Bosemani Rainbowfish Behaviour

[TheChards]

Hi guys,

I have a quick question regarding a Bosemani Rainbow Fish that I bought at the weekend but I think it's general to most fish. To start off with though, here's my situation:

I have 60-litre, planted tank which is cycled and is currently home to:
- 3 male Dwarf Gourami
- 3 Ember Tetras
- 2 Upside Down Catfish
- 3 Assassin Snails
- 1 Bosemani Rainbowfish (as of Saturday)

I use an internal filter and keep the temperature of the water at around 24 degrees. I feed flaked food and catfish pellets every evening apart from Sundays. I don't have any kind of air pump but I have positioned the filter so that the water outlet disturbs the water surface as much as possible as I've heard this is a good way of getting oxygen into the water. Finally, I do a partial water change of about 40% every weekend. Hopefully that's covered everything!

My question is regarding the Rainbowfish's behaviour as he has taken to swimming to the front of the tank and swimming vertically up from the bottom of the tank to about two thirds of the way towards the surface of the water. He then turns around and swims back down to the bottom and then repeats. I have heard about other fish doing this too but I wasn't sure why and am quite desperate to know so that I can take corrective action if this is his way of asking me to. Why is this?

Any suggestions very much welcome! Thanks in advance,
Dan

 

[minxfishy]

You say you've had him since Saturday, so he is probably still somewhat stressed from the move. How long did you acclimatise him for and can you tell us your water stats for ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte and ph please as this will rule out any problem with the water. Rainbows are very social fish and do require more numbers to be happy, 6 is normally a minimum number for a group as without company they do become very skittish and stressed easily.

Also, IMO a 60L tank is far too small for a boesemani, they can reach 5" (usually 4" in the home aquarium) and will need much more swimming space to be happy.

Rainbows can swim in a vertical pattern sometimes, again usually when stressed, up and down the tank glass. What colours is he/she displaying?

 

[TheChards]

Hi minxfishy, thanks for your reply...

I must admit, I don't test the water parameters as frequently as I should do. I was testing every day up until a couple of months ago and always got the same results and then got lazy. Ammonia and Nitrite have always been 0 though, and Nitrates are usually about 15ppm. The pH is a little high (looks like about 8.0) but I don't want to start messing with chemicals as I figured it would be better for the fish already in the tank not to. I will test the water again this evening to make sure these parameters haven't changed and update the thread though.

I was tempted to get more than just one Rainbowfish so that he'd have some company but figured it'd be better for him to be by himself than be in an overcrowded tank and the tank was almost at its limit before we got him so I didn't buy anyone else.

I floated the bag for about 45 minutes in total and added a small amount of tank water to the bag every 5 minutes for the last half hour of this before netting him and releasing him into the tank.

I hope this helps to narrow down what may be wrong (if anything). Are there any more suggestions?

Many thanks,
Dan

 

[jennybugs]

I have to agree that 60L is too small for a boesi. I had some in a 125L tank and in the end I had to admit defeat as even that was too small for them.

If it were me I'd take it back if poss and maybe get some dwarf neon rainbows Melanotaenia praecox as they're more suitable for a tank of your size

 

[Colin_T]

Fish will often swim up and down the glass when they are first introduced into a tank. Quite often it is because they came from a bigger tank and they had more fish to swim around with.
If the fish is feeding and swimming around normally some of the time, then it should be fine and will settle down in a few days. However, as mentioned by minxfishy, rainbows are sociable fish that like to be kept in groups and it might need a bigger tank in a little while.
Rainbows also like plant matter in their diet.

 

[minxfishy]

I would say that you would be best to take him back, as I think its down to sheer stress on his part for his behaviour. Boesemani should really be in a 55g minimum IMO tank and as I say in company. I have 26 in total rainbows (boesemani, trifasciata, praecox & lacustris) and they really need their friends around or they do get stressed quickly.

You could get some praecox as suggested if you really want rainbows, but with tank stocking, you would be pushing it as you would need at least 6 of them, they reach approx 2".

 

[TheChards]

Don't you think taking him back already seems a bit drastic? It's only been two days and I've already got quite attached to him... Plus, I probably should have pointed out earlier that its not that he swims up and down all the time, just every now and again. A lot of the time he'll kick back with the Dwarf Gourami or swim around the tank by himself.

In an ideal world, I would have a much bigger tank that would be big enough for many different types of Rainbowfish as I really love their colouring but unfortunately I simply don't have enough space for anything bigger just yet.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[minxfishy]

Well obviously its your choice, we are just here to advise on the best action for the fish, who would be happier in a larger tank with more rainbows in it.

 

[TheChards]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

[jennybugs]

...we are just here to advise on the best action for the fish, who would be happier in a larger tank with more rainbows in it.

Agreed

 

[TheChards]

I'm sure that was never in question.

Thanks for your concerns...

 

[drobbyb]

It's best to think of rainbows as you would tetras. They love to be in groups of 6 or more and tend not to do so well on their own. They like very clean water and frequent weekly 50% waterchanges.

Here again is another example of why you need to research before you buy. Any LFS will sell you a fish if you tell them to bag it up without asking what where or why. It's business. Just because you can do something dosen't necessarily mean that it should be done.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not here to preach at you. I just want you to have all the information before you make a decision on what to do.

 

[Davo86]

Don't you think taking him back already seems a bit drastic?

Not really, the tanks already too small for him and he's only going to get bigger.

 

[TheChards]

Hi drobbyb, thanks for your comment.

I wasn't completely uninformed in that I'd checked there wouldn't be any compatability issues between a Bosemani Rainbowfish and the fish I've already mentioned. I had also looked into what water conditions will suit them and matched this against the water conditions in the tank I intended to put him in.

I always refer to fishprofiles.com when I'm thinking about adding a new fish and although http/www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/327.htm mentions plenty of swimming room it isn't particularly specific about exactly how much "plenty" is and it doesn't really mention these fish needing company.

So please don't think me ungrateful of your advice, but I wasn't completely uninformed when I chose this fish even if I did make the wrong decision.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[foley69]

50% a isnt essential if you dont have the time for that then 15-20% a week without fail is more than enough also helps if filtration is very good as-well