Please Help...fighting Rainbow Fish

[modern]

Hi All,

I'm seeking your advice because all of a sudden we have 2 male rainbow fish that are being very agressive with each other. Let me preface by saying that we have a school of 6 juvenile rainbows and 2 smaller furcatas that kind of hang out by themselves. They've all been together for around 2 months or so with no problems whatsoever (besides the occasional flare ups to prove dominance every once in awhile - but no aggression).

Well, last night we bought about an inch and a half rainbow (similar in size to the rest) and we had no idea what kind it was so it was difficult to tell if it was male or female. Brought it home...and with our lighting discovered it's a female Boesmani. The store had it labelled as something completely different and you couldn't see the faint blue front half there but it's obvious at home.

Anyway, now that we've put her in...our male Boesmani and male Turquoise have not let up. They've been circling and nipping in a frenzy and were starting to lose some scales and smaller bits of fins. I panicked and tried to feed them to side-track them...didn't work. We stuck the net in the tank a couple of times (didn't chase them with it) just to see if that would distract them...didn't work. Ultimately we completely turned off the lights and that seemed to work at least to temporarily stave off the fighting.

My question...is it the female we put in last night that's causing all this? Should we take her out of the tank to bring peace back to our tank. I don't want to see any of our fish under stress like this!!!!!

Your answers would be most appreciated as we are trying to figure out a solution soon. Thanks in advance.

 

[-germ-]

I've no idea about Rainbow fish but i'd certainly try posting this in the species specific sub-forum if you haven't already....
Now the males have begun to fight they may not stop even with the removal of the female, this is a general statement and may not apply to Rainbows.
You could also try rearranging the tank decor to allow them to re-establish territiories now they are behaving aggresively, if indeed they are territorial fish
Sorry i can't help more...
Like i say posting in the SSP sub-forum is your best bet IMO.

 

[indigoj]

HI, I have neon dwarf rainbows but think behaviour is similar. Everything I have read says to have a shoal and have at least 3 males and 2 or more females. Do you know what gender your others are? The males will fight a bit until one establishes dominance. In a big tank there will be fewer problems.

I have 3 of each and the two more mature looking males are displaying and nipping at each other regularly, but more of the time are swimming happy as larry with the shoal.

In your situation I would try to establish two very definite territories for the males and leave plenty of swimming space. It could be they have now taken a real dislike to each other so maybe you need to move one of the males?

Hope they work it out!

 

[modern]

Hi There,

I think we might have all males now. At first I wasn't so sure...in fact I thought the Turquoise RB might have been a female until last when it started displaying and REALLY flashing it's colors. It was the first time I saw the yellow and other intense coloring on the top (what my LFS told me to look for in the males of that species). There is one other questionable Red Irian...but I'm guessing it's a male too. Another LFS sold it to me as a male...and they're pretty reputable. But I questioned it once when that one and and our larger dominant red New Guinea males were swimming and swirling around together one day. Then I thought perhaps it was a male/female thing. But the Red Irian acts like just the others...displaying every once in awhile but not flashing it's brilliance because it's so small - it tends to stay out of the way (like the Turquoise USED to do).

But as stated before...all was peaceful until this female came about so all I can really do is assume that perhaps this is the first female to come into the shoal maybe? I called one of the LFS we frequent and they said if we don't remove the female...we're in danger of one of the 2 males being killed by the other. If we do remove her...they may have some aggression for a couple of days until the hormones drop back down but we'll have a better change of both of them living.

Maybe we could try to take the female back and keep the lights almost non-existent for the next few days in hopes of keeping things as peaceful as possible?

I don't want any of them to die!!!

Thanks again for your help.