Boesmani Rainbow Fish

[dazbud]

I bought a couple of Boesmani Rainbow fish to add to my community tank 2 weeks ago.

I have some other rainbows and was attracted to the colour of the Boesmani in the LFS tank. Despite asking for two really colourful ones, I came away with two that were not so coloured, basically because the guy couldn't be bothered to chase them round. He said they would all colour up in time as they were stressed with him putting the net in. I'm not normally this passive and am quite annoyed with myself for not being more insistant.

Anyway, one is more colourful than the other. They both have a horizonal black line and are both just under 2 inches long. I think they have coloured a little more since settling in but nothing like the photos I have seen on-line.

However,can anyone tell me whether my two below are male or female? Does the black stripe indicate stress or mating behaviour (i've noticed it darkens sometimes), and are they likely to colour up anymore as they age?

 

[MBOU]

Well, in the LFS perspective, they dont want to stress an entire tank of fish out, just to pick out a load of identical fish... its not worth risking the whole lot getting sick..

Rainbows are notorious for not colouring up in fish shops and for losing their colour in an instant if stressed (eg... as soon as net goes in the tank!).

I would say the top fish is a male and the bottom fish is female. Not entirely sure how i know but will have a guess...

The top (male?) has more intense colouring, longer and more streamlined 'torpedo' shaped body. The second has duller colouration and is much broader in the body, bigger belly... so to speak.

Ideal really, if you got the two brightest coloured fish, you'd have picked out two males and you would have had trouble when they started fighting! And with bosmani males... you probably would have had them fighting. If anything, you'd be better off getting another female or two to keep the male happy!