Can I Keep Boesemani Rainbowfish In 180 Litre Tank?

[wilchil64]

Hi,

We are waiting for delivery of our new tank, which is a Juwel Rio 180, and are planning what to put in it. So my question is

Can we keep Boesemani Rainbowfish in a tank of that size, if so, how many should be kept together, and what would be good tank mates? We'd ideally like some corys, some tetras (maybe Embers, Cardinals, or Penguins), my daughter would like some glass catfish, but I haven't looked into this at all, also maybe some Kribs or Rams.

Thanks everyone for your help. Our first tank is looking great and everything's going well, thanks to all the help we've had from here, and we are well and truly hooked!

 

[SharonCC]

Awww...so exciting! What's the measurements of the tank?

 

[drobbyb]

Rainbows like a long tank, at least 36 inches. Volume wise you could keep 6 in 180L but not much else.

 

[LauraFrog]

How hard is your water? Tetras and rams like their water soft and acid, boesemani rainbows like it hard and slightly alkaline. You might have an issue with water compatibility. Other than that they are peaceful fish that will get on fine with everything else. Keep at least 4 and preferably more because they like groups.

I'd definitely agree with the long tank bit as well, they like to speed along and chase each other. They are really nice to watch when they're settled in. If you buy them they will probably be a boring silver colour for up to a month, but once they settle in and are fed well they look incredible.

 

[wilchil64]

Awww...so exciting! What's the measurements of the tank?

The tank is 101 cm long x 41 cm deep x 50 cm high. Wish we could have gone for a bigger one, but we really don't have the space! Our first tank was 125 l which is 80 cm long and we have set it up as a small community tank which is looking great.

I think the pH is about 7. I don't have a liquid test for measuring hardness, just the tetratest strips which show >10 o D. I think that's fairly hard, isn't it?

If the Boesmani Rainbowfish are too big, I'll look into dwarf neon rainbow fish again, thought about them for the first tank but then ran out of space! Maybe I could put in a pair or 3 of Gourami as a centrepiece with tetras, corys, rams or kribs?

Thanks for your help.