs to hatch and the babies to grow up in the tank. and congrats on getting them to spawn

 

[Eridinus]

so remove the adults and leave the eggs to hatch and the babies to grow up in the tank. and congrats on getting them to spawn

Thanks! Well to be honest I think I'll hold off and see if any hatch without my interference. The bronze adults have nowhere to go apart from this tank, and they are super super happy and sociable. I think I'll hold off on getting any more corys and see if these bronzes do well enough to be my only bottom dweller. I have 3 adolfis in a 5 gal though which I do need to add to this tank, not sure whether or not to increase to 6 of them though.

 

[Nursefish]

Hi I'm new to this forum and am hoping you all could help. I have 2 turquoise rainbow fish, had them close to a year they have been very active fish. About 2-3 weeks ago one of them turn dark blue black and is swimming in circles. They are in an 80 gallon tank community tank with a variety of other fish. The normal rainbow trays to swim with the dark one but the dark one ignores him. I haven't seen it eat in a awhile. Anyone have an idea what's wrong? No other fis seems or looks sick

 

[Retired Viking]

You should post your own thread under fish emergency.

 

[Colin_T]

When rainbowfish turn black and stop eating, it is usually caused by chemical poisoning and is regularly linked to chlorinated tapwater being added directly to the tank. There's not normally any cure for this and if the fish hasn't eaten for a couple of weeks, it's probably going to die.

However, if you post a picture and short video of the fish, it might show something else. If the video is too big for the forum, upload it to YouTube and then copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Definitely post a new thread more members will see it and me able to help