Raving Mad Rainbow (trifasciata)

[minxfishy]

One of my male trifasciata rainbows has gone nuts! He has coloured up so vividly that his usual banded colouration has gone and he is nearly completely black, with a yellow stripe on his head Now the other males and him often change colour, especially when displaying for the females, but this one has really suprised me. Now during today he has taken to rounding up the entire tank of fish, including boesemani, praecox, lacustris, corydoras and severum and now has them all in one end of the tank, whilst he patrols the other end, any of them dare venture into his area, he chases them back again. So I have an entire fully stocked 5ft tank down one end of the tank

Im pretty sure its just dominance behaviour, but Ive yet to see a rainbow go to these lengths

Im considering a time out approach for him, to give the others a break and then re-introduce him tomorrow (I have a spare tank I can set up quickly if need be).

Oh tank stats are all fine btw, 0 amm + nitrI, 20-30ppm nitrA.

Any thoughts?

 

[Colin_T]

If rainbows go really dark and stop feeding then they are usually on their way out. However, yours seems to be swimming around and eating so I would say it is just feeling really horny or dominant. If you have other male rainbows that are the same size then they will usually display back to him. But if the other males are smaller they will usually try to avoid him. Male rainbows usually try to show off to other males that are similar sized.

 

[drobbyb]

Sounds to me like territorial behavior or some extreme breeding behavior. Is he chasing off the females? Have you seen the yellow stripe before? I don't think they are on the way out as Colin said. If he was, he would also be less active.

 

[minxfishy]

Oh hes eating fine and the other males are the same size and showing off some colours but at the moment not as vivid as he is. There are usually 3 of them, who show off to each other and kinda shake and rub up and down each other, but today they are staying well clear of him

Drobby, hes chasing the females and everyone else away and yes the yellow stripe is often there, but the really dark colour is never this dark

 

[drobbyb]

Sounds like very extreme breeding attempts. I know that when my Lacustris are breeding, they also often appear to be black.

I don't think you have anything to worry about. He's just really really randy!

 

[minxfishy]

Ive just put a load of bloodworm, brineshrimp and prawn into the tank and they are now all around the tank again.

Im considering putting all the trif's into their own tank, as they seem to spawn quite regularly, although nothing will come of it as the sev sits underneath the plants where they spawn and gobbles everything up.