Tankmates For Bosemani

[Squid]

I have a 180 litre tank with 3 pretty much fully grown Bosemani Rainbows which I love, who currently share with a BN Plec, a few phantom tetras and the last couple of my pentazona barbs.

I'm looking to add just a couple more fish inbetween the size of the barbs and the rainbows, probably something around the Ram size. Being adults and pretty active swimmers, will they get along with most fish such as rams? The tank has been running for a few years, and the bosemani are not in any way aggressive with their current tankmates.

Colourful suggestions always welcome.

Cheers

 

[mattlee]

praecox rainbows....?
nice coloured platys....?
a couple more bosemani rainbows.....?
spotted climbing perch....? (will grow bigger but lovely fish)

whats your pH level?

 

[minxfishy]

Obviously you probably know that boesemani prefer larger groups, so you could add 3 more.

If your looking at cichlids to finish off your stocking, you could add something like apistogramma (cockatoo cichlids for example) but unfortunately German blue rams wouldnt go well due to their temperature requirement, which is far above that of boesemani, bolivan rams maybe more suitable as they dont need such a high temperature as the german blues.

 

[Squid]

Thanks.

The PH of my tank is between 7.0 and 7.2 (not that it fluctuates, but by looking at the colour ;-) ). This seems fine for bosemani Rainbows, but I believe the praecox prefer slightly lower?? as do the cockatoo cichlids? Both look great, which is a shame.

I did consider adding more bosemani rainbows', but the three I have have been very happy and active since purchase, and at the size they have grown to I'm not sure 48Gallon is ideal for many more.

The PH of my tank is between 7.0 and 7.2 (not that it fluctuates, but by looking at the colour ;-) ). This seems fine for bosemani Rainbows, but I believe the praecox prefer slightly lower?? as do the cockatoo cichlids? B

Although saying that, the PH recommendations do vary from site to site. On this site, the praecox would be fine in that PH??

 

[minxfishy]

The praecox and apistogramma would both be fine at the ph, in fact rainbows can cope with high ph up to 9.0 in the wild (although the praecox IME seem to be more sensitive than other rainbows).

Most fish you purchase from local stores are all tank bred and therefore very used to the ph of the area and your water supply.

 

[Squid]

Thanks. Help much appreciated.

Cheers,
Squid

 

[minxfishy]

Just in case your interested, this is the best site for rainbowfish information: http/members.optusnet.com.au/chelmon/

 

[mattlee]

i have praecox rainbows in my com tank at pH 8.0 and they seem fine......
i had 9 but lost 4 due to internal bacteria and the rest are doing well now

 

[drobbyb]

I agree with minx. Bows do best with greater numbers, but you can get by with mixing the species. Praecox rainbows only get to 2 and a half inches, but I have found that they are more sensitive to water conditions than theit larger cousins.

If you really like the boesemani rainbows but want a change of color, I recommend lacustris. Their breeding stripe contrasts well with their colors, and they show it often. They get about as big as the boesemani's but have different mating ritual and of course that breeding stripe.

BTW, those boesemani's look great! You must take great care of your fish. They don't appear to have a single blemish on them.