A Couple Rainbowfish Questions!

[Jimfish]

Just a couple harmless curiosities! These are just coming from my wondering things based on questions people ask me at work. (I work at a chain pet store) I have little to no experience with rainbows, but they really are gorgeous fish. : )

Question one: I know rainbowfish are schooling, and best kept in groups with more females than males. If you were to keep a group of, say, three male Bosemani rainbows, would one pick on the others/become dominant? Like, would the head honcho be colorful while the other two dim down, or would they all make peace and be a big happy rainbow-colored family?

Question two: Same thing, but between species. If you had a male Bosemani and decided to add a male Turquoise, would they scrap/dim down/anything?

And... I think I had one more, but that's all I can remember for now. Any answers would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Mikaila31]

Well most stores only sell males or at least large ratio of males to females. When keeping a school of the same species there will be a dominate male that will be the most colorful. They are always actively bickering though and even after years a group of males will still be competing with eachother on colors. They are not very aggressive unless you have two fish that really won't give up. They fight sometimes, but never like dominate male constantly chasing other males. IMO my group of 11 boesemani has both females and males IDK exact numbers but more females then males. They are actually quiet mellow. But there is one large male and the rest are a few months younger.

 

[Jimfish]

Hey, thanks for the reply! A group of 11 Bosemani, that must be gorgeous.

Do you think the same would hold true between species? Like if you had a male Bosemani and decided to add a couple of male Australian rainbows, or something like that. Would the males bicker and compete with each other on colors?

 

[Mikaila31]

Hey, thanks for the reply! A group of 11 Bosemani, that must be gorgeous.

Do you think the same would hold true between species? Like if you had a male Bosemani and decided to add a couple of male Australian rainbows, or something like that. Would the males bicker and compete with each other on colors?

Never done it, since I encourage the fish to spawn. Its a big no-no to keep rainbow species together that can hybridized. I've never done it and have no idea how they would behave together.

 

[drobbyb]

Here's a video of my mixed species community tank. You can see a squabble between 2 of my males.

 

[myrtle]

Stunning fish Drobbyb! I saw some wild caught bosemani at Maidenhead at Guildford yesterday - £80 a pair!

 

[drobbyb]

Yeah, that's a decent price for a true wild pair. New blood is worth quite a bit to breeders.

 

[Jimfish]

Gooooorgeous M. lacustris, Drobbyb! : ) I love the bright yellow stripe they get when they display.

Thank you for posting the video!

 

[drobbyb]

Thanks I enjoyed making it.